• DOI:10.1111/maps.12120
• Corpus ID: 59452569

Analysis of a prehistoric Egyptian iron bead with implications for the use and perception of meteorite iron in ancient Egypt

@article{Johnson2013AnalysisOA,
  title={Analysis of a prehistoric Egyptian iron bead with implications for the use and perception of meteorite iron in ancient Egypt},
  author={Diane Johnson and Joyce Tyldesley and Tristan Lowe and Philip J. Withers and Monica M. Grady},
  journal={Meteoritics \& Planetary Science},
  year={2013},
  volume={48}
}

• Diane Johnson, J. Tyldesley, +2 authors M. Grady
• Published 1 June 2013
• Geology
• Meteoritics & Planetary Science

Tube‐shaped beads excavated from grave pits at the prehistoric Gerzeh cemetery, approximately 3300 BCE, represent the earliest known use of iron in Egypt. Using a combination of scanning electron microscopy and micro X‐ray microcomputer tomography, we show that microstructural and chemical analysis of a Gerzeh iron bead is consistent with a cold‐worked iron meteorite. Thin fragments of parallel bands of taenite within a meteoritic Widmanstätten pattern are present, with structural distortion caused by cold‐working. The metal fragments retain their original chemistry of approximately 30 wt% nickel. The bulk of the bead is highly oxidized, with only approximately 2.4% of the total bead volume remaining as metal. Our results show that the first known example of the use of iron in Egypt was produced from a meteorite, its celestial origin having implications for both the perception of meteorite iron by ancient Egyptians and the development of metallurgical knowledge in the Nile Valley.