WEBVTT - From the Vault: Meteoric Metal and Alien Iron, Part 1 0:00:06.200 --> 0:00:09.080 Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. My name 0:00:09.160 --> 0:00:11.719 is Robert Lamb. We're out this week, so we have 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:14.319 some episodes from the vault here for you. This is 0:00:14.360 --> 0:00:18.239 going to be part one of our series on meteoric 0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:21.680 metal and alien iron. This one originally published five seven, 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:22.959 twenty twenty four. 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:30.280 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, the production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:39.000 Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. My 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:40.440 name is Robert Lamb. 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:42.760 And I'm Joe McCormick. And today on Stuff to Blow 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:44.559 Your Mind, we wanted to kick off a series of 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:52.199 episodes on tools, blades, weapons, artifacts, ceremonial ornaments, and various 0:00:52.200 --> 0:00:55.920 things things made by humans out of materials that came 0:00:56.040 --> 0:01:00.640 from outer space, particularly stuff made from mediorite iron. 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:04.200 Yeah. So, whether you've listened to our show before or not, 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:07.440 you're probably familiar with the three age system of classifying 0:01:07.480 --> 0:01:12.280 ancient civilizations, defining them by their material and the technological 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:15.720 level of advancement for that given civilization. And this is 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:19.119 not without its complexity and even its controversy, as we'll 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:22.280 get into, but it divides things into the Stone Age, 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:25.800 the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. In this series 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:27.480 of episodes, from stuff to blow your mind. We're going 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:30.720 to be dealing predominantly with the age of bronze, typified 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:35.920 by its bronze production and lasting very roughly, and these 0:01:36.000 --> 0:01:39.680 dates are not solid for all places and civilizations. A 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:44.120 strong caveat there from somewhere around thirty three hundred to 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:47.960 twelve hundred BCE. So we're dealing with a very amorphous 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:52.160 period of time here, and the transference into the Age 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:55.760 of Iron is much the same. But before we jump 0:01:55.880 --> 0:01:58.080 into the key example that we're going to be looking 0:01:58.080 --> 0:01:59.880 at in this episode, I just wanted to share a 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:03.120 couple of quotes to perhaps help put this time frame 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:06.880 in perspective and even cast a different light on civilization 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:10.920 before the widespread production and use of iron. Both of 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:16.040 these are from books that deal more specifically with Chinese 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:20.400 technology and Chinese history, but I believe some of the 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:23.640 takeaways from both of these quotes are just appliable across 0:02:23.639 --> 0:02:26.400 the board. So this first one is a quote from 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:31.200 John Key in his book A History of China. He writes, quote, Indeed, 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:34.240 bronze came to occupy much the same position in ancient 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:37.359 China as stone in the contemporary civilization of Egypt or 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:41.880 later those of Iran, Persia and Greece. Enormous effort was 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:47.360 devoted to producing bronzewere highly sophisticated ideas were expressed through it. 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:50.680 Some of the earliest inscriptions were found on it, and 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:55.800 its durability has ensured that plentiful examples have survived. And 0:02:55.840 --> 0:02:58.880 this other quote is from Joseph Needham, whose work we've 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:01.880 discussed in the show before, from Science and Society in 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:05.480 Ancient China quote, it looks as if the earliest kings 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:09.520 or feudal princes recognized bronze metallurgy to be the basis 0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:13.360 of feudal power over the Neolithic peasantry because of the 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:17.480 superior arms which it rendered possible, and therefore they appropriated 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:21.960 that the technique of metalworking. So what I like about 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:24.160 these two quotes is I think they helped drive home 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:26.720 that bronze was not only a material for tools, but 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:30.079 