A Royal Weapon Like No Other
When Howard Carter opened Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, he uncovered treasures beyond imagination. Among them was a dagger unlike anything else: a blade crafted not from earthly iron, but from metal that had fallen from the sky. And he managed to build something unique—an artifact literally forged from a meteorite.
Scientific Proof of Extraterrestrial Metal
For decades, scholars debated the dagger’s origin. Its unusually high nickel content first hinted at a meteoritic source in the 1960s. In 2016, portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometers confirmed the blade was composed of iron with 11% nickel and 0.6% cobalt, matching the chemical makeup of known iron meteorites. This non-destructive analysis provided definitive proof that Tutankhamun’s dagger was fashioned from cosmic material.
Iron’s Rarity in the Bronze Age
Tutankhamun reigned around 1334–1325 BC, a period when iron was rare and more valuable than gold. Smelting iron from terrestrial ores would not occur in Egypt until centuries later, around the 6th century BC. During the Bronze Age, iron objects were ceremonial or ornamental, often given as royal gifts. Nineteen iron objects were found in Tutankhamun’s tomb, including amulets and blades linked to funerary rituals, reinforcing their extraordinary significance.
Earlier Traces of Meteoric Iron in Egypt
Tutankhamun’s dagger was not the first Egyptian artifact made from meteorite iron. In 1911, archaeologists discovered metallic beads at Gerzeh, south of Cairo, dating to around 3400 BC. Modern scanning electron microscopy and CT imaging revealed that these beads had microstructures identical to meteoritic iron, confirming their extraterrestrial origin. This showed that Egyptians had been working with meteorite iron thousands of years before Tutankhamun’s reign.
Stars, Rituals, and the Afterlife
The presence of Tutankhamun’s meteoric dagger carried profound importance in burial traditions. Egyptian texts often referred to iron as “metal from the sky,” linking it with the heavens. The blades found in the young pharaoh’s tomb were strikingly similar to those used in the “opening of the mouth” ritual, performed to ensure the deceased’s transition to the afterlife. Tutankhamun’s dagger, with its gold hilt and meteoritic blade, embodied this cosmic connection more powerfully than any other object.
Preservation and Display
Tutankhamun’s dagger has survived for over 3,000 years, preserved alongside his remains. Today, it is displayed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, still shining with its golden hilt and otherworldly blade. Modern science continues to analyze it, offering insights not only into ancient craftsmanship but also into how humanity first encountered and shaped materials from beyond Earth.
In 1922, Howard Carter found more than gold in Tutankhamun’s tomb—he found a dagger forged from a meteorite.
This blade, made of iron that fell from the sky, defied the Bronze Age and left scholars chasing its secrets for decades…🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/g94yZibEDW
— Fascinating True Stories (@FascinatingTrue) September 20, 2025