These 2,500-year-old crocodile mummies were found at an Ancient Egyptian tomb on the Nile River.
Credit: Patri Mora Riudavets, Qubbat al-Hawā team (licensed under CC-BY 4.0)

See you later, alligator! In a while, crocodile. How long is a while? Try over two thousand years! In a recent dig in Qubbat al-Hawā, a burial site in Aswan, Egypt, archaeologists found 10 intact mummified crocodiles. We knew ancient Egyptians mummified their dead to be preserved for the afterlife, but why would they mummify crocodiles?

What does it mean to mummify? A mummy is a body that has been preserved through natural or artificial means. The most famous and elaborately prepared mummies are from Egypt. The ancient Egyptians mummified their dead because they believed the body had to be preserved for use in the afterlife. Egyptian embalmers prepared mummies by dehydrating (removing all moisture from) the body. The earliest Egyptian mummies were naturally preserved by being buried in hot, dry, desert sand. Around 4000 B.C., the Egyptians were experimenting with resin and linen wrappings to seal the body against moisture.

These 10 adult crocodiles lived nearly 2,500 years ago! They weren’t beloved pets mummified to join masters in the afterlife, they were a part of a ritual to the fertility deity Sobek. The crocodiles were found in a tomb on the west bank of the Nile River.

Sobek is portrayed with the head of a crocodile and the body of a man. Some ancient Egyptians believed he created order in the universe. He became associated with fertility. Crocodiles were very important to ancient Egyptian life. Ancient Egyptians ate crocodile meat and the fat of the crocodile was used for different medicines. Crocodiles live throughout the Nile River.

There have been other discoveries of mummified crocodiles. Most have them have been juvenile crocodiles or only pieces of remains. Egyptians mummified other animals as well. Archaezoologists, scientists who study animal remains at archeology sites, have found mummified cats, ibises, and baboons. This practice was an offering of the animal to the gods.

One of the crocodiles measured 7 feet long! The mummies had been wrapped in linen for preservation but it was eaten away by insects. There also wasn’t any resin securing the mummies, so the archeologists were able to study them in the site without having to use advanced technology like CT scans and X-rays. They think the crocodiles were mummified naturally by being buried in hot, dry sand. The researchers estimate that the crocodiles were entombed between 332 BC and 30 BC. They will radiocarbon date and study the DNA of the crocodiles to learn more. The archeologists studied the remains and concluded that there were two different species of crocodiles represented in the tomb. Some were Nile crocodiles and others were West African crocodiles. The discovery has added to our knowledge of ancient Egyptian culture, beliefs, and practices.

Pyramid built for Queen Neith at Saqqarah, near Cairo, Egypt
Credit: © Zahi Hawass

In a trove of amazing discoveries at Saqqarah, a previously unknown queen has rewritten history. Saqqarah, also spelled Saqqara, was an ancient Egyptian necropolis (burial ground) near the city of Memphis, not far from Cairo. A pyramid excavated there belonged to ancient Egyptian Queen Neith.

Memphis served as Egypt’s capital from the time it was founded, around 3000 B.C., and later remained a religious center and the residence of Egyptian pharaohs (kings). Archaeologists investigating Saqqarah have discovered many antiquities that provide information about life in ancient Egypt. Inside, they have found human mummies, ceramic amulets and jars, and writing implements.

In the past two years, archaeologists digging at Saqqarah encountered coffins, mummies, tombs, and a number of connected tunnels. They first explored the pyramid of Teti, a pharaoh during Dynasty VI of the Old Kingdom period and later a god during the New Kingdom. The Old Kingdom lasted from about 2650 to 2150 B.C., included Dynasties III through VIII. The New Kingdom began around 1539 B.C., with Dynasty XVIII, until about 1075 B.C., when Dynasty XX ended.

Beside Teti’s pyramid is the pyramid of Queen Neith. It was first excavated by archaeologists in 2010, though it was thought to belong to the mother or a wife of King Teti, as a name wasn’t found. A nearby funerary temple was found in early 2021, containing Queen Neith’s sarcophagus (stone coffin). A carving on the wall identified her name as Queen Neith, the wife of King Teti. A fallen obelisk at the temple entrance is also inscribed with the name Queen Neith. Queen Neith died about 4,200 years ago, during the period of the Old Kingdom.

