Iron that fell from the Sky: Tracing the Meteoritic Origins of a Bronze Age Arrowhead

Photo Source - Google

A 19th-century-discovered Bronze Age arrowhead from Switzerland, made of meteoritic iron, traces its origins to Estonia.

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Geologist Beda Hofmann and his team from the Bern-based institutions discovered the artifact.

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Scarce iron during the Bronze Age led our ancestors to use meteoritic iron for their tools and weapons.

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The arrowhead's unique composition points to its origins from a class of meteorites, specifically the Kaalijarv meteorite from Estonia.

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The artifact's location, roughly 1,600 kilometres from where its meteorite fell, suggests it traveled via ancient trade routes.

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The arrowhead was found with traces of pitch, likely from a birch tree, used for affixing it to an arrow shaft.

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This discovery indicates prehistoric trade networks connected central Europe with far-flung regions like Northern Europe.

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The Kaalijarv meteorite fall provided ample workable metal, hinting at similar objects traded through prehistoric networks.

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Only 54 meteoric iron artifacts have been recovered since the 19th century from 21 sites across Eurasia and North Africa, signaling wide trade distribution.

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