a material through which culture was made manifest, as well 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:32.520 as a source of power, both in physical weaponry and 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:35.880 even just as an idea. And while these examples, again 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:38.840 are both from texts that focus exclusively on Chinese history, 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:40.839 I think you can sort of get a broader take 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:44.320 home from them, Like I said earlier, So on top 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:46.000 of that, I would say, also, I think it's essential 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:48.320 to keep in mind that the Bronze age was far 0:03:48.360 --> 0:03:53.120 from just a period between or a precursor to something 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:55.560 better or more advanced. It was a time of great 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:58.400 technological and cultural advancement. It was the age of the 0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:03.080 wheel of irrigation, writing systems, enhanced weaponry, and much more. 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:07.240 And it's not merely the time before iron. It is 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:11.040 the time that gave birth to iron technology as well well. 0:04:11.080 --> 0:04:13.080 And I think that can really be driven home in 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:17.200 the fact that iron is not even necessarily for all 0:04:17.320 --> 0:04:20.880 uses a superior metal to bronze. Bronze could be considered 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:26.039 materially superior in some ways. It's just that iron, once 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:29.040 you have the technology to smelt it and then work 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:32.080 it in the high temperatures you need, it is easier 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:34.360 to produce at mass scales and cheaper. 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:36.760 Yeah, I mean, there's definitely from what I've read, there's 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:41.080 definitely a period of time in which your early smelted 0:04:41.160 --> 0:04:44.080 iron tools, weapons, what have you are not going to 0:04:44.120 --> 0:04:49.160 be as durable and as highly efficient as the high 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:53.000 end bronze weapons and tools of that same time period. 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:55.159 But you can make more of them. 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:57.880 Right, right, But eventually, of course iron comes to. 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:00.000 Dominate, especially in the form of steel. 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:03.479 Yes, I know some will say steel isn't strong, flesh 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:07.839 is strong, YadA, YadA, YadA, but steel's pretty strong. Well. 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:10.000 I do want to start within one of the regional 0:05:10.000 --> 0:05:14.640 Bronze ages to start off today's episode by looking at 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:19.760 a very intriguing and mysterious artifact from ancient Egypt. This 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:23.760 is a dagger from the stars found buried alongside the 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:28.120 pharaoh tutin Common. So the tomb of the eighteenth dynasty 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:32.840 Egyptian pharaoh tutin Common was uncovered by the British archaeologist 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:37.320 Howard Carter and his team in nineteen twenty two. Tuton 0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:41.560 Common reigned from thirteen sixty one to thirteen fifty two BCE, 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:45.560 becoming king around the age of nine or so, unruling 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:50.320 until his early death around the age of eighteen. Tutin 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:53.160 Common is thought to have been a son of the 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:57.039 pharaoh Akinaten, though from what I understand this relationship is 0:05:57.040 --> 0:06:00.880 not totally certain. There is a DNA relation to another 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:04.240 mummy that has been found that is presumed to be Acinatin, 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:07.480 but it's not known for sure. Acintin, his likely father, 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:12.480 was notable for trying to replace the traditional polytheistic religion 0:06:12.520 --> 0:06:16.440 of Egypt with a it's debatable how to characterize this, 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:22.240 but a monotheistic or monolteristic or perhaps henotheistic, whatever you 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:25.760 call it, focus on a single god, an emphasis of 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:28.480 one God above all the others from the Egyptian pantheon, 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:31.520 and that is the solar deity Aughtan, which took the 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:34.880 form of the disk of the Sun. We've talked about 0:06:34.880 --> 0:06:37.640 that sort of attempt to go one God early in 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:41.280 Egypt before, but this shift did not last long after 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:45.720 Acinatin's death, and one of Tutonkommon's main accomplishments as pharaoh 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:50.040 seems to have been the restoration of the old polytheistic cults. 