Iron Age Artifacts From Poland Found to be Cosmic, Contain Materials Harnessed From Outer Space

Meteors as a concept is no longer surprising for most. Many meteors have been observed and analyzed over multiple decades, with elements of it being used in several facets. The Iron Age population also made use of these rocks in their creations, as evidenced by a cache discovered in Poland. A recently published study in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports focuses on the particular cache.

The collections were located at two Early Iron Age cemeteries, separated by a 6km distance. These places were namely Częstochowa-Raków and Częstochowa-Mirów. In total, the cache contained 26 iron artifacts, as per researchers. It was a combination of weapons and ornaments that archaeologists unearthed from graves. The objects included necklaces, knives, bracelets, spearheads, and ankle rings. Examinations unveiled that the sites belonged to the Lusatian Culture and were dated back to 750–600 BCE.

The study's objective was to understand the origin of iron smelting and the nature of objects that were created in that age. "The point of my research is to find out who, when, and where the iron smelting was discovered. To that end, we need to analyze archaeological irons and check whether they are meteoritic or smelted," Dr. Albert Jambon, the lead author of the study said, Phys.org stated.

For the examination, the team applied techniques like Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray microtomography, and portable X-ray fluorescence (p-XRF) analysis. These methodologies helped experts figure out aspects like material composition, internal structure, and elemental distribution of the objects. The results indicated that four artifacts in the collection comprised meteoric iron. This implied that the iron used in those objects was extracted from a meteor that had arrived from space. These objects were bracelets unearthed from the Częstochowa-Raków cemetery and a pin from the Częstochowa-Mirów site. 

The nickel level in the iron implied to experts that the base material for all four artifacts was an ataxite meteorite. This made the artifacts stand apart because such a meteorite is extremely rare to find. The rarity of the meteorite made researchers think that it must have been sourced locally by the artisans. The lead researcher believes that the meteoric shower must have been witnessed by the community, with certain individuals actively going to the field to hunt for its pieces, to make the artifacts. "If you go hunting after a fall, you may find many small pieces until they are covered by the vegetation. [A] one kg piece will make a hole in the ground about 20 cm deep. If it rains, which may happen in Europe, such small pieces will never be recovered. Recovering workable pieces is more likely after a witnessed fall," Dr. Jambon explained.

How these artifacts were found further clarified that meteoric iron was not highly valuable during the Iron Age. The objects were scattered in graves implying that there was no consideration that anybody could or could not be buried with the element. Though the number of objects wasn't huge it was still an important discovery for archaeologists. "This modest number of specimens nevertheless forms one of the biggest collections of meteoritic iron products at one archaeological site worldwide,” researchers explained in the study.