WEBVTT - Meteoric Metal and Alien Iron, Part 1 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:06.840 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:15.560 Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. My 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:16.960 name is Robert Lamb. 0:00:17.120 --> 0:00:19.320 And I'm Joe McCormick. And today on Stuff to Blow 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:21.119 Your Mind, we wanted to kick off a series of 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:28.760 episodes on tools, blades, weapons, artifacts, ceremonial ornaments, and various 0:00:28.800 --> 0:00:32.520 things things made by humans out of materials that came 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:37.199 from outer space, particularly stuff made from meteorite iron. 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:40.839 Yeah. So, whether you've listened to our show before or not, 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:44.040 you're probably familiar with the three age system of classifying 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:48.920 ancient civilizations, defining them by their material and the technological 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:52.280 level of advancement for that given civilization. And this is 0:00:52.320 --> 0:00:55.680 not without its complexity and even its controversy, as we'll 0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:58.840 get into, but it divides things into the Stone Age, 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:02.360 the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. In this series 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:04.080 of episodes from Stuff to Blow Your Mind, we're going 0:01:04.120 --> 0:01:07.319 to be dealing predominantly with the Age of Bronze, typified 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:12.479 by its bronze production and lasting very roughly. And these 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:16.280 dates are not solid for all places and civilizations. A 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:20.720 strong caveat there from somewhere around thirty three hundred to 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:24.520 twelve hundred BCE, So we're dealing with a very amorphous 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:28.759 period of time here, and the transference into the age 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:32.400 of iron is much the same. But before we jump 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:34.640 into the key example that we're going to be looking 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:36.520 at in this episode, I just wanted to share a 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:39.720 couple of quotes to perhaps help put this time frame 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:43.440 in perspective and even cast a different light on civilization 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:47.520 before the widespread production and use of iron. Both of 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:52.600 these are from books that deal more specifically with Chinese 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:57.000 technology and Chinese history, but I believe some of the 0:01:57.040 --> 0:02:00.240 takeaways from both of these quotes are just appliable across 0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:03.000 the board. So this first one is a quote from 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:07.800 John Key in his book A History of China. He writes, quote, Indeed, 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:10.799 bronze came to occupy much the same position in ancient 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:13.919 China as stone. In the contemporary civilization of Egypt or 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:18.440 later those of Iran, Persia and Greece. Enormous effort was 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:23.920 devoted to producing bronzewear. Highly sophisticated ideas were expressed through it. 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:27.280 Some of the earliest inscriptions were found on it, and 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:32.360 its durability has ensured that plentiful examples have survived. And 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:35.480 this other quote is from Joseph Needham, whose work we've 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:38.440 discussed in the show before, from Science and Society in 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:42.040 Ancient China quote, it looks as if the earliest kings 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:46.120 or feudal princes recognized bronze metallurgy to be the basis 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:49.960 of feudal power over the Neolithic peasantry because of the 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:54.079 superior arms which it rendered possible, and therefore they appropriated 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:58.519 that the technique of metalworking. So what I like about 0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:00.720 these two quotes is I think they helped drive home 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:03.320 that bronze was not only a material for tools, but 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:06.639 a material through which culture was made manifest, as well 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:09.120 as a source of power, both in physical weaponry and 0:03:09.160 --> 0:03:12.480 even just as an idea. And while these examples, again 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:15.440 are both from texts that focus exclusively on Chinese history, 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:17.440 I think you can sort of get a broader take 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:20.919 home from them, Like I said earlier, So on top 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:22.600 of that, I would say, also, I think it's essential 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:24.920 to keep in mind that the Bronze Age was far 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:29.720 from just a period between or a precursor to something 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:31.720 you know better or more advanced. It was a time 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:34.840 of great technological and cultural advancement. It was the age 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:39.000 of the wheel, of irrigation, of writing systems, enhanced weaponry, 0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:43.080 and much more. And it's not merely the time before iron. 