* Astronomy

When King Tutankhamen died, about 1400 BC, he was buried with one of the most lavish funerals of all time. When it was discovered in 1922, the tomb contained more gold than the Royal Bank of Egypt at the time. Tutankhamen had with him a truly royal weapon: an iron dagger with a hilt and sheath of gold decorated with rock crystal. The dagger blade had not rusted in more than 3000 years, and we do not know how it was forged. A set of 16 small iron chisels was also buried with the king. This gives some idea of the value of iron at the time. (Tutankhamen's tomb also contained a dagger with a gold blade: when artefacts from the tomb went on a world display tour, the golden dagger went along, but the iron dagger was too precious to risk, and stayed in Cairo)

Iron is a common element in the earth's crust, but it almost always occurs as a compound: it is very rarely to find it naturally as metallic iron. Occasionally an iron meteorite will fall from space, to provide a "magical" source of the metal. Such rare occurrences allowed a few smiths to discover the valuable properties of iron, because meteoritic iron was used to make swords and daggers (including Tutankhamen's). Aztec chiefs had iron knives made from meteoritic iron, again prized more highly than gold.

In this period iron was made into ornaments, signifying its rarity. Apart from Tutankhamen's dagger, we have a battle-axe from Ugarit, in Syria, dated about 1450-1350 BC. It has a bronze hilt decorated with gold, and an iron blade that contained nickel. The iron may have been alloyed with nickel deliberately, or it may have been meteoritic iron. But the blade had been forged into mild steel, with 0.4% carbon. These items show a great deal of metallurgical sophistication, but at the same time they reflect the great value attributed to well-worked iron objects. About 1700 BC the King of Carchemish sent a royal gift to the city-state of Mari, an iron bracelet. Homer, composing much later a historical story about Bronze Age traditions, says that iron was awarded as a prize in athletic competitions, along with gold and women.

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