The melting point of copper is low enough, almost 1,100 ° C , to be able to melt in simple fires, but iron, with its 1,808 ° C, requires intentional smelting through a complex process. What gave the key for the peoples of the Middle East to start using iron?
Most of the artifacts found in the excavations of the Bronze Age contain 90% iron , such as the famous dagger of the 14th century BC. Tutankhamon. Chemical analysis has revealed that the impurities contained in the iron in the dagger are nickel, proving that the iron came from a meteorite. Then possibly the first blacksmiths used cast iron by nature, in this case, our atmosphere. Hittites and Sumerians recognized this connection by calling iron “the fire from heaven”; even the Egyptian word for it means “thunder from heaven” and the Assyrian term, “metal from heaven.” With meteorites as inspiration and guide, recognizing iron ores on Earth was almost inevitable. Meteorites allowed the jump to the Iron Age.
When European explorers encountered the Inuit in northwestern Greenland they were astonished to discover that this Eskimo tribe had knives, harpoon tips, and engraving tools made from meteorite iron. Tools made from the legendary Greenland meteorite have been found more than 2,000 km away and transported like someone carrying money from a bank. In a place with no accessible metal mines, meteorite iron has allowed these tribes to survive in the harsh arctic environment.
Between 1818 and 1883 five expeditions set out in search of the “Iron Mountain” , and they failed. It was Robert E. Peary, guided by a local, who led him to a certain place on Saviksoah Island, north of Cape York in Greenland. In 1894 the famous meteorite was found divided into three parts: Ahnighito , 34 tons, the Woman , 3 tons, and the Dog , half a ton.
And how could it be otherwise, the next three years Peary dedicated himself to taking them away from the place, building the only existing railway in Greenland. In the end the Inuit iron sources were sold for $ 40,000 to the American Museum of Natural History, and can be seen today in the Arthur Ross Meteorite Room.