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:46.400 It is the time that gave birth to iron technology 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:47.640 as well well. 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:49.560 And I think that that can really be driven home 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:52.960 in the fact that iron is not even necessarily for 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:56.920 all uses a superior metal to bronze. Bronze could be 0:03:57.000 --> 0:04:00.600 considered materially superior in some ways. It's just that iron 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:05.120 is once you have the technology to smelt it and 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:07.880 then work it in the high temperatures you need, it 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:10.920 is easier to produce at mass scales and cheaper. 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:13.320 Yeah, I mean, there's definitely from what I've read, there's 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:17.640 definitely a period of time in which your early smelted 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:20.640 iron tools, weapons, what have you are not going to 0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:25.760 be as durable and as highly efficient as the high 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:29.599 end bronze weapons and tools of that same time period. 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:32.240 But you can make more of them, right right. 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:34.440 But eventually, of course, iron comes to. 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:36.600 Dominate, especially in the form of steel. 0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:40.080 Yes, I know some will say steel isn't strong, flesh 0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:42.760 is strong, YadA, YadA, YadA, but steel is pretty strong. 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:46.120 Well, I do want to start within one of the 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:50.880 regional Bronze ages. To start off today's episode by looking 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:55.920 at a very intriguing and mysterious artifact from ancient Egypt. 0:04:56.240 --> 0:04:59.960 This is a dagger from the stars found buried alongside 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:04.159 the pharaoh tutin Common. So the tomb of the eighteenth 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:08.600 dynasty Egyptian pharaoh tutin Common was uncovered by the British 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:13.000 archaeologist Howard Carter and his team in nineteen twenty two. 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:17.440 Tutin Common reigned from thirteen sixty one to thirteen fifty 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:21.080 two BCE, becoming king around the age of nine or so, 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:25.640 unruling until his early death around the age of eighteen. 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:29.560 Tutin Common is thought to have been a son of 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:33.480 the pharaoh Acinaten, though from what I understand this relationship 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:37.000 is not totally certain. There is a DNA relationship to 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:39.800 another mummy that has been found that is presumed to 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:43.320 be Akinatin, but it's not known for sure. Acinatein his 0:05:43.520 --> 0:05:47.600 likely father, was notable for trying to replace the traditional 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:52.240 polytheistic religion of Egypt with a It's debatable how to 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:57.839 characterize this, but a monotheistic or monoltruistic or perhaps henotheistic 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:02.240 whatever you call it, focus on single God, an emphasis 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:05.040 of one god above all the others from the Egyptian pantheon, 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:08.120 and that is the solar deity Atan, which took the 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:11.440 form of the disk of the Sun. We've talked about 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:14.200 that sort of attempt to go one God early in 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:17.880 Egypt before, but this shift did not last long after 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:22.359 Achinatin's death, and one of Tutonkommon's main accomplishments as pharaoh 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:26.640 seems to have been the restoration of the old polytheistic cults. 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:31.080 Yeah, the rejection of new coke and the re acceptance 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:32.320 of old coke. 