2,800-year-old arrowhead made from meteorite iron hints at ancient trade networks

A tiny arrowhead, found at Mörigen, near Lake Biel in Switzerland, is prompting archaeologists to take a step back and ask an unexpectedly big question: Were some Bronze Age communities using iron from meteorites long before iron smelting became widespread?The item in question is a 2.9-gram arrowhead found at the archaeological site of Mörigen, located in the area around Lake Biel in Switzerland. While the artefact has been kept in museum storage for years, it was not until its publication in the Journal of Archaeological Science in 2023, available through ScienceDirect, that a careful analysis showed it was metal originating in space and delivered to Earth by a meteorite.What's special about the finding is that it provides further insight into a relatively unknown era of human technological development before iron smelting became widespread, but instead was extracted in extremely small amounts from meteorites.Iron before the Iron AgeThe conventional history of metallurgy has tended to be one of neat progression, in terms of the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and eventually the Iron Age. However, the truth of the matter was far more complex than this.Prior to the invention of iron smelting technology, people did sometimes come across metallic iron in the form of meteorites. Unlike iron found in ores, this iron does not need to be smelted from rock, as it comes already prepared for use in its metallic state, and contains abnormally high amounts of nickel.Researchers reached this conclusion due to the presence of meteoritic nickel-containing metal, along with other trace minerals found only in iron meteorites. Certain structures within the mineral itself have also contributed to this conclusion.This discovery adds to a number of ancient objects that are known to have been created using meteoric iron. Probably one of the best-known examples of this is an iron dagger found alongside Tutankhamun, whose blade, according to a 2016 published study in Meteoritics & Planetary Science and available through Wiley had been manufactured from meteoric iron.A museum artefact examined without damageAnother contributing factor behind the fame of the Mörigen arrowhead relates to the methodology used to analyse the object.Instead of taking samples from the item in question, researchers relied on various non-destructive analytical techniques such as X-ray microtomography, gamma-ray spectrometry, and muon-based elemental analysis. This approach helped to analyse the object without damaging the precious archaeological artefact. The approach reflects a broader trend in heritage science. With the help of modern technologies in imaging and particle physics, museum staff have an opportunity to acquire comprehensive information about valuable items without causing any damage to them.From the standpoint of archaeology, this technique can be seen as a major innovation, as in the past, the specialists had to choose between studying the artefact or keeping it intact. A clue to ancient trade networksPerhaps the history of the arrowhead extends beyond its discovery point in Switzerland.According to the research team, it is unlikely that the artefact was fashioned out of meteoritic material from the nearby Twannberg field of meteorites. On the other hand, the chemical composition of the artefact appears most consistent with the Kaali meteorite in present-day Estonia, although the researchers noted that the connection remains tentative.Although this still needs further exploration, the implication of this is that the finding raises the possibility that meteoritic iron may have moved through long-distance Bronze Age exchange networks.Confirmation of this would mean that unusual resources were exchanged over long distances, well before the development of any significant industry of iron production. For a long time, researchers have established that Bronze Age communities engaged in the trade of various items, ranging from amber, copper, tin, and other luxury goods over long distances.More than a weaponThe significance of meteoritic iron may not have been purely practical.Materials which are rare often carry some sort of social or symbolic significance. A metal that falls from the sky would have been hard to get, impossible to reproduce, and clearly different from other materials. Consequently, some researchers have proposed that meteoritic items might have held the status of prestige or symbolic objects.While the true purpose of the arrowhead from Mörigen - whether as a weapon or as an item of ritual importance - remains unclear, there can be no doubt that its significance goes far beyond its size. This artefact suggests that Bronze Age people were already experimenting with rare metallic iron before iron smelting spread; they had already begun working with strange materials and were appreciating their usefulness to society in a complex manner.More than 2,800 years after it was made, a small arrowhead has become evidence that some early iron use began with meteorites, not furnace.