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:54.880 Yeah, the rejection of new coke and the reacceptance of 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:55.720 old coke. 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:59.120 Play in the hits getting the old gang together. So 0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:03.160 Tummons Tomb was considered a very special discovery in the 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:08.080 twentieth century because even though it had been partially looted 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:11.280 at least twice shortly after it was sealed, it was 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:15.600 still considered relatively intact compared to other tombs. So many 0:07:15.680 --> 0:07:18.600 of the original grave goods were still in place, and 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:20.600 this was not really the case at all for most 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:23.760 of the other royal tombs of ancient Egypt. They were 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:27.200 mostly scoured by grave robbers thousands of years ago. This 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:31.080 is sometimes misstated as saying that that tuten Coommon's Tune 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:33.920 tomb had never been disturbed, and that's not true. It 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:36.280 was robbed long ago like all the rest of them, 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:39.320 it just didn't get robbed as much. And some have 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:44.120 speculated that Tuten Common's tomb was relatively well preserved because 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:47.200 the entrance got covered up by stuff and people pretty 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:50.520 quickly forgot where it was. And so when this tomb 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:54.280 was rediscovered in the twentieth century, it contained a wealth 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:57.920 of treasures and a beautiful, wonderful glimpse into the past. 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:00.960 So for a taste of the variety of objects found 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:03.760 in the tomb, I just wanted to read directly from 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:07.120 the diary entry of Howard Carter describing the day of 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:10.840 November twenty sixth, nineteen twenty two, when his team finally 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:13.240 cleared away the last of the rubble from the passageway 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:16.960 into the tomb and got the first look inside. So 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:20.559 Carter writes, quote, it was some time before one could see. 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:24.000 The hot air escaping caused the candle to flicker, But 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:26.840 as soon as one's eyes became accustomed to the glimmer 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:30.640 of light, the interior of the chamber gradually loomed before one, 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:34.680 with its strange and wonderful medley of extraordinary and beautiful 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:39.400 objects heaped upon one another. There was naturally short suspense 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:42.520 for those present who could not see. When Lord Carnivon 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:46.000 said to me, can you see anything? I replied to him, yes, 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:49.320 it is wonderful. I then, with precaution, made the whole 0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:52.240 sufficiently large for both of us to see. With the 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:55.240 light of an electric torch as well as an additional candle, 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:59.839 we looked in. Our sensations and astonishment are difficult to describe, 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:02.959 as the better light revealed to us the marvelous collection 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:06.800 of treasures. Two strange ebony black effigies of a king, 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:11.440 gold sandaled bearing staff and mace loomed out from the 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:16.160 cloak of darkness. Gilded couches in strange forms lion headed, 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:23.840 hathor headed, and beast infernal, exquisitely painted inlaid and ornamental caskets, flowers, 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:29.000 alabaster vases, some beautifully executed of lotus and papyrus device, 0:09:29.600 --> 0:09:33.880 strange black shrines with a gilded monster snake appearing from within, 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:39.000 quite ordinary looking white chests, finely carved chairs, a golden 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:43.640 inlaid throne, a heap of large, curious white oviform boxes 0:09:43.960 --> 0:09:47.520 beneath our very eyes on the threshold, a lovely lodiform 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:51.839 wishing cup in translucent alabaster, stools of all shapes and 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:56.280 design of both common and rare materials. And lastly, a 0:09:56.320 --> 0:10:01.040 confusion of overturned parts of chariots glinting with gold, peering 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:04.840 from amongst which was a mannequin, the first impression of 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:07.800 which suggested the property room of an opera of a 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:12.800 vanished civilization. Our sensations were bewildering and full of strange emotion. 