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:35.760 Play in the hits getting the old gang together. So 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:39.760 Tutancommon's tomb was considered a very special discovery in the 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:44.680 twentieth century because even though it had been partially looted 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:47.839 at least twice shortly after it was sealed, it was 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:52.240 still considered relatively intact compared to other tombs, so many 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:55.160 of the original grave goods were still in place. And 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:57.200 this was not really the case at all for most 0:06:57.240 --> 0:07:00.400 of the other royal tombs of ancient Egypt. They were 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:03.760 mostly scoured by grave robbers thousands of years ago. This 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:07.680 is sometimes misstated as saying that that Tuten comments Tune 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:10.520 tomb had never been disturbed, and that's not true. It 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:12.840 was robbed long ago like all the rest of them, 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:15.880 it just didn't get robbed as much. And some have 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:20.680 speculated that Tuton Common's tomb was relatively well preserved because 0:07:20.760 --> 0:07:23.800 the entrance got covered up by stuff and people pretty 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:27.080 quickly forgot where it was. And so when this tomb 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:30.880 was rediscovered in the twentieth century, it contained a wealth 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:34.520 of treasures and a beautiful, wonderful glimpse into the past. 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:37.520 So for a taste of the variety of objects found 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:40.360 in the tomb, I just wanted to read directly from 0:07:40.400 --> 0:07:43.680 the diary entry of Howard Carter describing the day of 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:47.400 November twenty sixth, nineteen twenty two, when his team finally 0:07:47.480 --> 0:07:49.800 cleared away the last of the rubble from the passageway 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:53.560 into the tomb and got the first look inside. So 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:57.160 Carter writes, quote, it was sometime before one could see 0:07:57.280 --> 0:08:00.560 the hot air escaping caused the candle to flick, But 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:03.440 as soon as one's eyes became accustomed to the glimmer 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:07.240 of light, the interior of the chamber gradually loomed before one, 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:11.280 with its strange and wonderful medley of extraordinary and beautiful 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:16.000 objects heaped upon one another. There was naturally short suspense 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:19.120 for those present who could not see. When Lord Carnivon 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:22.560 said to me, can you see anything? I replied to him, yes, 0:08:22.880 --> 0:08:25.920 it is wonderful. I then, with precaution, made the whole 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:28.840 sufficiently large for both of us to see. With the 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:31.840 light of an electric torch as well as an additional candle, 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:36.439 we looked in. Our sensations and astonishment are difficult to describe, 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:39.520 as the better light revealed to us the marvelous collection 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:43.400 of treasures. Two strange ebony black effigies of a king, 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:48.040 gold sandaled bearing staff and mace loomed out from the 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:52.720 cloak of darkness. Gilded couches in strange forms lion headed, 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:59.320 hathor headed, and beast infernal, exquisitely painted inlaid and ornamental caskets, 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:05.120 flo alabaster vases, some beautifully executed of lotus and papyrus, 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:09.920 device strange black shrines with a gilded monster snake appearing 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:14.680 from within, quite ordinary looking white chests, finely carved chairs, 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:18.720 a golden inlaid throne, a heap of large, curious white 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:22.960 oviform boxes beneath our very eyes, on the threshold, a 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:27.920 lovely lodiform wishing cup in translucent alabaster, stools of all 0:09:28.000 --> 0:09:32.360 shapes and design of both common and rare materials, and lastly, 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:37.000 a confusion of overturned parts of chariots glinting with gold 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:41.320 peering from amongst which was a mannikin the first impression 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:44.280 of which suggested the property room of an opera of 0:09:44.320 --> 0:09:48.560 a vanished civilization. Our sensations were bewildering and full of 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:51.960 strange emotion. We questioned one another as to the meaning 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:54.720 of it all. Was it a tomb or merely a cache? 