Metal from beyond our world found in ancient treasure trove

When archaeologists unearthed a Bronze Age treasure trove more than 60 years ago, they thought their discovery was out-of-this-world.

Little did they know how true that was.

Because it turns out that parts of the hoard, known as the Treasure of Villena, were crafted from extraterrestrial metal.

The ancient collection consists of 59 gold objects (including 27 bracelets and 11 bowls), plus some pieces made of silver or iron.

And yet, whilst the iron may not initially seem as exciting as the gold, it is, in fact, a lot more interesting.

When experts made the stunning find in a gravel pit in Alicante, Spain, back in 1963, they noticed some unusual details in some of these iron pieces.

Researchers at the time noted that the gold-plated pommel of a sword hilt and an open bracelet were made up of “a dark leaden metal” which is “shiny in some areas, and covered with a ferrous-looking oxide that is mostly cracked,” El País reports.

However, it’s taken till now for scientists to confirm that these two pieces “are the first objects found in the Iberian Peninsula that were made with material from beyond planet Earth.”

The iron sphere topped with a gold sheet may have once decorated a sword's pommel ((Museo de Villena))

A study, published in the journal Trabajos de Prehistoria, revealed that the iron used in these two artefacts originated from a meteorite that fell to Earth around one million years ago, according to Live Science.

For the new study, researchers tested the hollow sphere-shaped sword piece and the C-shaped bracelet, deducing that they had been made between 1400 and 1200 BC.

"The connection between gold and iron is important, as both elements have a great symbolic and social value," one of the study’s senior authors, Ignacio Montero-Ruiz, told Live Science.

"In this case, [the items] were … probably hidden treasure that could have belonged to a whole community and not to a single person. There were no kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula at this historical period."

This bracelet might not look like much now, but it is, truly, priceless ()

To conduct their research, Montero-Ruiz and his team used mass spectrometry to measure traces of iron-nickel alloy in the artefacts that were comparable to that found in meteoric iron.

While it remains unclear who crafted the treasures and where exactly they came from, Montero-Ruiz and his colleagues confirmed that these are both the first and oldest meteoritic iron objects found in the region.

“These two pieces of iron had enormous value," Montero-Ruiz told El País. "For this reason, they were considered worthy of becoming part of this spectacular ensemble with numerous delicate gold objects.

"Who manufactured them and where this material was obtained are still questions that remain to be answered.”

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