Artefacts found in the tomb of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun that were made of iron have attracted far less of the world’s attention than those made of gold. However, researchers have taken a closer look at these lesser-known objects and come back with interesting results.
Since the tomb of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun was discovered in the Valley of the Kings in 1922, the golden funerary mask that the mummy was wearing has fascinated people worldwide. It was among the some 5,400 artefacts, many of them made of gold, entombed with the boy king, who died at about age 18.
But 19 artefacts made of iron – far rarer than gold or gem-studded ones during the reign of “King Tut” in the 14th century BC – have long attracted special interest. They have now been thoroughly examined for the first time, and the results have been published in a richly illustrated popular science book by the Central Romano-Germanic Museum (RGZM) in Mainz, Germany.
“The group of iron artefacts had never been scientifically studied in its entirety before,” notes RGZM restorer Christian Eckmann, one of the book’s five co-authors, in an interview with dpa. “In a historical context, they raise very important questions.”
Since there’s no evidence that iron was smelted in Egypt until the 6th century BC, Egyptians in Tut’s day worked meteoritic iron, which they called the “metal of heaven.”
The title of the RGZM’s book alludes to this: “Himmlisch! Die Eisenobjekte aus dem Grab des Tutanchamun” (“Heavenly! The Iron Artefacts From Tutankhamun’s Tomb”).
Among other things, Eckmann and his colleagues examined the chemical composition of the iron artefacts using X-ray fluorescence analysis.
The key question was whether they contained nickel, a heavy metal that’s an indicator of meteoritic iron.
“Any [iron] from this time with a nickel content over 5 per cent can’t be of terrestrial origin,” Eckmann says.
The researchers detected a nickel content ranging from 6 per cent to 13 per cent in 16 small, wood-shafted chiselling tools; 8 per cent in a small amulet in the form of the Eye of Horus – an ancient Egyptian symbol representing protection, health and restoration – and 8.8 per cent in a small headrest.
The nickel content of the most impressive of the artefacts, an iron-bladed dagger with a gold handle and rock-crystal pommel, was found to be 12.8 per cent.
“It would have been a sensation had the analysis revealed smelted iron,” Eckmann says. “Archaeological history would have to be rewritten.”
Identifying meteoritic iron was by no means disappointing though, he adds. The researchers were also able to establish with high probability that the dagger’s artfully wrought handle had once held a different blade, presumably of gold or bronze.
“The handle’s interface with the blade seems somewhat graceless, a clear indication that the blade originally wasn’t part of the dagger,” Eckmann notes. But the “heavenly” blade made the dagger more special.
The researchers were unable to clarify why Tut was equipped with little chisels for his journey to the afterlife.
“Because they’re so small and nondescript, the 16 iron tips with their new-looking wooden handles have attracted little attention,” Eckmann says. “They lie comfortably in your hand and appear to be functional tools for chiselling, for working materials.”
The tomb’s discoverer, British archaeologist Howard Carter, supposed they were modelling tools. Another supposition is that they were used for the ancient Egyptian opening-of-the-mouth ritual, performed so that the deceased could eat and drink in the afterlife.
“We can’t conclusively answer this question,” Eckmann says.
The examination of the iron artefacts was a spin-off of a larger RGZM project involving the study and restoration of gold-leaf-ornamented leather applications that were among the trappings of a chariot found in Tut’s tomb. “It was only natural to examine the iron-bladed dagger along with the other weapons,” Eckmann explains.
In 2015, RGZM specialists restoring the funerary mask also looked at the iron headrest. “This gave rise to the idea,” he says, “to examine the other iron artefacts from the tomb in collaboration with our colleagues” at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, which has worked together with the RGZM since the 1990s and whose exhibits include Tut’s mask.
The project involving the leather applications is to be concluded in 2019. – dpa