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:58.680 A sealed doorway between the two sentinel statues proved there 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:02.000 was more beyond, and with the numerous cartouches bearing the 0:10:02.080 --> 0:10:05.719 name of Touton common on most of the objects before us, 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:08.880 there was little doubt that there behind was the grave 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:09.760 of that pharaoh. 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:14.360 Yeah, yeah, I like the atmosphere he captures here in 0:10:14.360 --> 0:10:14.960 this description. 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:17.880 One of my favorite things is the description of the 0:10:18.200 --> 0:10:22.080 disassembled parts of the chariot, all there piled up in 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:26.880 the tomb. Anyway, documenting the contents of the tomb went 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:30.640 on for years after the initial discovery, and one of 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:34.720 the objects found later this was in nineteen twenty five. 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:39.400 This was buried right along with the pharaoh's body. One 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:42.800 of these artifacts. It was a beautiful dagger. In fact, 0:10:42.920 --> 0:10:46.240 there were two daggers buried with tooton common, one made 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:50.240 of gold and another made of iron. And ironically it's 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:53.160 the iron dagger that I would like to focus on, 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:55.640 So Rob, I've got some pictures for you to look 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:59.720 at here, this sort of like with different sides of 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:03.520 theagger facing and then different types of illumination. But the 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:06.680 iron dagger is a little over a foot long, and 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:09.240 it was found not only within the king's tomb but 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:13.760 with his mummified remains inside the inner coffin, and in 0:11:13.800 --> 0:11:17.079 fact not only in the inner coffin, but literally inside 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:20.760 the king's wrappings, so wrapped up with him up against 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:23.680 his thigh, the gold dagger was apparently on his abdomen. 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:27.680 Yeah, it's a very splendid looking weapon, and there are 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:30.280 no shortage of images of this, you can easily look 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:31.160 up online. 0:11:31.600 --> 0:11:34.120 So the knife has a handle made out of gold 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:37.760 with a crystal knob on the end, sort of very 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:41.880 smooth and rounded off crystal knob, and a golden sheath 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:46.400 decorated with images of on one part a repeating feather pattern. 0:11:46.840 --> 0:11:50.400 There are flowers I think maybe supposed to be Lilly's, 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:54.680 and there's also a jackal's head. And surprisingly, this dagger 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:58.079 made out of iron remained relatively rust free for all 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:02.920 these centuries. Though it does have blemishes, they're not rust Instead, 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:05.480 it has black spots in the middle that to me 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:09.160 almost look like lunar maria. They're these sort of you know, strange, 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:14.640 beautiful little black depressions that have almost geographical looking edges. 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:15.480 Yeah. 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:19.280 Yeah, So the stagger made of iron was instantly quite 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:23.400 interesting to experts because it was made of iron. Tutin 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:27.199 Common lived at a time when iron artifacts were quite 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:31.760 rare in Egypt, not completely non existent, but precious and few. 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:37.240 We associate iron today with raw utility. I think of 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:40.840 like just stacks of rebar and stuff, you know, Like 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:45.319 we think of its hardness and toughness and it's ready availability. 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:48.200 So of course iron and steel steel being a product 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:51.880 of iron, are thought of as useful for making durable 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:56.840 workaday tools, machine parts, in architecture, for making bridges and 0:12:56.880 --> 0:13:01.240 framing buildings and so forth. But in Totincman's Egypt, the 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:05.560 evidence indicates that the rare iron artifacts that did exist 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:11.400 were treated instead as sacred, decorative and ceremonial items, more 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:15.640 like we treat gold and silver today, except perhaps even 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:20.400 more precious. Now, why would something as cheap, abundant and 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:25.360 mundane as iron be treated as precious sacred material. It 0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:28.520 seems to be because at the time iron was anything 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:32.000 but abundant and mundane. The mundane iron that we think 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:36.160 of today is extracted from iron ore that we mine 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:39.240 out of the ground, and then we extract in pure 0:13:39.280 --> 0:13:43.920 metallic form from its ore form in extremely hot furnaces. 