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The full meaning of the inclusion of meteorite iron beads in this particular grave remains to be fully understood. This allowed it to be strung on a flax fibre thread, traces of which are still preserved within the bead. We also found indications of the manufacture method bending points were clearly seen in virtual X-ray CT slices through the bead, indicating that the meteorite was beaten into a thin sheet and subsequently bent into a tube shape. We found that the bead itself has the microstructure and chemistry of an iron meteorite, so its origin therefore seems clear. Non-destructive methods of analysis were employed electron microscopy to examine surface structures and chemistry and micro x-ray Computer Tomography (CT) to reveal internal structures. So we decided to start our investigation by re-examining one of the iron beads currently held in the collections of The Manchester Museum. Given the highly oxidised state of the Gerzeh iron beads, and their limited early analysis (which was neither well-published nor conducted to modern standards) this possibility had to be considered. In the 1980s, doubt was cast on the meteoritic origin of the Gerzeh beads when archaeo-metallurgists suggested that early nickel-rich iron could have been produced from terrestrial resources, using naturally nickel-rich iron ores or additives. Wainwright, believing that the deliberate inclusion of iron beads in high-status burials indicated that meteorites had religious importance, went on to develop numerous theories involving meteorite worship in ancient Egypt. It seemed that the ancients had simply found the iron and worked it as they would have worked copper, without any real understanding of its nature. The question was, however, quickly answered when early analysis indicated that the beads were rich in nickel.Īs all meteorite iron is nickel-rich, this was considered conclusive evidence of a meteoritic origin for the metal. This unexpected find of iron artefacts in a well-dated context predating the official start of the Egyptian Iron Age by over 2500 years caused archaeologists to question their understanding of ancient Egyptian metalworking technologies. In 1911 the man and his beads were exhumed when archaeologist Gerald Wainwright excavated the Gerzeh cemetery. Below, the bead showing optical and virtual X-ray data.

Pictures:Above, the Gerzel bead, pictured on an etched slice of iron meteorite, showing characteristic Widmanstätten structure. So rare were his tubular iron beads that only one other grave in the extensive cemetery included anything similar. We know very little about this anonymous man, but we can deduce that he was an important member of his community because his body was surrounded by valuable grave-goods - an ivory pot, a stone palette to grind his cosmetics and a copper harpoon - and adorned with bead jewellery made from precious raw materials including gold, carnelian and iron. If it was meteoric in origin, did the idea that it was the gift of the gods influence the perception and use of the metal? As one of us (DJ) is fascinated by meteorites, the other (JT) fascinated by early Egypt, and both of us are fascinated by ancient riddles, we could not resist the temptation to investigate further.ĮXCAVATION Five thousand three hundred years ago, in the pre-literate time before Egypt became a single state ruled by a pharaoh, a man was buried in a sandy grave in the Gerzeh cemetery (70km south of modern Cairo). Did the ancients actually work iron far earlier than has ever been recognised? Was iron the occasional, accidental, by-product of copper smelting? Did iron regularly enter Egypt through trade and if so, where did it originate? Or, as the earliest archaeologists suggested, was this meteoric iron: iron that had fallen from the sky, home of the gods? This raises a number of intriguing questions. This appears to have been a deliberate choice textual sources indicate that they were aware of iron from early in Egyptian history, when iron ores were ground up to create pigments used in art and cosmetics.Īlthough there are no signs of early iron manufacture, archaeology has shown that elite Egyptians were, very occasionally, buried with iron grave-goods long before that date. Meteoritics and Egyptology, two very different disciplines, recently collided in the laboratory, write Diane Johnson and Joyce Tyldesley*.Įven though they had access to abundant supplies of iron in both Egypt and the Sinai peninsula, ancient Egyptian metalworkers did not develop iron production technologies before 600 BC.

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