0:10:13.320 --> 0:10:15.880 We questioned one another as to the meaning of it all. 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:19.240 Was it a tomb or merely a cash A sealed 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:23.040 doorway between the two sentinel statues proved there was more beyond, 0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:26.320 and with the numerous cartouches bearing the name of Touton 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:29.440 common on most of the objects before us, there was 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:33.880 little doubt that there behind was the grave of that pharaoh. 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:37.719 Yeah, yeah, I like the atmosphere. He captures here in 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:38.360 this description. 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:41.280 One of my favorite things is the description of the 0:10:41.640 --> 0:10:45.560 disassembled parts of the chariot all there piled. 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:46.040 Up in the tomb. 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:50.559 Anyway, documenting the contents of the tomb went on for 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:54.640 years after the initial discovery, and one of the objects 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:58.679 found later, this was in nineteen twenty five. This was 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:02.920 buried right alone along with the pharaoh's body. One of 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:06.440 these artifacts, it was a beautiful dagger. In fact, there 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:09.680 were two daggers buried with toot and common, one made 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:13.640 of gold and another made of iron. And ironically it's 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:16.600 the iron dagger that I would like to focus on, 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:19.080 so Rob, I've got some pictures for you to look 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:23.240 at here, sort of like with different sides of the 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:26.920 dagger facing and then different types of illumination. But the 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:30.120 iron dagger is a little over a foot long, and 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:32.640 it was found not only within the king's tomb, but 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:37.520 with his mummified remains inside the inner coffin, and in fact, 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:40.599 not only in the inner coffin, but literally inside the 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:44.800 king's wrappings, so wrapped up with him up against his thigh, 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:47.120 the gold dagger was apparently on his abdomen. 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:51.120 Yeah, it's a very splendid looking weapon, and there are 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:53.720 no shortage of images of this, you can easily look 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:54.560 up online. 0:11:55.040 --> 0:11:57.520 So the knife has a handle made out of gold 0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:01.200 with a crystal knob on the end, sort of very 0:12:01.200 --> 0:12:05.319 smooth and rounded off crystal knob, and a golden sheath 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:09.840 decorated with images of on one part a repeating feather pattern. 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:13.840 There are flowers I think maybe supposed to be lilli's, 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:18.080 and there's also a jackal's head. And surprisingly, this dagger 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:21.520 made out of iron remained relatively rust free for all 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:26.320 these centuries. Though it does have blemishes, they're not rust Instead, 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:28.880 it has black spots in the middle that to me 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:30.640 almost look like lunar maria. 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:31.720 They're these sort. 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:35.200 Of you know, strange, beautiful little black depressions that have 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:38.080 almost geographical looking edges. 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:38.880 Yeah. 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:40.400 Yeah, So this. 