0:13:44.520 --> 0:13:47.559 And while there were plenty of iron ore deposits in 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:50.920 the deserts of Egypt, there was not a widespread industry 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:54.439 that was able to separate pure metallic iron from its 0:13:54.559 --> 0:14:00.120 ore in the region until several hundred years later. I 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:04.120 was iron harder to work with and extract than other metals, 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:06.800 such as the copper tin alloy that forms the basis 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:09.960 of ancient bronze. I think that there's sort of a 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:12.680 more complicated answer and a sort of a simpler answer. 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:15.480 And the simpler answer is basically higher melting point, like 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:18.880 it takes more energy to extract iron from its ore, 0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:21.960 and it takes more heat to make it malleable and 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:23.640 workable once it is extracted. 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:25.840 Yeah, yeah, I remember we went into some of this 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:27.880 back when we did an episode on the One Ring 0:14:28.600 --> 0:14:31.000 of the Lord of the Rings, and you know, talking 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:33.560 about what kind of metals would would melt or not 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:37.680 melt the constraints that are laid out in the text. 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:43.720 However, there was one source of pure or to some 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:49.960 degree pure metallic iron available before the smelting process was developed, 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:55.760 and that source of metallic iron was meteorites, chunks of 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:59.720 iron that fell from space. So experts have, for a 0:14:59.800 --> 0:15:03.320 law some times suggested that maybe King Tut's dagger, and 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:06.040 not just his dagger, but other iron artifacts that were 0:15:06.080 --> 0:15:08.760 also found within the tomb, and other iron artifacts from 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:13.240 ancient Egypt from this period and before, were in fact 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:17.080 meteoric in origin, that they were hammered out of iron 0:15:17.160 --> 0:15:19.040 that fell to Earth from the sky. 0:15:20.120 --> 0:15:22.960 So your exploitive headline here, of course, is ancient Egyptian 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:28.400 to use space weapons. And I've seen various indulgences of 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:31.720 that sort of thing. But I mean, yeah, you're not 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:34.520 too far off the mark with that that even if 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:37.320 you are implying things that are not true as well. 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:40.480 I've even seen alien weapons mentioned before. 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:43.880 Now, before those of you get too excited, no this 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:46.800 is not ancient alien stuff. No, this would be. This 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:49.200 does not need to be a gift from aliens that 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:52.120 came from above. Because meteorites still land on Earth today. 0:15:52.160 --> 0:15:54.640 They land naturally. People can find them. 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:58.240 Right right, And that of course is especially true if 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:02.600 you if in one or two situations with meteorites, is 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:07.440 it dramatic in its entry or do you have an 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:10.880 environment in which objects like this are easy to find, 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:14.400 such as a desert. So you will find various desert 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:17.520 environments where there is a long tradition of gathering such 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:21.120 meteorites because they stand out more. But you know, even 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:23.400 if you see or think you see something fall, you 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:28.040 can also get into trouble trying to find what fell 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:32.160 from the sky. We've talked about the phenomena of star 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:35.600 jelly before. This is where someone sees a shooting star 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:38.760 or thinks the meteorite has fallen in their general vicinity, 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:40.920 and they go out into the woods and they start 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:44.000 poking around. Do they find something that they think looks 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:46.440 weird And it may be like just some sort of 0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:50.120 slimy substance in the forest. It's a slimy substance that 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:52.400 was always there, or it is frequently there, but they 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:54.200 just never went out and poked it and looked for 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:56.160 it before. So ultimately you have to know what you're doing. 