In Egyptian mythology, Neith was the goddess of creation, war, weaving, and wisdom. She was also the patron of the city of Sais. Some accounts say she was the mother of the sun god Re. Others claim she was the mother of the crocodile god Sobek.

The 22 connected tunnels found are 30 to 60 feet (9 to 18 meters) deep. The tunnels contained 300 wood coffins of the New Kingdom period, which had been uncommon at Saqqarah. Some may contain close generals and advisors of King Tutankhamun. Each coffin is decorated with a unique face, name, and scenes from the Book of the Dead. The Book of the Dead is a collection of texts containing prayers, hymns, spells, and other information to guide souls through the afterlife, protect them from evil, and provide for their needs. Egyptians had passages from such texts carved or written on walls inside their tombs or had a copy of a text placed in their tombs. Mummification preserved the more than 100 bodies fairly well over the centuries. Statues of gods, games, and a 13-foot (4-meter) papyrus inscribed with Chapter 17 of the Book of the Dead were found in the burial shafts.

Millions of animal mummies have also been found at Saqqarah. Animal embalming was a vast industry in ancient Egypt. Such animals as baboons, cobras, crocodiles, falcons, ibises, and mice were commonly mummified. Animal statues and mummies were seen as physical manifestations of gods, and they were included in burials for companionship, protection, or religious offerings in the afterlife. In 2015, archaeologists discovered a Saqqarah tomb complex dedicated to Anubis, the jackal-headed god of mummification. The chamber was found stuffed with nearly 8 million animal mummies—most of them dogs.

Archaeologists also found dozens of mummified cats and scarab beetles in another Saqqarah tomb. Some of the mummified cats may have been treasured pets. Several gilded (golden) wooden cat statues were also found in the tombs, along with a bronze statue of Bastet, an ancient Egyptian cat goddess. Bastet had a large and widespread cult (group of worshipers) in ancient Egypt. The preserved scarab beetles were wrapped in linen inside small decorated limestone sarcophagi. Some ancient Egyptians worshiped Khepri, who had the form of a scarab beetle. Khepri was a god of resurrection and immortality. Khepri was a relatively obscure god in the ancient Egyptian pantheon.

A procession of 22 ancient Egyptian royal mummies (18 kings and 4 queens) leave the Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square and are driven to the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation, in Cairo, Egypt, on April 3, 2021.
Credit: © Abaca Press/Alamy Images

Last month, Egyptian royals paraded through downtown Cairo. Called the Pharaoh’s Golden Parade, the procession included 18 kings and 4 queens. The royals traveled from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. As they made the 3-mile (5-kilometer) journey, they were met with cheers from adoring fans. Although the fans were lively, the royals were quite reserved. In fact, the royals had been dead for hundreds of years.

The Pharaoh’s Golden Parade marked the relocation of 22 ancient Egyptian mummies. Mummy is a body that has been preserved through natural or artificial means.

The royal mummies were very fragile. Vehicles designed for the event cradled the mummies on their trip. The roads were even repaved to ensure that the kings and queens had a smooth ride. For protection, the bodies were placed in nitrogen-filled boxes. (Pure nitrogen gas is used as a “blanket” to keep away oxygen, which can further degrade the already-ancient corpses.)

Egyptians mummified their dead because they believed the body had to be preserved for use in the afterlife. The earliest Egyptian mummies were naturally preserved by being buried in the hot and dry desert sand. By about 3500 B.C., the Egyptians had developed an elaborate process of preparing mummies. Ancient texts indicate that the process took 70 days to complete. In this process, the stomach, liver, lungs, and intestines were removed from the body through an incision on the left side of the abdomen. The heart, which the Egyptians considered the center of reasoning, was usually left in place. In some cases, embalmers removed the brain with a hook through a hole pierced through the nose.

After the body was dried, it was treated with perfumes and resins that helped seal out moisture. The body could be stuffed with straw, linen, moss, or other material to give it a more lifelike appearance. The body was then wrapped in a great number of linen bandages. Mummies were usually placed in a coffin or a series of coffins, one inside the other.

Wealthy people could afford more elaborately prepared mummies than could the poor. The ancient Egyptians also mummified animals, including baboons, cats, jackals, and rams, which were associated with various Egyptian gods and cults. Pet cats and dogs were sometimes mummified as well. The ancient Egyptians practiced mummification until about A.D. 300, when it was replaced by simple burials following the introduction of Christianity.

