"We suggest that ancient Egyptians attributed great value to meteoritic iron for the production of fine ornamental or ceremonial objects," the team of scientists from Egypt and Italy wrote in their study, published in the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science.
The only two valuable iron artefacts from ancient Egypt so far accurately analyzed are of meteoritic origin, they explained.
"Moreover, the high manufacturing quality of Tutankhamun's dagger blade, in comparison with other simple-shaped meteoritic iron artifacts, suggests a significant mastery of ironworking in Tutankhamun's time."
The researchers used X-ray fluorescence spectrometry to take a picture of what the knife was made out of. The new technique found that the combination of iron, nickel and cobalt "strongly suggests an extraterrestrial origin."
The tomb of Tutankhamun, who died aged 19 in 1324 BC after just nine years on the throne, was discovered by British Egyptologist Howard Carter in 1922.
Of all the iron objects discovered in Tutankhamun's tomb, including 16 miniature iron blades, a miniature head rest, and a bracelet with the Udjat eye of iron, the dagger is the one that has most attracted interest from archaeologists and historians, who believe that the ancient Egyptians knew they were working with meteoric iron.
"The ancient Egyptians, in the wake of other ancient people of the Mediterranean area, were aware that these rare chunks of iron fell from the sky already in the 13th C. BCE, anticipating Western culture by more than two millennia," the authors concluded.