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:43.880 Dagger made of iron was instantly quite interesting to experts 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:47.480 because it was made of iron. Toot In Common lived 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:51.520 at a time when iron artifacts were quite rare in Egypt, 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:57.320 not completely non existent, but precious and few. We associate 0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:01.560 iron today with raw utility. I think of like just 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:05.079 stacks of rebar and stuff, you know, Like we think 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:08.920 of its hardness and toughness and its ready availability. So, 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:12.080 of course iron and steel, steel being a product of iron, 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:16.719 are thought of as useful for making durable workaday tools 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:21.160 machine parts, in architecture, for making bridges and framing buildings 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:25.160 and so forth. But in Tutan Commons Egypt, the evidence 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:29.480 indicates that the rare iron artifacts that did exist were 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:34.960 treated instead as sacred, decorative and ceremonial items, more like 0:13:35.040 --> 0:13:41.160 we treat gold and silver today, except perhaps even more precious. Now, 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:45.120 why would something as cheap, abundant and mundane as iron 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:49.400 be treated as precious sacred material. It seems to be 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:53.600 because at the time iron was anything but abundant and mundane. 0:13:53.760 --> 0:13:57.480 The mundane iron that we think of today is extracted 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:00.000 from iron ore that we mine out of the ground, 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:04.520 and then we extract in pure metallic form from its 0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:09.040 ore form in extremely hot furnaces. And while there were 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:12.040 plenty of iron ore deposits in the deserts of Egypt, 0:14:12.160 --> 0:14:15.080 there was not a widespread industry that was able to 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:19.520 separate pure metallic iron from its ore in the region 0:14:19.680 --> 0:14:25.080 until several hundred years later. Now, why was iron harder 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:27.880 to work with and extract than other metals such as 0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:32.040 the copper tin alloy that forms the basis of ancient bronze. 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:34.600 I think that there's sort of a more complicated answer 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:36.880 and a sort of a simpler answer, And the simpler 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:39.520 answer is basically higher melting point, Like it takes more 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:43.840 energy to extract iron from its ore, and it takes 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:46.240 more heat to make it malleable and workable once it 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:47.080 is extracted. 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:49.240 Yeah, yeah, I remember we went into some of this 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:51.280 back when we did an episode on the One Ring 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:54.400 of the Lord of the Rings, and you know, talking 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:56.960 about what kind of metals would would melt or not 0:14:57.120 --> 0:15:01.080 melt the constraints that are laid out in the text. 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:07.120 However, there was one source of pure or to some 0:15:07.240 --> 0:15:13.359 degree pure metallic iron available before the smelting process was developed, 0:15:13.960 --> 0:15:19.160 and that source of metallic iron was meteorites, chunks of 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:23.240 iron that fell from space. So experts have for a 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:26.960 long time suggested that maybe King Tut's dagger, and not 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:29.760 just his dagger, but other iron artifacts that were also 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:32.480 found within the tomb and other iron artifacts from ancient 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:37.760 Egypt from this period and before, were in fact meteoric 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:40.720 in origin, that they were hammered out of iron that 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:42.440 fell to Earth from the sky. 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:46.400 So your exploitive headline here, of course, is ancient Egyptian 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:51.800 to use space weapons, and I've seen various indulgences of 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:55.160 that sort of thing. But I mean, yeah, you're not 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:58.000 too far off the mark with that, even if you 0:15:58.040 --> 0:16:01.440 are implying things that are not true as well. I've 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:03.880 even seen alien weapons mentioned before. 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:07.280 Now before those of you get too excited, no this, 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:08.920 this is not ancient alien stuff. 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:09.800 No, this would be. 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:12.520 This does not need to be a gift from aliens 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:15.560 that came from above, because meteorites still land on Earth today. 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:18.080 They land naturally. People can find them. 