Mummies were also made in other parts of the world. In China, some bodies were preserved using mercury salts. Among the Inca of South America, mummies were preserved through the use of smoke and resins. The dry climate of the Andes Mountains aided the preservation of the bodies. The people of the Aleutian Islands and the Ancestral Pueblo people (once called the Anasazi) of the American Southwest also mummified their dead. Mummification is still practiced today in the form of embalming. Among the most famous modern mummies are those of the Communist leaders V. I. Lenin of Russia and Mao Zedong of China.

A new archaeological discovery is seen in Luxor, Egypt.
Credit: © Zahi Hawass Center for Egyptology

In early April 2021, Egyptian archaeologists announced their discovery of a previously unknown ancient city that had been buried largely intact for thousands of years. The city, given the name Aten or The Rise of Aten, was built around 3,500 years ago near Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, a narrow gorge that was used as a cemetery by the pharaohs (kings) of ancient Egypt.

Egyptologists (scholars who study ancient Egypt) compared the importance of the discovery of Aten to the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun (sometimes called King Tut) in 1922. Others compare this site to Pompeii, an ancient city in Italy that disappeared after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. Like Pompeii, Aten promises to give scholars a rare and relatively complete view of the daily life of ancient Egyptian commoners. Most other important discoveries in Egyptology involve tombs of pharaohs and other wealthy Egyptians.

The remarkable site of Aten preserves the ruins of many homes built of mud brick walls about 9 feet (3 meters) high. Archaeologists also found the remains of tools and other utensils used in the daily life of ancient Egyptians along with jewelry, scarab charms, pottery, and tools for making bread, yarn, cloth, and glass. The number of homes and workshops at the site shows that the city had a large population. The archaeologists have discovered a number of burials that preserve the skeletons of some of the city residents. Unlike wealthy people in ancient Egypt, the burials of these commoners were not preserved as mummies.

Pottery found at the site bore an inscription that allowed scholars to determine it was manufactured during the reign of the pharaoh Akhenaten. He ruled ancient Egypt from about 1353 to 1336 B.C. His wife, Queen Nefertiti, was famous for her great beauty and her dedication to her husband’s teachings. Akhenaten was originally known as Amenhotep IV. He was the son of Amenhotep III, one of the most powerful pharaohs of ancient Egypt’s New Kingdom period (1539-1075 B.C.). During the New Kingdom, Egypt became the largest and strongest empire in the ancient world.

As pharaoh, Amenhotep IV was a religious reformer. He chose Aten as the only god of Egypt and dismissed the many gods and goddesses of the ancient Egyptian pantheon. Aten had been a little-known sun god worshiped mainly in the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes. Amenhotep was so devoted to the worship of Aten that he changed his own name to Akhenaten, meaning servant of Aten. Akhenaten’s religious reforms, known as the Amarna Revolution, led to an outpouring of art and sculpture that glorified the Aten. But the changes angered many Egyptians who wished to continue worshipping the old gods.

After the death of Akhenaten, his successor Tutankhaten removed -aten from his name and became Tutankhamun. He restored the old state religion, allowing the worship of the many old gods as well as Aten. Later pharaohs destroyed or removed all monuments built by or in honor of Tutankhamun and others who had accepted Aten as Egypt’s chief god. The city of Aten was abandoned and eventually became buried in the desert sand for more than 3,000 years until its rediscovery this year.

May 6, 2019

Late last year, archaeologists in Egypt discovered a treasure trove of statues and mummified remains at a newly opened tomb complex in Saqqarah (also spelled Saqqara), an ancient site near Cairo. Antiquities are commonly found in Egypt, but this discovery was different: it was dedicated almost entirely to cats and scarab beetles. Saqqarah was the necropolis (burial ground) for Memphis, the capital of ancient Egypt for more than 2,000 years.

This gilded wooden cat statue was one of many discovered in a tomb complex at Saqqarah, Egypt, in November 2018. Credit: Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities

The recently opened tombs at Saqqarah are about 4,500 years old. Inside, archaeologists found some human remains as well as ceramic amulets and jars of writing utensils. The more interesting finds, however, were the dozens of mummified cats and scarab beetles. Some of the mummified cats may well have been treasured pets of the deceased, but others were probably included solely to please the feline goddess, Bastet. (Bastet was the goddess of cats as well as human fertility, love, and motherhood.) More than 100 gilded wooden cat statues were also in the tombs, along with an impressive bronze statue of Bastet. Animal statues and mummies are commonly found in ancient Egyptians tombs. Some animals were seen as physical manifestations of gods, and they were included in burials for companionship, food, protection, or religious offerings in the afterlife.

