The Dagger of King Tutankhamun, the Final Mystery Solved [Reading Science]

Japanese Research Team Announces Non-Destructive 2D Chemical Composition Analysis Results
Scientifically Proves Existing Theories on Uncheol Material and Smelting Location Being 'Foreign'

Dagger discovered in the pyramid of King Tutankhamun in Egypt. Archive photo.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] The dagger of Egypt's "Boy Pharaoh" Tutankhamun, famous for his golden mask, has long been shrouded in mystery. Tutankhamun lived and died during the Late Bronze Age, a period without steel smelting technology, yet a well-forged meteoritic iron dagger was found in his tomb. Naturally, questions arose regarding the material and origin of the dagger. In 2016, research revealed that the dagger was made from meteoritic iron?iron from a meteorite that fell from space?and its origin was presumed to be foreign. Recently, however, a Japanese research team confirmed through analysis of ancient documents that the dagger was introduced from the Mitanni Kingdom, which was established in the Anatolia region of Turkey, a rival of Egypt at the time.

On the 11th, the Japanese research team, including Takafumi Matsui, published a paper on this topic in the international academic journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science. Tutankhamun reigned from 1361 to 1352 BCE and died thereafter. During the tomb excavation in the 1920s, alongside his famous golden mask, a rust-free iron dagger was discovered, attracting significant attention. It was an extraordinary event to find an iron dagger in a Late Bronze Age tomb, as it is generally known that humans acquired iron smelting technology around 1200 BCE.

Earlier research in 2016 revealed that the dagger was made from a meteorite that came from space, solving one of the mysteries. The same study also suggested that the place of manufacture was foreign, not Egypt. By analyzing the "Amarna letters," official correspondence sent by New Kingdom Egyptian governors to the king, the origin of the dagger was identified. The dagger was a gift sent by the king of the Mitanni Kingdom, located in the Anatolia region at the time, to Amenhotep III, Tutankhamun's grandfather. The Amarna letters record that King Tusratta of Mitanni sent an iron dagger decorated with a golden sheath as a marriage gift to Amenhotep III (reigned 1417?1379 BCE).

Restoration of the damaged Tutankhamun beard completed. Photo by SBS News Capture

Since 2020, the research team has conducted non-destructive tests on the dagger at the Cairo Museum in Egypt to investigate its composition and smelting method, scientifically analyzing previous research results. They confirmed that the nickel element distributed on the surface of the dagger blade exhibited the Widmanst?tten pattern, typically found in meteorites. The Widmanst?tten pattern is a unique linear cross-hatched pattern that appears only on the cut surfaces of meteorites that have fallen to Earth from space. Considering this pattern and the nickel content, they concluded that the dagger's material is octahedrite, a type of meteoritic iron (Fe-Ni alloy) with an octahedral structure. Octahedrites account for more than 75% of meteoritic iron. The black spots on the dagger blade were also analyzed as traces of troilite (FeS), commonly found in meteoritic iron.

The team also confirmed that the dagger was cast at a relatively low temperature below 950 degrees Celsius, and that the adhesive material used for the golden hilt was lime rather than gypsum. The use of lime in Egypt began only after the Ptolemaic dynasty (305?30 BCE). Therefore, the golden hilt, bonded with lime, is likely to have been imported from abroad. In this context, archaeologists note that although it was the Bronze Age, artifacts made from meteoritic iron have been frequently excavated. Among them, the oldest iron dagger was discovered in 2008 in the Anatolia region of Turkey and is dated to around 2300 BCE. Archaeologists analyze that the technology to make various objects from meteoritic iron, which has a lower melting point than regular iron, has existed for about 4,300 years.

The research team stated, "The existence of Tutankhamun's steel dagger remained a mystery because iron meteorite smelting technology did not exist in Egypt at that time," and added, "The analysis of non-destructive two-dimensional chemical composition tests suggests that, as recorded in the Amarna letters, the dagger was indeed a gift from King Tusratta."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.