Tutankhamun’s meteorite dagger was likely gift from ancient Anatolia

CAIRO, Egypt — A team of Japanese and Egyptian researchers has been able to establish the source of King Tutankhamun’s mysterious iron meteorite dagger. The scientists, who conducted a non-destructive chemical analysis of the artifact at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo, determined that the object was most probably crafted at a low temperature from an octahedrite, the most common class of meteoric rock. They have also revealed that the short knife was in all likelihood a gift that came to Egypt from Mitanni, in Anatolia, according to a recently published study.

When British egyptologist Howard Carter first entered the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings in 1922, he found a chamber densely packed with objects piled up in great disarray. Among them lay a well-preserved dagger with a double-edged iron blade. It had a roughly polished surface, a prominent crack and a hilt made primarily of gold. The object's origin and manufacture quickly became an enigma, as researchers were uncertain if the technology to make a dagger from meteoric iron existed in the 18th Dynasty of ancient Egypt.