Archaeologists discovered the remains of these mummified scarabs at Saqqarah in November 2018. Credit: Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities

The preserved scarab beetles, a rare find, were wrapped in linen inside small decorated limestone sarcophagi (stone coffins). The Egyptians had a scarab beetle (or scarab-headed) deity, Khepri, a solar god of resurrection and immortality. Compared to Bastet, who had her own popular cult, Khepri was relatively obscure. Combined with the difficulty of embalming delicate beetles, that may explain the small numbers of scarab mummies found over the years.

Animal embalming was a vast industry in ancient Egypt. Sadly, this means that many animals—particularly cats and dogs—were captured or raised specifically to be offered as sacrifices for the dead. Millions of mummified animals have been found over the years. In 2015, a Saqqarah catacomb dedicated to the dog or jackal-like god of mummification, Anubis, was found stuffed with nearly 8 million animal mummies—most of them dogs. Such animals as baboons, cobras, crocodiles, falcons, ibises, and mice were also commonly mummified.

December 4, 2017

The Sphinx «sfihngks» was a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human, falcon, or ram. The Sphinx is found in both ancient Egyptian and Greek mythology. In Egyptian myth, the Sphinx was more of a symbol than an individual entity. It was a guardian figure, the protector of the pyramids, and the scourge of the enemies of Re, the sun god. It also represented the pharaoh and the pharaoh’s divine power. Sometimes the face of a carved or painted sphinx was meant to resemble a particular pharaoh.

Sphinxes figure in stories of ancient people from Egypt, Greece, and the Middle East. The Great Sphinx, shown here, is a huge limestone statue created near Giza, Egypt, about 4,500 years ago. Credit: © Dreamstime

In Greek mythology, the Sphinx was a monster. Some accounts note that it had the body and tail of a lion, the face of a woman, and the wings of a bird. It was an offspring of Echidna and Typhon, who also bore such other monsters as the Hydra, the Chimera, the many-headed dog Orthus, and the nasty Gorgons.

In the story of Oedipus, the goddess Hera sent the Sphinx to plague the people of the ancient city of Thebes. This was punishment for an ancient crime, possibly the failure to atone for the crimes of a former king of Thebes. The Sphinx sat perched on a mountain cliff near the ancient city. The creature guarded Thebes with a riddle that she had learned from the Muses. Each time a traveler failed to solve her riddle, she devoured them, effectively preventing anyone from leaving or entering the city.

The riddle? “What being has four legs, then two, and then three?” Some accounts write it, “What has four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening?” After many people guessed incorrectly and were killed, the king of Thebes announced that he would give the kingdom to anyone who could solve the riddle. The road past Mount Phicion, where the Sphinx awaited her victims, was strewn with the bones of people who had failed to find the right answer. Eventually, Oedipus, fleeing Corinth, solved the riddle. He answered, “Man, who crawls on all fours as a baby, then walks on two legs, and finally needs a cane in old age.” Upon hearing the correct answer, the Sphinx jumped from the cliff to her death. The plague of Thebes was lifted.

September 11, 2017

The ancient Egyptians told countless stories about their gods and goddesses, but one, called the Osiris myth, was the most popular of them all. In this story, the Earth god Geb retired to heaven and appointed his son Osiris, god of agriculture and fertility, as the new king of Egypt. Osiris took the fertility goddess Isis as his queen. Seth, god of chaos and the desert, grew jealous of Osiris’ new position of power and killed him. Seth chopped up Osiris’ body and stuffed the pieces into a box, which he sent floating down the Nile River. Isis was horrified and could not accept her husband’s death. With the help of other gods and goddesses, she found the box containing Osiris’ body and put the pieces back together, restoring him to life. Osiris then became god of the afterlife, ruling over the underworld.

A statue depicting Osiris stands at Hatshepsut Temple in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. Credit: © Christophe Cappelli, Shutterstock

Ancient Egyptians believed that if Osiris could triumph over death, so could human beings. Early rulers were referred to as “Osiris” after they died and were considered to be immortal, carrying on their lives in the underworld. By around 2000 B.C., common people believed that they too could continue living in the afterlife. In order to achieve this, they had to perform mortuary rituals in preparation for a trial after death. Osiris oversaw this trial, in which the heart of the deceased was weighed against an ostrich feather, a symbol of truth and justice. The bearer of a light heart was allowed to become immortal. Mortuary rituals are described in a collection of ancient texts known as The Book of the Dead.

