It was confirmed by researchers at the Natural History Museum in Bern. It is an arrowhead that was found on the shore of a Swiss lake. It was made about 3,000 years ago. What makes it so special? That it is the arrowhead made of meteorite.
It is 39 millimeters long and weighs 2.9 grams. It appeared as early as the 19th century in Mörigen, a locality on the shores of Lake Bienne (Switzerland). The extraterrestrial origin of the material from which it was produced had not been confirmed until now.
Off planet
The composition includes aluminum-26, a short-lived isotope that was abundant in the early solar system. It is not found naturally on Earth. The pointed piece was formed from an iron meteorite. Iron meteorites come from the cores of ancient planets that were destroyed about 4.5 billion years ago.
The study was published in the Journal of Archaeological Science. Objects like this are extremely rare. Fifty-five have been confirmed so far throughout the Old Continent and in Africa. The use of iron was relatively rare in prehistoric times. Mankind discovered how to extract it from natural ores much later. That is why it is believed that meteoritic iron was used for all the iron tools and weapons of the Bronze Age.
Exhibit
Experts believe it is likely to have come from the “Kaali Lake meteorite”. It is a large object that fell to Earth about 3500 years ago. It impacted on the territory of present-day Estonia, causing several craters up to 100 meters in diameter.
There is a great distance between Estonia and Switzerland. The arrow was able to reach the center of Europe through trade. Iron, for the inhabitants of that time, was especially rare and precious.
The arrowhead made of meteorite will be part of an exhibition that the museum in the Swiss capital will dedicate to bronze. It will run from February 2024 to April 2025.