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:59.080 But a desert environment can be a real gift to 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:00.160 the meteorite hunter. 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:04.240 That's right. So what is a meteorite, Well, a meteorite is, 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:08.200 in short, any solid natural object that falls from space 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:12.200 through our atmosphere and reaches the surface of the Earth intact. 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:16.520 And this usually means a chunk of a rocky asteroid. 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:19.199 It seems that's what it is in most cases, but 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:22.880 some cases could possibly mean pieces of comets or even 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:25.879 pieces of other planets. Sometimes there'll be an impact and 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:29.080 a piece of Mars or something else breaks off and 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:34.119 will end up falling to Earth somehow. Now, most meteorites 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:38.280 found on Earth are not primarily made of iron. There 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:43.400 are three main types of meteorites. You've got stony meteorites, 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:47.160 which are made mostly of silicon based rock. There are 0:17:47.400 --> 0:17:50.879 iron meteorites, which are primarily made of solid metal, mostly 0:17:50.960 --> 0:17:54.080 iron with some nickel and other trace metals. And then 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:57.440 there's a hybrid category, which are often considered quite beautiful, 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:00.600 maybe the most visually striking of all of them, the 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:04.600 stony iron meteorites, which are a pretty close to even 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:08.560 mix of iron metal and silicate rock. Now, iron meteorites 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:12.160 are not the most common types of meteorites to fall 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:15.719 to Earth. I've read estimates that they're only about like 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:19.040 five or six percent of meteorite falls. But they are 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:22.280 sometimes easier to find than stony meteorites. And this might 0:18:22.320 --> 0:18:25.080 be in part due to their durability and the environment 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:28.399 and really stick around, but also probably in part because 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:33.280 they look weirder and more alien. And stony meteorites can 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:35.240 look a lot of different ways, but Rob, I just 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:37.280 attached a few examples for you to look at. A 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:40.400 lot of stony meteorites you could easily mistake for an 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:44.440 earth based rock, but iron meteorites more often, I guess 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:46.920 you could still mistake them for an earth based rock, 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:49.480 but more of them look like really strange. 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:54.080 Yeah, they have a very novel appearance that even the 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:57.159 novice would would likely look at and think, well, that's interesting. 0:18:57.280 --> 0:18:59.800 I should pick that up and maybe take this back 0:18:59.840 --> 0:19:02.679 and show it to someone who knows what's up with rocks, 0:19:03.920 --> 0:19:07.959 because yeah, they have this fascinating kind of you know, 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:12.040 like cool liquid kind of appearance, with all these dimples 0:19:12.080 --> 0:19:13.720 and creases and so forth. 0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:17.199 Why is this a metal brain the size of a 0:19:17.240 --> 0:19:19.640 bear in the middle of the desert? What is that? 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:25.280 Iron meteorites are thought to probably be the remaining cores 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:29.080 of asteroids that at some point asteroids or parts of 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:33.920 former planetesimals that at some point melted and then re solidified. 