In art, Osiris is generally shown as a bearded human mummy with green or black flesh. In his hands he holds a shepherd’s crook and a whip, symbols that were often associated with pharaohs and other Egyptian state leaders. On his head, Osiris wears a conical white crown with ostrich feathers.

In addition to being ruler of the underworld, Osiris continued his role as the god of agriculture and fertility. Ancient Egyptians believed that the powerful Osiris had a cosmic influence over the cycles of the moon, allowing him to control the tides. Seasonal flooding of the Nile, which played a crucial role in Egypt’s yearly harvests, was thus attributed to Osiris. Farmers, common folk, and royalty all recognized the god’s importance, and the cult of Osiris became widespread, lasting many centuries.

June 19, 2017

In Egyptian mythology, Horus is the son of the gods Osiris and Isis, the rulers of Egypt. The kingdom flourished under this divine couple until the jealous god of disorder, Seth, murdered Osiris and seized the throne. Isis, who was pregnant, fled to the marsh islands of the Nile River, where she gave birth to Horus. To keep the newborn god hidden from the evil Seth, Isis kept Horus in a papyrus thicket. In this place, known as the Nest of Horus, he was watched over and raised by Hathor, the goddess of the sky.

In this relief carving from the Temple of Kom Ombo in Egypt, a falcon-headed Horus wears the double crown of ancient Egypt. Credit: © Gary Cook, Alamy Images

After Seth learned that Osiris had an heir, he became angry and fearful. Seth knew that the throne rightfully belonged to Horus, and he feared Horus would someday overthrow him. Seth tried to kill young Horus, taking the form of such animals as hippopotamuses or serpents to raid Horus’s nest in disguise. However, the child god thwarted all Seth’s murderous attempts. This story is often told in the hieroglyphics of scrolls and tombs, where Horus is shown as a royal child overpowering dangerous animals. Horus is also sometimes depicted as a man with the head and wings of a falcon. In this form, he is a sky god and protector of royalty.

Seth used any opportunity to attack Horus, who dodged the attacks and retaliated with clever tricks and pranks. In one tale, Seth ripped out Horus’ eye and buried it in a mountainside, where the eye grew into a lotus flower. Hathor used her loving powers to nurture the flower until it matured into a replacement eye for Horus. In another story, Horus challenged Seth to a race in stone boats. Seth accepted the challenge and built a stone boat, but Horus built a wooden boat and painted it gray to give it the appearance of stone. Predictably, Seth’s boat sank in the Nile as Horus floated on and won the race.

Seth eventually succeeded in killing Horus with the poisonous sting of a scorpion. Distraught over her son’s death, Isis cried out to the other gods for help. The sun god, Re, and Thoth, the moon god and scribe of the underworld, took pity on Isis. Re paused time by stopping his daily path across the sky, as Thoth recited a magic spell over Horus’ body. The scorpion’s poison then flowed out of Horus, and he was brought back to life.

Horus grew to be a strong and mighty god. To defeat Seth and other enemies, he took the form of a great winged disk, and this became his symbol. The lengthy war between Horus and Seth eventually ended in a trial, in which it was decided that Horus, as the son of Osiris, would take the throne. Horus enjoyed a long and celebrated reign over Egypt, and for centuries, ancient Egyptians referred to their kings as the “Horus.”

April 17, 2017

This week’s Mythic Monday features Anubis, one of the best-known gods of ancient Egyptian mythology. Famously depicted in ancient Egyptian art as a crouching jackal or dog, or as a man with a jackal’s head, Anubis served as the god of mummification, the ancient Egyptian technique of embalming the dead. His main center of worship was at Kynopolis, which means Dog City in Greek. The culture of ancient Egypt existed for thousands of years. Over time, the role of Anubis changed, but he always held an important place in Egyptian mythology.

This exquisite statue of Anubis, the god of mummification and the afterlife, was found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun. Credit: © Prisma/Alamy Images

Thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt, hungry jackals would dig up bodies buried in shallow desert graves and feed on them. To ancient Egyptians, who thought that a person’s body needed to be preserved in order to enjoy the afterlife, this was a fate worse than death itself. Consequently, people would pray and make offerings to the jackal god to spare the bodies of their loved ones. In this way, the jackal became associated with the dead, and Anubis was worshipped as the god of the underworld.

