2016.05.31
過去にトカナが報じたとおり、古代エジプト人たちは、地球に落下した隕石を用いて宝飾品を作っていたことが判明している。そして今回、彼らが隕石を用いた武器さえも生み出していたことが最新の研究によって判明し、注目を集めているようだ。しかもその証拠が、あのツタンカーメンの墓から出土したナイフにあったというのだ。
■ツタンカーメンのナイフに秘められた謎
1922年、考古学者ハワード・カーターによって発見されたツタンカーメンの墓だが、ミイラの右大腿部分に、1本のナイフが収められていた。現在、エジプト考古学博物館が所蔵するこのナイフの柄(つか)や鞘(さや)は水晶や金で作られており、ユリや羽根の模様が描かれた見事な工芸品だ。しかし、その刃の部分に研究者を悩ませ続けてきた大いなる謎が秘められていた。
なんと、3400年以上前に作られた鉄製のナイフであるにもかかわらず、刃がまったく錆びていなかったのだ。しかも、鉄器時代の幕開け(紀元前8世紀)から遡ること600年、紀元前14世紀に作られたものと考えられており、世界史の通説とも合致しない。
今回この謎に挑んだのが、ミラノ工科大学(伊)、ピサ大学(伊)、エジプト考古学博物館の研究者たちからなる共同研究チームだ。ツタンカーメンのナイフを蛍光X線による組成分析(非破壊分析)にかけた彼らは、結果を先月20日に学術誌「Meteoritics and Planetary Science」上で発表したが、そこで示されたのが驚くべき事実だった。
■ナイフは隕石で作られていた!
論文において研究チームは、ツタンカーメンのナイフが隕石から作られたと結論づけている。組成分析の結果、刃の部分に鉄隕石と同等割合のニッケルやコバルトが含まれていることが判明したのだ。
通常、地上の鉱山で採掘される鉄鉱石から作られた鉄では、ニッケルの含有量が4%程度となるが、ツタンカーメンのナイフでは11%の値を示したという。そしてこの値は、宇宙から飛来する鉄隕石と同値なのだ。ミラノ工科大学の物理学者ダニエラ・コメッリ博士は、米・科学メディア「ディスカバリー」に次のように明かしている。
「刃の部分におけるニッケルとコバルトの割合が、鉄隕石と合致します。これは、最初期の太陽系で起きた物質分化の名残でもあるのです」
■隕石は「神からのメッセージ」だった!?
さらにコメッリ博士たちは、ナイフの材料となった鉄隕石の特定も試みている。実はエジプトの砂漠には、これまで落下してきた巨大な鉄隕石がそのまま放置されているケースも多いのだという。そこで研究チームは20の鉄隕石に着目、同様に組成分析を行った。すると、アレクサンドリアから西に約240kmに位置する港町メルサマトルーの高原で、2000年に発見された鉄隕石「ハルガ」の成分ともっとも近いことが判明、ナイフの原材料である可能性がもっとも高いと考えているようだ。
一連の結果を受け、研究チームは古代エジプト人たちが隕石に高い価値を見出し、貴重品を作る際に利用していたと指摘。さらに、空から降ってくる巨大な鉄の塊を「神からのメッセージ」と受け止めていたかもしれないと考察している。つまりツタンカーメンの時代、古代エジプト人は鉄の製錬技術を持たなかったが、鉄隕石を「天からもたらされた物質」として珍重し、加工するだけの高い工業技術は有していた可能性が高いというのだ。
なお、ツタンカーメンの墓からは、隕石が砂漠に落下した際の衝撃で生じる石英ガラスを用いた数々の宝飾品も発見されているのだとか。古代エジプト人たちは、現代を生きる私たち以上に、大宇宙を身近に感じながら暮らしていたのだ。最新の科学は、古代人の宇宙観までも明らかにしつつある。
(編集部)
参考:「Seeker」、「Meteoritics and Planetary Science」、「Live Science」、ほか
参照元 : TOCANA
King Tut's Blade Made of Meteorite
HISTORY May 31, 2016 11:52 AM ET
X-ray analysis confirms that the iron of the dagger placed on the thigh of the boy king has meteoric origins.
Although it is generally assumed that early iron objects were produced from meteoritic iron, such origin of the blade has long been the subject of debate, and previous analyses yielded controversial results. Now dramatic technological improvements have allowed the researchers to determine the composition of the blade.
"Meteoric iron is clearly indicated by the presence of a high percentages of nickel," main author Daniela Comelli, at the department of Physics of Milan Polytechnic, told Discovery News.
Indeed, iron meteorites are mostly made of iron and nickel, with minor quantities of cobalt, phosphorus , sulfur and carbon.
While artifacts produced with iron ore quarrying display 4 percent of nickel at most, the iron blade of King Tut's dagger was found to contain nearly 11 percent of nickel.
RELATED: Tut's Funeral: Burying the Boy King
Further confirmation of the blade's meteoric origin came from cobalt traces.
"The nickel and cobalt ratio in the dagger blade is consistent with that of iron meteorites that have preserved the primitive chondritic ratio during planetary differentiation in the early solar system," Comelli said.
Comelli and colleagues also investigated the possible source of the iron blade.
