During the time of the Pharaohs, knowledge of iron and steel as well as the techniques of forging and casting these metals was still very limited because they required special furnaces with high temperatures, so the metal tools found during excavations were mainly bronze.

And obviously, they will oxidize and rust over time. However, when excavating the tomb of King Tutankhamun (Tut), archaeologists discovered a dagger that was completely different from the rest, even after more than 3,000 years, it was completely rust-free.

In 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter and his colleagues explored the tomb of the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun, who lived during the 18th dynasty (1332-1323 BC).

The mummy of Pharaoh Tutankhamun was discovered intact, covered with jewelry, amulets and even a dagger with an iron blade.

This raised a big question mark about where this dagger originated because its excellent quality along with the extremely sophisticated patterns probably could not have come from the metalworkers of that time (Bronze Age).

This knife has also raised many questions about the existence of aliens and how the ancient Egyptians could have created it when in the Bronze Age, iron-making technology did not yet exist.

Analyzing the dagger sample, researchers found that there were many components that did not exist on Earth, and this is most likely the reason why this dagger has not rusted after more than 3,000 years.

Archaeologist Mark Altaweel questioned: “How did Pharaoh Tutankhamun get iron when iron basically did not exist? The quality of this dagger is excellent”.

Archaeologist Hendrik van Gijseghem said that no one in the world had the ability to create iron in the Bronze Age. The type of iron used to make the dagger was also not mined by humans.

Portable analyzers can detect the chemical composition of objects using X-rays.

In 2016, a study using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy found that the dagger in King Tut’s tomb was made of iron that was completely non-terrestrial.

The same team also determined that Tutankhamun’s dagger was made of iron containing nearly 11% nickel and cobalt – a silvery-white metal with strong magnetic properties, cobalt and nickel are two typical components of meteorite steel that has fallen to Earth over billions of years.

Scientists believe that ancient Egyptian craftsmen collected them after meteor showers, and they were probably heated by falling from space rather than by forgings of that time.

Metallurgist Albert Jambon scans an iron meteorite with a portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometer.

In addition to the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, scientists have found many other weapons made from meteorite iron in other tombs around the world, such as an axe from Ugarit on the northern coast of Syria, dated to 1400 BC; a dagger from Alaça Hoyuk in Turkey, dated to 2500 BC… all of which date back to the Bronze Age – when iron smelting techniques were not yet available in the world.

The iron dagger from Alaça Höyük in Türkiye dates to 2500 BC – some 1,000 years before the invention of iron smelting.