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:21.640 Right right, And that of course is especially true if 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:26.040 you if in one or two situations with meteorites, is 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:30.920 it dramatic in its entry or do you have an 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:34.320 environment in which objects like this are easy to find, 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:37.840 such as a desert. So you will find various desert 0:16:37.920 --> 0:16:40.960 environments where there is a long tradition of gathering such 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:44.560 meteorites because they stand out more. But you know, even 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:46.800 if you see or think you see something fall, you 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:49.760 can also get into trouble trying to to find what 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:54.880 fell from the sky. We've talked about the the phenomena 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:58.400 of star jelly before. This is where someone sees a 0:16:58.400 --> 0:17:01.640 shooting star or things of meteorite fallen in their general 0:17:01.720 --> 0:17:04.159 vicinity and they go out into the woods and they 0:17:04.160 --> 0:17:07.080 start poking around. Do they find something that they think 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:09.760 looks weird? And it may be like just some sort 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:13.440 of slimy substance in the forest. It's a slimy substance 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:15.840 that was always there or is frequently there, but they 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:17.600 just never went out and poked it and looked for 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:19.560 it before. So ultimately you have to know what you're doing. 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:22.480 But a desert environment can be a real gift to 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:23.680 the meteorite. 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:24.600 Hunter, that's right. 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:28.200 So what is a meteorite, Well, a meteorite is, in short, 0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:32.199 any solid natural object that falls from space through our 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:36.359 atmosphere and reaches the surface of the Earth intact. And 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:40.080 this usually means a chunk of a rocky asteroid. It 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:42.840 seems that's what it is in most cases, but some 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:46.800 cases could possibly mean pieces of comets or even pieces 0:17:46.800 --> 0:17:49.760 of other planets. Sometimes there'll be an impact and a 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:52.960 piece of Mars or something else breaks off and will 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:57.879 end up falling to Earth somehow. Now, most meteorites found 0:17:57.880 --> 0:18:02.480 on Earth are not primarily of iron. There are three 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:07.240 main types of meteorites. You've got stony meteorites, which are 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:11.840 made mostly of silicon based rock. There are iron meteorites, 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:14.879 which are primarily made of solid metal, mostly iron, with 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:17.840 some nickel and other trace metals. And then there's a 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:21.320 hybrid category which are often considered quite beautiful. Maybe the 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:25.840 most visually striking of all of them, the stony iron meteorites, 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:29.040 which are a pretty close to even mix of iron 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:32.840 metal and silicate rock. Now, iron meteorites are not the 0:18:32.880 --> 0:18:36.320 most common types of meteorites to fall to Earth. I've 0:18:36.680 --> 0:18:40.000 read estimates that they're only about like five or six 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:43.399 percent of meteorite falls. But they are sometimes easier to 0:18:43.520 --> 0:18:46.280 find than stony meteorites, and this might be in part 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:49.160 due to their durability and the environment and the really 0:18:49.200 --> 0:18:52.440 stick around, but also probably in part because they look 0:18:52.640 --> 0:18:57.119 weirder and more alien. And stony meteorites can look a 0:18:57.160 --> 0:18:59.159 lot of different ways, but rob I just attached a 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:00.920 few examples for you to look at. A lot of 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:04.800 stony meteorites you could easily mistake for an earth based rock, 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:08.520 but iron meteorites more often, I guess you could still 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:11.000 mistake them for an earth based rock, but more of 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:12.919 them look like really strange. 0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:17.480 Yeah, they have a very novel appearance that even the 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:20.600 novice would would likely look at and think, well, that's interesting. 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:23.280 I should pick that up and maybe take this back 0:19:23.320 --> 0:19:26.080 and show it to someone who knows what's up with rocks, 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:31.359 because yeah, they have this fascinating kind of you know, 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:35.480 like cool liquid kind of appearance with all these dimples 0:19:35.520 --> 0:19:37.159 and creases and so forth. 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:40.639 Why is this a metal brain the size of a 0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:42.199 bear in the middle of the desert? 