Spanish scientists came to a surprising conclusion while studying the famous Vilhena treasure, discovered 60 years ago. Researchers discovered that two Bronze Age items - a simple bracelet and a hemispherical ornament - were made of meteoritic iron. The article about this discovery was published in the prestigious scientific journal Trabajos de Prehistoria.
Treasure of Vilnius: a masterpiece of European jewelry art
This treasure, discovered in 1963 in the province of Alicante, consists of 66 precious items, most of which are made of pure gold. According to archaeologists, this collection dates back to 1500-1200 BC and is considered one of the most important monuments of the Bronze Age throughout Europe.
However, two items in the treasure's composition have long puzzled experts:
- The Iron Riddle: The hollow hemisphere (possibly a piece of a sword handle), resembling rusty iron in appearance, and the bracelet did not correspond to the general era of the treasure.
- Time difference: The Iron Age in the Iberian Peninsula only began around 850 BC. This means that these objects would have appeared 300-400 years after the hoard was created.
Meteorite iron and the secrets of chemical analysis
The solution turned out to be related to "space metallurgy." Scientists knew the main difference between iron ore on Earth and meteoritic iron falling from the sky: meteorites contain a very high amount of nickel.
With the permission of the Vilnius Archaeological Museum, specialists took microprobes from these objects and analyzed them using mass spectrometry. The results showed that, despite the strong corrosion process, the metallic composition fully corresponds to meteoritic iron. This proves that these items were created simultaneously with other gold items of the treasury - in the 14th-12th centuries BC.
The Skills of Ancient Masters and New Research
This find may go down in history as the first artifacts made of meteoritic iron on the Iberian Peninsula. This indicates that the jewelers of the Bronze Age were highly skilled in processing not only gold, but also rare metals that "fell from the sky."
Nevertheless, scientists are not in a hurry to reach a final conclusion. Due to the very poor condition of the metal, in the future it is planned to conduct additional analyses using modern non-invasive methods that do not damage the products.
Do you think our ancestors knew about the superiority of meteoritic iron over earthly metal or its "divine" origin?
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