Treasure discovered in Spain over 60 years ago crafted with extraterrestrial metal: Report

A bronze hoard known as the Treasure of Villena, which was discovered in Spain more than 60 years ago, is crafted with extraterrestrial material. According to a report by Live Science earlier this month, the treasurediscovered in 1963encompasses 59 bottles, bowls, and pieces of jewellery exquisitely crafted from gold, silver, amber, and iron.

The researchers who found the treasure noticed a few curious details about some of the iron pieces. Reports in the local media on Feb 7 saidthat the researchers described the items as being crafted of "a dark leaden metal. The items are shiny in some areas and covered with a ferrous-looking oxide that is mostly cracked.

A new study this year has revealed that the iron used in two of the artefacts originated from a meteorite that fell to Earth around a million years ago. For this study, researchers used two of the iron pieces- a C-shaped bracelet and a hollow sphere topped with a gold sheet. Both these items were crafted between 1400 and 1200 B.C.

The study said that using a technique called mass spectrometry, researchers measured traces of iron-nickel alloy that were comparable to that found in meteoric iron.

Speaking to Live Science, Ignacio Montero Ruiz, one of the researchers said that the artefacts were probably hidden treasures that could have belonged to a whole community and not to a single person.

Ruiz said that given the compositions of the artefacts being very similar, both these objects could have come from the same meteorite.

The researchers are not sure of who crafted the objects and where they originated. However, they know these are both the first and oldest meteoritic iron objects found in the Iberian Peninsula.

"One option is [they] came from the eastern Mediterranean where other contemporary objects are known (for example, the dagger and other items from King Tutankhamun's tomb)," Ruiz further told the publication.

(With inputs from agencies)