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:43.080 What is that? 0:19:44.160 --> 0:19:48.720 Iron meteorites are thought to probably be the remaining cores 0:19:48.800 --> 0:19:52.480 of asteroids that at some point asteroids or parts of 0:19:52.600 --> 0:19:57.359 former planetesimals that at some point melted and then re solidified. 0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:00.280 They're mostly made of iron, Like I said, they have 0:20:00.320 --> 0:20:03.440 some nickel content, as well as other traces of minerals 0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:08.119 and metals, some cobalt content, some phosphorus, some sulfur, and 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:11.760 so forth. They are often found on Earth covered in 0:20:11.800 --> 0:20:16.280 a black or rusty crust of iron oxide that forms 0:20:16.280 --> 0:20:19.400 as they travel through the atmosphere. And there are two 0:20:19.400 --> 0:20:23.920 primary minerals found in iron meteorites. You've got camosite, which 0:20:23.960 --> 0:20:28.520 has relatively less nickel, and taanite, which has relatively more 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:33.080 Within iron meteorites. These two minerals camosite and taanite are 0:20:33.480 --> 0:20:38.480 quite often found in an interesting interlocking crystal structure, which 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:42.040 when you cut a cross section of one of these 0:20:42.160 --> 0:20:45.360 meteorites and you treat it with a weak or diluted acid, 0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:49.919 it reveals this repeating arrangement of lines known as a 0:20:50.080 --> 0:20:54.720 Vidmnstottin pattern. And to try to describe this, it looks 0:20:54.800 --> 0:20:58.720 kind of like a texture of infinite triangles within triangles, 0:20:58.880 --> 0:21:01.879 or you might say, like a actal representation of a 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:04.440 capital letter A in the English alphabet. 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:08.040 Yeah, it looks very very sci fi, very futuristic, kind 0:21:08.040 --> 0:21:12.000 of like some sort of you know, a chrome etching 0:21:12.280 --> 0:21:15.760 of the interior scaffolding of the death Star or something. 0:21:16.440 --> 0:21:18.800 To come back to our stuff on, anomalous imagery is 0:21:18.840 --> 0:21:20.560 one of those things that there are all kinds of 0:21:20.600 --> 0:21:24.000 patterns like this in nature that make people say that's technology, 0:21:24.119 --> 0:21:27.120 but no, that's just what these crystals do. And in fact, 0:21:27.520 --> 0:21:31.840 the way this specifically looks seems to be a result 0:21:32.040 --> 0:21:37.080 of creating a two dimensional cross sectional representation of an 0:21:37.160 --> 0:21:42.080 underlying three dimensional structure that's known as an octahedral. So 0:21:42.119 --> 0:21:47.359 an octahedron is a polyhedron, a three dimensional structure with 0:21:47.640 --> 0:21:51.800 eight faces. So you can picture like two four sided 0:21:51.880 --> 0:21:55.280 pyramids joined at the square base. Or if you're a 0:21:55.359 --> 0:21:57.680 D and D player, you just picture a D eight die. 0:21:58.560 --> 0:22:00.160 Yeah, yeah, that's sematar damage. 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:03.840 So the octahedral structure is created by the interaction of 0:22:03.880 --> 0:22:08.159 these two different minerals chemousite and taanite. They formed these 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:11.159 different bands and boundaries, and then when they come together 0:22:11.240 --> 0:22:12.680 like that and you cut through the middle of a 0:22:12.720 --> 0:22:14.720 meteorite and you look at the pattern it makes. It's 0:22:14.760 --> 0:22:26.720 this Vidmuin Stottin pattern. Now, we might come back and 0:22:26.760 --> 0:22:30.320 talk more about iron meteorites themselves in the next episode. 0:22:30.320 --> 0:22:33.640 But an interesting question is, so it was proposed long 0:22:33.680 --> 0:22:36.040 ago that King Tut's dagger, as well as many of 0:22:36.080 --> 0:22:39.280 these other iron artifacts, were made out of meteorite iron. 0:22:39.840 --> 0:22:43.199 But is the dagger really meteorite iron? And if so, 0:22:43.400 --> 0:22:47.240 how could we know? Well, there have been multiple investigations 0:22:47.240 --> 0:22:49.359 of this over the years, and they've come up with 0:22:49.760 --> 0:22:52.239 For a while, they came up with conflicting results. There 0:22:52.320 --> 0:22:57.160 was some controversy over this, were different results, different investigators 0:22:57.160 --> 0:22:59.840 came to different conclusions. But it seems to be that 0:22:59.880 --> 0:23:04.440 the more recent research points very strongly to a meteoric origin. 0:23:04.600 --> 0:23:07.560 So I'll mention a couple of studies. One is by 0:23:07.680 --> 0:23:12.160 Daniellocomelli at All that was published in the journal Metiorritics 0:23:12.200 --> 0:23:15.600 and Planetary Science in the year twenty sixteen, and it's 0:23:15.640 --> 0:23:21.080 called the metiorritic origin of Toutencommon's Iron Dagger Blade. Now, 0:23:21.160 --> 0:23:24.240 one thing that is an obstacle when you're investigating this 0:23:24.280 --> 0:23:27.960 sort of thing is method because modern science has lots 0:23:28.000 --> 0:23:32.280 of very powerful tools of chemical analysis, but many of 0:23:32.320 --> 0:23:35.800 them are destructive techniques, so you would have to destroy 0:23:35.920 --> 0:23:39.080 some small part of the artifact in order to analyze it. 0:23:39.160 --> 0:23:43.880 And for obvious historical preservation reasons, researchers wanted to avoid 0:23:44.000 --> 0:23:47.960 having to destroy part of a priceless historical dagger in 0:23:48.040 --> 0:23:51.080 order to figure out what it's made of. So this investigation, 0:23:51.119 --> 0:23:53.760 which by the way, the team was made up of 0:23:53.800 --> 0:23:59.280 both Italian and Egyptian researchers, they use non destructive methods 0:24:00.000 --> 0:24:03.639