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Extra-terrestrial treasure: Prehistoric links to outer space found in Alicante province
29/02/2024
OUTER space and the Bronze Age do not sit well in the same sentence – they may both have existed at the same time, but anyone based on Earth back then would not have known much, or anything, about what lies beyond.
Yet, inadvertently – or so it is believed – material from space found its way into the craft and tool workshops of Spain back in the 10th to the 13th centuries B.C.E. (BC).
Archaeologists have revealed astonishing new information about findings from a dig in Villena, western Alicante province, that have been on display in the local museum for 60 years.
An article published in Science Alert says parts of the 59 objects that form the Tesoro de Villena ('Treasure of Villena') were made with 'extra-terrestrial' substances that long pre-date the humans who used them.
'Communal treasure': “There were no kings and queens back then”
Discovered in 1963, valuable pieces made from gold, silver, amber and iron – mostly jewellery and other decorative items – have been exhibited at Villena Archaeological Museum ever since, but recent analyses of them have unearthed a whole new backstory.
At least two of the 59, manufactured between 1400 and 1200 B.C.E., were made using steel from a meteorite that had fallen to Earth 'approximately a million years ago', explain researchers.
Some of the other 57 may also have been created using space rocks, but so far, detailed studies have only been made of a C-shaped iron bracelet and a gold-plated hollow sphere with a sword handle engraved onto it.
“The link between gold and steel is important, since both elements carry great symbolic and social value,” explains main research author Ignacio Montero Ruiz, who works for the History Institute of Spain.
“In this case, the artefacts were probably hidden treasure that may have belonged to an entire community, not just one person. There was no aristocracy and no kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula [mainland Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar] during that period in history.”
Experimenting and curiosity were 'integral to our ancestors'
Using mass spectometry – a technology that reveals the relation between mass and molecule load – investigators found traces of iron-nickel alloy 'comparable with' iron from a known meteorite.
“Given the similarity in composition of these two artefacts, we believe both could have come from the same meteorite,” Montero Ruiz writes.
“Iron technology is completely different to alloys based upon copper or precious metals such as gold and silver – back then, people were just starting to work with meteoric iron, and then with terrestrial iron, and they would have been innovating with new techniques.
“It is fascinating to see how early cultures innovated with new technologies; experimenting and curiosity were an integral part of ancient societies.”
Montero Ruiz and his team say the 'Treasure of Villena' items are so far the oldest meteoric iron objects to have been found on the Iberian Peninsula, and offer 'a new vision' of welding practices during the late Bronze Age.
'Newer' space-rock artefacts 'may have come from Spain'
So far, the only other prehistoric artefacts discovered in Europe containing iron from space rocks are an arrow head from around 900 B.C.E., uncovered in Mörigen, Switzerland, and a few similar pieces dating back to approximately 800 B.C.E., found in Poland.
“One possibility is that [the findings in Switzerland and Poland] came from the western Mediterranean, where other contemporary objects are known of – such as the dagger and other elements in the tomb of Tut Ankh Amon,” Montero Ruiz theorises.
“We have no arguments to support there having been a more local production, because the other meteoric iron items in Europe [Switzerland and Poland] are more recent in time [between 400 and 600 years newer than those from Villena].”
Where to find the Bronze Age 'space treasure'
If you want to see for yourself how space rocks became jewellery and trinkets over 3,000 years ago, the Municipal Archaeological Museum – also known as the José María Soler Archaeological Museum and the MUVI – is on the ground floor of Villena town hall, an early 16th-century Renaissance building at number 1 of the C/ Madrid.
It is free of charge to enter, and opens between 11.00 and 14.00, Thursday to Sunday inclusive.
Related Topics
You may also be interested in ...
OUTER space and the Bronze Age do not sit well in the same sentence – they may both have existed at the same time, but anyone based on Earth back then would not have known much, or anything, about what lies beyond.
Yet, inadvertently – or so it is believed – material from space found its way into the craft and tool workshops of Spain back in the 10th to the 13th centuries B.C.E. (BC).
Archaeologists have revealed astonishing new information about findings from a dig in Villena, western Alicante province, that have been on display in the local museum for 60 years.
An article published in Science Alert says parts of the 59 objects that form the Tesoro de Villena ('Treasure of Villena') were made with 'extra-terrestrial' substances that long pre-date the humans who used them.
'Communal treasure': “There were no kings and queens back then”
Discovered in 1963, valuable pieces made from gold, silver, amber and iron – mostly jewellery and other decorative items – have been exhibited at Villena Archaeological Museum ever since, but recent analyses of them have unearthed a whole new backstory.
At least two of the 59, manufactured between 1400 and 1200 B.C.E., were made using steel from a meteorite that had fallen to Earth 'approximately a million years ago', explain researchers.
Some of the other 57 may also have been created using space rocks, but so far, detailed studies have only been made of a C-shaped iron bracelet and a gold-plated hollow sphere with a sword handle engraved onto it.
“The link between gold and steel is important, since both elements carry great symbolic and social value,” explains main research author Ignacio Montero Ruiz, who works for the History Institute of Spain.
“In this case, the artefacts were probably hidden treasure that may have belonged to an entire community, not just one person. There was no aristocracy and no kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula [mainland Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar] during that period in history.”
Experimenting and curiosity were 'integral to our ancestors'
Using mass spectometry – a technology that reveals the relation between mass and molecule load – investigators found traces of iron-nickel alloy 'comparable with' iron from a known meteorite.
“Given the similarity in composition of these two artefacts, we believe both could have come from the same meteorite,” Montero Ruiz writes.
“Iron technology is completely different to alloys based upon copper or precious metals such as gold and silver – back then, people were just starting to work with meteoric iron, and then with terrestrial iron, and they would have been innovating with new techniques.
“It is fascinating to see how early cultures innovated with new technologies; experimenting and curiosity were an integral part of ancient societies.”
Montero Ruiz and his team say the 'Treasure of Villena' items are so far the oldest meteoric iron objects to have been found on the Iberian Peninsula, and offer 'a new vision' of welding practices during the late Bronze Age.
'Newer' space-rock artefacts 'may have come from Spain'
So far, the only other prehistoric artefacts discovered in Europe containing iron from space rocks are an arrow head from around 900 B.C.E., uncovered in Mörigen, Switzerland, and a few similar pieces dating back to approximately 800 B.C.E., found in Poland.
“One possibility is that [the findings in Switzerland and Poland] came from the western Mediterranean, where other contemporary objects are known of – such as the dagger and other elements in the tomb of Tut Ankh Amon,” Montero Ruiz theorises.
“We have no arguments to support there having been a more local production, because the other meteoric iron items in Europe [Switzerland and Poland] are more recent in time [between 400 and 600 years newer than those from Villena].”
Where to find the Bronze Age 'space treasure'
If you want to see for yourself how space rocks became jewellery and trinkets over 3,000 years ago, the Municipal Archaeological Museum – also known as the José María Soler Archaeological Museum and the MUVI – is on the ground floor of Villena town hall, an early 16th-century Renaissance building at number 1 of the C/ Madrid.
It is free of charge to enter, and opens between 11.00 and 14.00, Thursday to Sunday inclusive.
Related Topics
You may also be interested in ...
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