Bronze Age Greek nobles could have sported area bling of their rings.
Chemical evaluation of 91 historic iron weapons and jewellery turned up traces of nickel in a couple of dozen signet rings — an indication the iron most likely got here from meteorites, researchers report within the August 2026 Journal of Archaeological Science. The rings have been excavated from the ruins of elite tombs, homes and a temple in southern Greece and Crete and the meteoric metallic was usually layered with gold and silver.
“This exhibits that meteoritic iron was thought of a really valuable metallic used for producing objects of particular worth and for a high-status group of individuals,” most likely elite Mycenaeans and Minoans, says prehistoric archaeologist Eleni Mantzourani of the College of Athens.
Iron from meteorites was prized all through the traditional world, particularly in Egypt, the place arid deserts protect meteorites. A dagger of meteoric iron was even present in King Tut’s tomb. However it was unclear whether or not the traditional Greeks additionally favored iron from meteorites; the area rocks are uncommon in a coastal area the place the ocean swallows most of them.
Mantzourani and Matthieu Gounelle, an astrophysicist and chemist on the French Pure Historical past Museum in Paris, used X-ray fluorescence to review iron objects from 33 archaeological websites, all relationship from 3,000 to 4,000 years in the past. Most contained no nickel, an indication the iron had been cast from ores with the rudimentary smelting applied sciences that preceded the Iron Age. In distinction, the iron in meteorites sometimes incorporates a excessive proportion of nickel, generally as much as 50 p.c, the researchers wrote.
However 13 objects held traces of nickel. All have been rings or fragments of rings, many hooked up to a big flat piece of engraved metallic that prompt they have been signet rings. Of these 13 rings, the researchers assume 10 have been most likely made with meteoric iron, whereas the opposite three want extra examine.
Given the shortage of meteorites in Crete and Greece, the researchers recommend the dear metallic was imported from Egypt, an indication of historic commerce between these areas.
Meteorite iron rings from after the twelfth century B.C. usually are not discovered within the area, which signifies this noble trend disappeared across the time of the Late Bronze Age collapse, Mantzourani says. The collapse ended the Mycenaean civilization in southern Greece, whereas the Minoan civilization on Crete had already fallen by this time, presumably due to a volcanic eruption.