As burials became more complex, another pest became a threat to the comfortable afterlives of ancient Egyptians: grave robbers. After powerful people died, they would be buried with their favorite possessions and other valuable objects. Ancient Egyptians believed that the deceased could enjoy these objects in the afterlife. But the value of the grave goods would often attract thieves looking to make their present lives more comfortable. To ward off would-be robbers, artisans decorated tombs with sculptures and carvings of Anubis. Priests inscribed curses into the tomb walls, invoking the jackal god and promising punishment in this life and the next to any who desecrated the tombs.

This Anubis statue from the Temple of Luxor dates from around 1400 B.C. Credit: Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, Denmark

Later in ancient Egyptian history, the god Osiris rose to prominence and replaced Anubis in myths as ruler of the dead. Anubis retained an important role in the mythology of the dead, however. He was credited with inventing the mummification process, enabling mortals to live on in the afterlife. With the moon god Thoth, Anubis weighed the hearts of the dead on the scales of justice in the underworld, judging the merit of their souls.

Anubis was depicted as a close ally of Osiris, as either his brother or son. In one story, Osiris’s jealous brother Seth murdered the god-pharaoh Osiris and cut the body into pieces, stuffed the pieces into a box, and set the box afloat on the Nile River. With the help of other sympathetic deities, Osiris’s wife Isis found the dismembered remains. She gave them to Anubis, who reassembled the pieces and embalmed the body, enabling Osiris to live on in the afterlife. Thus restored, Osiris descended to the underworld and became the king of the dead.

June 2, 2016

A new study conducted by Italian and Egyptian scientists found that an iron-bladed dagger from the tomb of Tutankhamun, ancient Egypt’s most famous pharaoh (king), had an extraterrestrial origin. An analysis of the metal blade found that the iron most likely came from a meteorite. This rare source of iron was highly prized by the ancient Egyptians. A special hieroglyphic describes such iron as “metal from heaven.”

Archaeologist Howard Carter works with Tutankhamun’s mummy in 1922. Among the many riches from Tut’s tomb was a rare iron-bladed dagger probably made from the metal of a meteorite.
CREDIT: © Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the long-hidden tomb of Tutankhamun (often called “King Tut”) in 1922. The discovery was a great sensation. King Tut served as ruler of Egypt from about 1332 B.C. until his death around 1322 B.C. The tomb had not been opened since ancient times. It still contained many of its treasures. It is the only tomb of an ancient Egyptian king to be discovered almost completely undamaged. Tut’s four-room tomb contained more than 5,000 objects, including many beautiful carved and gold-covered items. The dagger, found nestled in the wrappings of the pharaoh’s mummy, was finely crafted with a gold and crystal handle and a richly decorated sheath. But scientists found the blade of the dagger most intriguing. It was made of iron, a metal that was virtually unknown in ancient Egypt.

Although people in the ancient world worked copper, bronze, and gold beginning about 4,000 B.C., iron working developed much later. Historians generally mark the beginning of the Iron Age at 1,200 B.C., long after Tutankhamun’s death. Iron deposits are also uncommon in and around Egypt, and iron tools or weapons from ancient Egypt are very rare. Scholars have long suspected that the iron used to fashion precious objects found in ancient Egyptian tombs may have come from meteorites. Scholars believe ancient Egyptians might have regarded meteorites as gifts from the gods suitable only for kings. However, this theory has been difficult to prove.

In the latest study, scientists analyzed the dagger using a technique called x-ray fluorescence spectrometry to determine the composition of the blade. Fluorescence is a process by which substances give off light or another form of electromagnetic radiation when they absorb energy. Using this technique, scientists aimed a beam of high energy x-rays at the blade. By measuring the radiation emitted, they determined the types and abundances of various elements that made up the blade. They found that the blade was composed of iron, nickel, and cobalt. The relative amounts of these elements in the dagger were remarkably similar to those found in iron-rich meteorites. They then compared the chemical makeup of the dagger to meteorite samples obtained from sites within about 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) of Cairo, Egypt’s capital. One particular sample, known as the Kharga meteorite, had a composition of iron, nickel, and cobalt nearly identical to Tut’s dagger, strongly supporting its extraterrestrial origin.