The head of an ancient arrow was created from a meteorite
“Alien weapon” made 3000 years ago found in Switzerland. The tip of an ancient arrow may have traveled thousands of kilometers to the point of its discovery. Scientists tested the composition of the artifact and found that it was made from an iron meteorite.
Photo: Bern History Museum
Scientists have discovered a fragment of a 3,000-year-old weapon made from «alien iron», writes the Daily Mail.
An arrowhead made from a meteorite was found by researchers from the University of Bern at a Bronze Age site under named Merigen in Switzerland.
Geologists have tested the artifact's composition, which includes aluminum-26, a short-lived isotope once abundant in the early solar system but not found naturally on Earth.
However, at about the same time in Europe, only three meteorites with the same combination of metals fell to Earth: one – in the Czech Republic, another – in Spain and the third – in Estonia. The team believes that the Estonian space rock, which was more than 1,400 miles (over 2,200 km) from Switzerland, was a likely candidate.
The arrowhead is 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) long and weighs only 0.102 oz, according to the Daily Mail.
The scientists used a variety of methods to test the composition, including electron microscopy imaging, X-rays, and high-energy radiation analysis.
The pointy part of the arrow was made from an iron meteorite, composed primarily of the minerals kamacite and taenite, which are found on Earth only because they are of meteoric origin.
Iron meteorites are formed from the cores of ancient planets that were destroyed about 4.5 billion years ago as a result of catastrophic collisions during the formation of our solar system, says the Daily Mail.< /p>
“The style of the iron arrowhead strongly resembles that of the bronze arrowheads from the same complex of finds, although the manufacturing process was very different, – shared a team of scientists in their study. – The carbon-rich organic material likely contains remnants of resin, probably woody (birch?), indicating that it was attached to the arrow at some point”.
Although the arrowhead was originally found on Lake Biel back in the 19th century, it was lost for a long time in the Bernese Historical Museum, where it was recently rediscovered and tested.
Initially, researchers believed that the material used to make tip, was obtained from the Twanberg meteorite, which collapsed in Switzerland about 160 thousand years ago. However, further analysis of meteorites with the same composition showed that this was not the case, notes the Daily Mail.
«The arrowhead from Merigen was obtained from a large (minimum 2 tons of pre-atmospheric mass) iron meteorite IAB, which is confirmed gamma spectrometry and elemental composition, – the study says. – Among the large IAB meteorites from Europe, three have a chemical composition consistent with the arrowhead of Merigen: Bohumilitz (Czech Republic), Retuerte de Bullake (Spain) and Kaalijärv (Estonia).
The team believes that the arrowhead hit the the territory of Switzerland from Estonia, which suggests that in ancient times people traded weapons along the same routes from the Baltic states as amber.