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King Tutankhamun: Egyptian Pharaoh Buried With Dagger Made From Meteorite, Scientists Say
Tutankhamen, the famed boy king of Egypt’s 18th Dynasty, ruled from about 1333 to 1323 B.C., and was believed to have been only 19 when he died. In 1922, the English archaeologist Howard Carter discovered King Tut’s near-intact tomb, containing the young pharaoh’s mummified corpse inside a solid gold coffin, along with other priceless treasures. Nearly a century later, Carter’s find remains one of the most celebrated in the history of Egyptology, and a lesser-known artifact from Tut’s tomb is making news of its own. A new study has determined that the blade of an ornate dagger found wrapped with the pharaoh’s body does not match iron found on Earth, and probably came from a fallen meteorite.
In 1925, three years after discovering Tutankhamen’s largely intact tomb in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor (ancient Thebes), the English archaeologist Howard Carter found two daggers hidden in the folds of material wrapped around the pharaoh’s mummified body. In the wrappings on Tut’s right thigh, he found an iron blade with a decorated gold handle ending in a round crystal knob, encased in an ornate gold sheath decorated in a pattern of feathers, lilies and the head of a jackal. The second blade, found near Tut’s abdomen, was of gold.
The iron dagger instantly attracted attention from archaeologists. Iron was still relatively rare in the Bronze Age, and was considered even more valuable than gold. Though ancient Egypt was rich in mineral resources—copper, bronze and gold were in use since the fourth millennium B.C.—the earliest references to iron smelting in the Nile Valley date to much later, during the first millennium B.C. Most archaeologists agree that the handful of iron objects that have been found from Egypt’s Old Kingdom (third millennium B.C.) were probably produced from meteoric metal, a substance the Egyptians of Tut’s era reverently called “iron from the sky.”
Earlier examinations of the iron dagger found in King Tut’s tomb in the 1970s and 1990s probed the possibility that its blade came from a meteorite. Their findings were inconclusive or controversial, at best. Recently, however, a team of Italian and Egyptian researchers took advantage of new technology—specifically a technique called portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry—to take another look. According to their findings, published this week in the journal Meteorites and Planetary Science, the blade’s composition of iron, nickel and cobalt “strongly suggests an extraterrestrial origin.” What’s more, it is nearly identical to the composition of a meteor found in the seaport city of Marsa Matruh, 150 miles west of Alexandria.
Researchers from Polytechnic University of Milan, the University of Pisa in Italy and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo led the new study, which compared the iron of the blade found in Tut’s tomb with 11 meteorites that fell within a radius of 1,250 miles. Made of mostly iron, plus 10.8 percent nickel and 0.58 percent cobalt, the blade matched up closely with the meteorite known as Kharga, which was discovered near Marsa Matruh in 2000.
In 2009, a separate study found that the oldest Egyptian iron artifacts found to date—nine small beads dating to around 3200 B.C. discovered in a tomb in Gerzeh (Egypt)—were made of meteoritic iron, which had been carefully hammered into thin sheets. The authors of the new study hope that their examination of Tut’s dagger will provide further insight into the use of meteoric iron in the young pharaoh’s time and help archaeologists reconstruct the evolution of metalworking technology in Egypt and the Mediterranean.
Nearly a century after Carter’s discovery, Tutankhamen’s 3,300-year-old tomb continues to be an object of fascination and study—not to mention controversy. Earlier this year, the Egyptian government said eight workers at the state-run Egyptian Museum would be disciplined for their role in damage caused to King Tut’s golden burial mask during repairs of a light fixture in its display case.
Even more recently, Egyptian antiquities officials announced last month that a deeper analysis of radar scans showed that organic material or metal could be hidden behind the walls of Tut’s tomb. The officials have been pursuing a controversial theory—proposed in 2015 by the British archaeologist Nicholas Reeves—that the long-lost tomb of another ancient Egyptian icon, Queen Nefertiti, may be concealed behind Tut’s burial chamber. Nefertiti was the chief wife of Akhenaten, Tut’s predecessor on the throne (and possibly his father).
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Renters in Los Angeles and San Francisco are Paying $1200 a Month for a Bunk Bed in a Shared Space
Would you pay $1200 a month for a bunk bed in a shared space? Renters in Los Angeles and San Francisco are opting for pods in communal home with a desk, locker and personal TV
With the cost of rent continuing to rise, some Americans are taking unusual measures to find a place to sleep.
In Los Angeles and San Francisco, where prices are particularly exorbitant, people have taken to renting bunk beds in communal homes.
PodShare, which provides 10 to 15 co-ed bunkbeds in six locations across California, is hoping to help solve the affordable housing crisis.
The beds can be rented from $35 to $50 a night, which amounts to between $1,050 and $1500 for one month.
It’s no secret that housing prices have rapidly spiked over the last decade and incomes have not kept up
One 2018 study published found that only about one-third of millennials currently own homes.
This is fewer than the number of Generation Xers and baby boomers who owned homes when they were the same age.
And a study conducted by Harvard University this year found that one-in-three Americans can’t afford to pay rent.
It’s unsurprising considering that, in cities such as San Francisco, the average rent for an apartment is about $3,900.
But for $1,200, if you rent with PodShare everyone gets a bed that turns into a desk, individual power outlets, a locker, a shelf and a personal TV.
Each location also provides a communal living room, food such as cereal, toiletries such as toilet paper, laundry machines and WiFi access, reported CNN.
Tenants are known as ‘pod-estrians’.
Although the set-up may seem like an adult dormitory or a hostel, the company uses the term ‘co-living’.
‘PodShare makes life more affordable because there is no security deposit or cost of furnishings and we provide flexible living,’ co-founder Elvina Beck told Vice in 2016.
‘Pod life is the future for singles which are not looking to settle down, but focus on their startups and experience something new.’
There are no curtains to close off the beds, and the only doors are to the bathroom, reported Time Out Los Angeles.
Although there’s no privacy, pod-residents are willing to exchange that for affordability or a reduced travel time to work.
Beck, 34, told CNN that she founded the company in 2012 because she wanted to meet new people and provide housing security to others.
‘Maybe they don’t have two months’ rent to put down or they don’t have proof of income,’ she said.
‘Whether it’s from a divorce or their family kicked them out for being gay or because they’re in a different country or a different city.’
She told CNN that, when she began PodShare, most residents were between ages 24 and 30. Today, however, most ‘tenants’ are in their late 20s or early 30s.
Additionally, many of the early residents were young adults who had just moved to a new city. But many new residents are older adults and even those traveling on business.
However, there some rules that people are required to follow. Lights have to be off by 10pm, no guests are allowed and tenants can’t have sex.
‘You can’t invite any friends over,’ Beck told CNN. ‘Sorry. Just make new ones here.’
“Calming the Canines,” at Maricopa County Animal Care and Control (MCACC), is a new Independence Day tradition.
Last year, over 300 people from the community showed up at the shelter’s two locations around Phoenix, Arizona.
It was overwhelming to see how the community responded. It really helped spread our message that MCACC is here to help.
Amy Engel, who attended Calming the Canines last year said that she definitely plans on attending this year, too.
Engel wrote about her experience last year
Some people sang to them, some people read to them, some people just sat there and gave treats! It was so, so awesome because the dogs absolutely love the attention and were focused on the people and not the fireworks going on outside.
MCACC wrote:
Many participants developed lasting relationships with the shelter, returning to provide foster care, adopt a pet or volunteer.
The shelter suggests people to bring blankets to sit on, or folding chairs, and to let the dog or cat approach them to sit calmly and quietly.
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