"We took into consideration all meteorites found within an area of 2,000 km in radius centered in the Red Sea, and we ended up with 20 iron meteorites," Comelli said.
"Only one, named Kharga, turned out to have nickel and cobalt contents which are possibly consistent with the composition of the blade," she added.
The meteorite fragment was found in 2000 on a limestone plateau at Mersa Matruh, a seaport some 150 miles west of Alexandria.
RELATED: Who Else May Be in King Tut's Tomb?
The study shows the ancient Egyptians attributed great value to meteoritic iron for the production of precious objects, possibly perceiving those chunks of iron falling from the sky as a divine message.
The most ancient Egyptian iron artifacts, nine small beads excavated from a cemetery along the west bank of the Nile tomb in Gerzeh and dated about 3200 BC, are also made from meteoritic iron hammered into thin sheets.
"It would be very interesting to analyze more pre-Iron Age artifacts, such as other iron objects found in King Tut's tomb. We could gain precious insights into metal working technologies in ancient Egypt and the Mediterranean," Comelli said.
She noted that the high quality of King Tut's dagger blade shows that iron smithing was successful already in the 14th century B.C.
The dagger blade is not the only celestial object found in the boy king's tomb. His pectoral, or necklace, features an amulet scarab which is not "greenish-yellow chalcedony," as Carter had noted, but Libyan desert silica glass.
The glass was produced by the impact on the sand of a meteorite or comet. Such natural glass exists only in the remote and inhospitable Great Sand Sea of Egypt -- the Western Desert. In order to produce the scarab, the ancient Egyptians would have had to trek across 500 desert miles.
SEE PHOTOS: Inside King Tut's Tomb
参照元 : seeker
King Tut's Blade Made of Meteorite
By Rossella Lorenzi | May 31, 2016 03:42pm ET
King Tut was buried with a dagger made of an iron that literally came from space, says a new study into the composition of the iron blade from the sarcophagus of the boy king.
Using non-invasive, portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, a team of Italian and Egyptian researchers confirmed that the iron of the dagger placed on the right thigh of King Tut's mummified body a has meteoric origin.
The team, which include researchers from Milan Polytechnic, Pisa University and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, detailed their results in the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science.
RELATED: Weird Facts About King Tut and His Mummy
The weapon, now on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, was described in 1925 by Howard Carter, who three years before had discovered the treasure-packed tomb, as "a highly ornamented gold dagger with crystal knob."
Made of non-rusted, homogeneous metal, the finely manufactured blade features a decorated gold handle. It is completed by a gold sheath garnished with a floral lily motif on one side and with a feathers pattern on the other side, terminating with a jackal's head.
WATCH VIDEO: What Are the Odds a Meteorite Will Hit You
Now dramatic technological improvements have allowed the researchers to determine the composition of the blade.
"Meteoric iron is clearly indicated by the presence of a high percentages of nickel," main author Daniela Comelli, at the department of Physics of Milan Polytechnic, told Discovery News.
Indeed, iron meteorites are mostly made of iron and nickel, with minor quantities of cobalt, phosphorus , sulfur and carbon.
While artifacts produced with iron ore quarrying display 4 percent of nickel at most, the iron blade of King Tut's dagger was found to contain nearly 11 percent of nickel.
RELATED: Tut's Funeral: Burying the Boy King
Further confirmation of the blade's meteoric origin came from cobalt traces.
"The nickel and cobalt ratio in the dagger blade is consistent with that of iron meteorites that have preserved the primitive chondritic ratio during planetary differentiation in the early solar system," Comelli said.
Comelli and colleagues also investigated the possible source of the iron blade.
"We took into consideration all meteorites found within an area of 2,000 km in radius centered in the Red Sea, and we ended up with 20 iron meteorites," Comelli said.
"Only one, named Kharga, turned out to have nickel and cobalt contents which are possibly consistent with the composition of the blade," she added.
The meteorite fragment was found in 2000 on a limestone plateau at Mersa Matruh, a seaport some 150 miles west of Alexandria.
RELATED: Who Else May Be in King Tut's Tomb?
The study shows the ancient Egyptians attributed great value to meteoritic iron for the production of precious objects, possibly perceiving those chunks of iron falling from the sky as a divine message.
The most ancient Egyptian iron artifacts, nine small beads excavated from a cemetery along the west bank of the Nile tomb in Gerzeh and dated about 3200 BC, are also made from meteoritic iron hammered into thin sheets.
"It would be very interesting to analyze more pre-Iron Age artifacts, such as other iron objects found in King Tut's tomb. We could gain precious insights into metal working technologies in ancient Egypt and the Mediterranean," Comelli said.
She noted that the high quality of King Tut's dagger blade shows that iron smithing was successful already in the 14th century B.C.
The dagger blade is not the only celestial object found in the boy king's tomb. His pectoral, or necklace, features an amulet scarab which is not "greenish-yellow chalcedony," as Carter had noted, but Libyan desert silica glass.
The glass was produced by the impact on the sand of a meteorite or comet. Such natural glass exists only in the remote and inhospitable Great Sand Sea of Egypt — the Western Desert. In order to produce the scarab, the ancient Egyptians would have had to trek across 500 desert miles.
Originally published on Discovery News.
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参照元 : livescience
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