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:36.840 They're mostly made of iron, Like I said, they have 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:40.040 some nickel content, as well as other traces of minerals 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:44.679 and metals, some cobalt content, some phosphorus, some sulfur, and 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:48.320 so forth. They are often found on Earth covered in 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:52.800 a black or rusty crust of iron oxide that forms 0:19:52.880 --> 0:19:55.960 as they travel through the atmosphere. And there are two 0:19:56.000 --> 0:20:00.480 primary minerals found in iron meteorites. You've got camosite, which 0:20:00.520 --> 0:20:05.080 has relatively less nickel, and tainite, which has relatively more. 0:20:05.760 --> 0:20:09.640 Within iron meteorites, these two minerals, chemosite and taanite are 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:15.080 quite often found in an interesting interlocking crystal structure which 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:18.640 when you cut a cross section of one of these 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:21.960 meteorites and you treat it with a weak or diluted acid, 0:20:22.480 --> 0:20:26.520 it reveals this repeating arrangement of lines, known as a 0:20:26.680 --> 0:20:31.320 Vidminstottin pattern, And to try to describe this, it looks 0:20:31.359 --> 0:20:35.320 kind of like a texture of infinite triangles within triangles, 0:20:35.440 --> 0:20:38.439 or you might say like a fractal representation of a 0:20:38.520 --> 0:20:41.000 capital letter A in the English alphabet. 0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:44.640 Yeah, it looks very very sci fi, very futuristic, kind 0:20:44.640 --> 0:20:48.560 of like some sort of you know, a chrome etching 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:52.359 of the interior scaffolding of the death Star or something. 0:20:53.000 --> 0:20:55.360 To come back to our stuff on anomalous imagery, it's 0:20:55.400 --> 0:20:57.159 one of those things that there are all kinds of 0:20:57.160 --> 0:21:00.560 patterns like this in nature that make people say that's technology, 0:21:00.720 --> 0:21:03.720 but that's just what these crystals do. And in fact, 0:21:04.119 --> 0:21:08.400 the way this specifically look seems to be a result 0:21:08.640 --> 0:21:13.600 of creating a two dimensional cross sectional representation of an 0:21:13.760 --> 0:21:18.639 underlying three dimensional structure that's known as an octahedral. So 0:21:18.720 --> 0:21:23.959 an octahedron is a polyhedron, a three dimensional structure with 0:21:24.200 --> 0:21:28.399 eight faces. So you can picture like two four sided 0:21:28.440 --> 0:21:31.840 pyramids joined at the square base, or if you're a 0:21:31.920 --> 0:21:34.280 D and D player, you just picture a D eight die. 0:21:35.119 --> 0:21:36.800 Yeah, yeah, that's sematar damage. 0:21:36.960 --> 0:21:40.399 So the octahedral structure is created by the interaction of 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:44.800 these two different minerals chemisite and tanite, they form these 0:21:44.800 --> 0:21:47.760 different bands and boundaries, and then when they come together 0:21:47.840 --> 0:21:49.280 like that, and you cut through the middle of a 0:21:49.320 --> 0:21:51.320 meteorite and you look at the pattern it makes, it's 0:21:51.359 --> 0:22:03.280 this vidmin Stottin pattern. Now, we might come back and 0:22:03.320 --> 0:22:06.840 talk more about iron meteorites themselves in the next episode. 0:22:06.920 --> 0:22:10.240 But an interesting question is, so it was proposed long 0:22:10.280 --> 0:22:12.600 ago that King Tut's dagger, as well as many of 0:22:12.640 --> 0:22:15.840 these other iron artifacts, were made out of meteorite iron. 0:22:16.440 --> 0:22:19.760 But is the dagger really meteorite iron? And if so, 0:22:19.960 --> 0:22:23.800 how could we know? Well, there have been multiple investigations 0:22:23.840 --> 0:22:25.960 of this over the years and they've come up with 0:22:26.320 --> 0:22:28.840 For a while, they came up with conflicting results. There 0:22:28.880 --> 0:22:33.720 was some controversy over this, were different results, different investigators 0:22:33.720 --> 0:22:36.520 came to different conclusions. But it seems to be that 0:22:36.560 --> 0:22:41.000 the more recent research points very strongly to a meteoric origin. 0:22:41.200 --> 0:22:44.160 So I'll mention a couple of studies. One is by 0:22:44.240 --> 0:22:48.760 Daniellocomelli at All that was published in the journal Metiorritics 0:22:48.760 --> 0:22:52.200 and Planetary Science in the year twenty sixteen, and it's 0:22:52.200 --> 0:22:57.640 called the Meteoritic Origin of Toutencommon's iron dagger blade. Now, 0:22:57.720 --> 0:23:00.760 one thing that is an obstacle when you investigating this 0:23:00.840 --> 0:23:04.560 sort of thing is method because modern science has lots 0:23:04.560 --> 0:23:08.879 of very powerful tools of chemical analysis, but many of 0:23:08.920 --> 0:23:12.480 them are destructive techniques, so you would have to destroy 0:23:12.520 --> 0:23:15.679 some small part of the artifact in order to analyze it. 0:23:15.760 --> 0:23:20.439 And for obvious historical preservation reasons, researchers wanted to avoid 0:23:20.560 --> 0:23:24.520 having to destroy part of a priceless historical dagger in 0:23:24.640 --> 0:23:27.640 order to figure out what it's made of. So this investigation, 0:23:27.720 --> 0:23:30.320 which by the way, the team was made up of 0:23:30.359 --> 0:23:35.920 both Italian and Egyptian researchers, they use non destructive methods, 0:23:35.960 --> 0:23:39.240 so they analyze the blade with a non destructive imaging 0:23:39.280 --> 0:23:45.040 technique called X ray fluorescence spectrometry to determine the composition 0:23:45.359 --> 0:23:47.800 of the blade. So the way that works is you 0:23:47.920 --> 0:23:51.119 bombard the blade with some radiation. They use like a 0:23:51.359 --> 0:23:54.560 portable X ray scanner. You bombard it with some radiation 0:23:54.720 --> 0:23:59.280 and then that radiation causes the atoms in the blade 0:23:59.440 --> 0:24:03.560 to floor to give off light energy as they're you know, 0:24:03.600 --> 0:24:06.359 as the radiation hits the electrons that are orbiting the 0:24:06.400 --> 0:24:08.560 atoms and then causes some of them to fall down 0:24:08.600 --> 0:24:11.760 to lower energy levels and that puts off radiation in return, 0:24:12.119 --> 0:24:15.399 and by analyzing what gets reflected back, you can see 0:24:15.440 --> 0:24:18.600