Bronze Age arrowhead in Switzerland discovered to be made from a meteor, study finds
A recent study conducted by researchers at the Natural History Museum of Bern has revealed that a Bronze Age arrowhead discovered in Switzerland was crafted from a meteor. Dating back to between 900 and 800 BC, the 39-millimeter-long (1.5-inch-long) arrowhead was found on a pile-dwelling site in Mörigen on Lake Biel, Switzerland, during excavations in the 19th century.
The study noted that the nearly 3,000-year-old artifact was made with iron from a meteorite that landed in Estonia. This indicates that meteoritic iron was being traded in Europe by 800 BC or earlier, which is highly unusual for such early usage of meteoritic iron in history. “Such evidence of an early use of meteoritic iron is extremely rare,” stated a news release on the discovery.
During that time, humans had not yet started smelting iron from oxide ores, but some metallic iron could be found in the impact fields of meteorites, according to the study. While objects made from meteoritic iron have been found in various parts of the world, including Turkey, Greece, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Iran, Russia, and China, they had previously only been discovered at two sites in central and western Europe, both in Poland.
With the arrowhead findings, researchers have now confirmed Mörigen as the third site in Europe where an artifact made from meteoritic iron has been found. Previous experts had believed that the iron used in the arrowhead originated from the Twannberg meteorite, which fell just a few kilometers from the pile-dwelling. However, analysis of the iron proved that neither the Twannberg meteorite nor a meteorite from Poland was the source of the material.
The study identified only three known meteorites in Europe with a similar chemical composition, but researchers believe the most likely source was one in Kaalijarv, Estonia. The Kaalijarv meteorite hit around 1500 BC and “produced many small fragments,” according to the study. Some of these fragments would later have moved southwest to Switzerland along trade routes.
“Trade across Europe during the Bronze Age is a well-established fact: Amber from the Baltic (like the arrowhead, presumably), tin from Cornwall, glass beads from Egypt and Mesopotamia,” said lead study author Beda Hofmann. While most people in the Bronze Age pile-dwelling villages in the Swiss lakes focused on agriculture, hunting, and fishing, there is evidence that some individuals had developed specialized skills, such as the use of molds for casting bronze found at Mörigen.
The findings of this study were published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.