The ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun – who reigned from approximately 1332 – 1323 BCE – is undoubtedly the biggest pop icon of Egyptology. When his tomb was discovered in 1922, there were over 5,400 objects assembled within.

Amongst them was a dagger which has fascinated archaeologists for over a century. What was it made of, who made it, and why was it buried with the Boy King?

Metal from the Stars

While the British Egyptologist Howard Carter had discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, it wasn’t until a return in 1925-6 that he had the chance to examine the King’s mummified body. He tells us in the second volume of his meticulous observations published under the series title “The Tomb of Tutankhamun” that wrapped tightly next to the king’s right thigh he found (2014, p. 214):

“…an extraordinarily fine and unique dagger housed in a gold scabbard. […] the astonishing and unique feature of this beautiful weapon is that the blade is of iron, still bright and resembling steel!”

What Carter recognised then, as have many Egyptologists since, is what an incredibly rare object this was: smelting iron ore did not become prevalent in Egypt prior to 600 BCE, some seven centuries after Tutankhamun’s reign. From the Predynastic (ca. 3300 BCE) until Tutankhamun’s own Eighteenth Dynasty (which reigned from 1550 – 1292 BCE), the number of reported potential iron objects is less than forty: nineteen of those are from KV 62 in Thebes, Tutankhamun’s own tomb (Johnson and Tyldesley 2016, pg. 409).

Aside from rare instances of iron occurring as a by-product of the smelting process of copper and bronze (Ogden 2000, pg. 166), ancient metalworkers would have likely used naturally occurring metallic iron. Telluric (earth) iron is currently only found in one major deposit in Greenland. Therefore, many archaeologists have suggested over the years that these iron objects – including Tutankhamun’s dagger – could have been made with iron sourced from meteorites that fell to Earth.

While multiple analyses of the dagger since its discovery have drawn differing conclusions - some suggesting meteoric origins and others of being an imported iron produced from smelting – the most recent and detailed scientific study of all the iron objects from Tutankhamun’s tomb concluded that the dagger’s blade had an average measured composition of 12.8% nickel (Broschat et al. 2022, pgs. 29-30). Meteoric iron’s chemical compound has a higher percentage of nickel (4% and above) than carbon in its mass.

Therefore, modern consensus is that the dagger’s blade is made of meteoric iron.

Metalworking in Ancient Egypt

Another question for archaeologists is who crafted the blade for the King. Carter himself was the first to speculate its import into Egypt from a neighbouring power, romanticizing Egypt’s mastery of bronze, silver and gold and associating the arrival of iron and other “foreign” technologies as an early sign of Pharaonic “decline” (Carter 2014 reprint, pg. 214).

Yet, contrary to Carter’s fantasy, Egyptian metalworkers were not complete strangers to iron. Some 5,000 years ago, pieces of meteoric iron were carefully hammered into multiple beads for two individuals whose graves were discovered at the Predynastic site of Gerzeh in Lower Egypt (Rehren et al. 2013). Their inclusion within the rich assembly of grave goods for both individuals suggests that metallic iron was prized from the earliest times as a material for displaying power and status.

This cultural value attributed to metals due to their physical rarity consequently also gave its own significance to the role of the metalworker in ancient Egypt, whose specialist knowledge and dedication to their craft became in its own way ‘sacred’ (Devillers 2025, pg. 8) and therefore desirable to elites such as the Pharaoh and his retinue. This included the manipulation of meteoric iron, which would receive its own unique term in Egyptian hieroglyphs: bjꜣ-n-p.t, literally “Iron of the Sky” (Comelli et al. 2016).

The thing we are least certain of is where exactly the meteoric iron for Tutankhamun’s blade could have been sourced from. While deposits of meteoric iron are known in Egypt, such as the meteorite known as Gebel Kemil which is believed to have made impact within a timeframe of the last 5,000 years (D’Orrazio et al. 2011), it is hard to pinpoint a direct source. Therefore, we must consider further possibilities beyond the confines of the Nile.

A Divine Gift

Across the wider Ancient Middle East, there was also a recognition and cultural significance given to meteorites and the iron that came from them. For the Hittites of Anatolia, for example, Taru – the Storm God and chief of their ever-expansive pantheon – cast thunderbolts and therefore by extension other heavenly objects such as meteors to express his displeasure (Schwemer 2008, pg. 23). Yet even from these inauspicious omens, their material could be seized to produce objects with great ritual and political significance.

Just as in the case of Egypt, early ironworking in the Middle East and Anatolia shows multiple instances of utilising meteoric iron prior to the introduction of ore smelting in the 1st millennium BCE (Erb-Satullo 2019, pgs. 563-4). Among Egypt’s neighbours in the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1550 – 1200 BCE), such as the Hittites, iron was directly associated with power and kingship, with texts associating the King’s words with the “hardness and endurance of iron” (Yalçın 1999, pg. 182).

It’s for this reason that archaeologists believe there is a possibility that Tutankhamun’s meteoric dagger may have been a gift from a neighbouring power. During this period, multiple kingdoms and polities across the Middle East engaged in a web of complex trade and diplomacy, ostensibly embodied through “brotherly” relationships between the Kings, making marriages between dynasties and trading precious materials – such as gold, silver and iron – and specially crafted objects made from them to legitimise each other. Take for example this letter from Tušratta, King of Mittani (r. 1358 – 1355 BCE) to Amenhotep III, King of Egypt (r. 1388 – 1350 BCE) and grandfather of Tutankhamun (EA 19, Translated from BM E29791 [Moran 1992, pp. 43-4]):

“As far back as the time of your ancestors, they always showed love to my ancestors. You yourself went even further and showed very great love to my father. Now, in keeping with our constant and mutual love, you have made it ten times greater than the love shown my father. May the gods grant it, and may Teššup, my lord, and Aman make Flour[ish] for evermore, just as it is now, this mutual love of ours.

[…]

I also asked my brother for much gold, saying, “May my brother grant me more than he did to my father and send it to me. You sent my father much gold. You sent him large gold jars and gold jugs. You se[nt him] gold bricks as if they were (just) the equivalent of copper.”

In exchange for marrying his daughter, Tušratta asks Amenhotep to send him plenty of gold – a precious metal that Egypt was rich with and metalworkers were famous for mastering – in exchange, citing precedent to appeal to Amenhotep’s obligations as his ‘kin’. While there would later be some dispute as to the quality of the gold, Amenhotep’s wedding to the Mittani princess would still go ahead, and amongst the inventory for the dowry we find something interesting (EA 22, Translated from VAT 395 [Moran 1992, p. 53]):

“A dagger, the blade of which is of iron; the haft has an inlay of …-st[one], overlaid with gold; its pommel, of …-stone; its … mounted on gold…”

While we cannot be entirely certain if the blade described above is the exact same as the one buried with Tutankhamun due to the discrepancies surrounding the inscription, their similarities do make it a possibility that the blade was either an inherited gift or even indeed given as a gift upon the Boy King’s early death. In this way, the decision by the royal embalmers to wrap it next to his right thigh – constituting it as part of his new, blessed and divine body in death – demonstrates its significance as a symbol of royal and divine power.

Conclusion

Recent scientific analysis of the iron objects from Tutankhamun’s tomb – including the dagger – has concluded that the high percentage of nickel found in the metal confirms their meteoric origin. Meteoric iron was utilised throughout the wider Ancient Middle East to craft luxury goods for Kings and their elites over the course of 5,000 years and was associated with divinity. Whether it was made by Egyptian metalworkers or came as a diplomatic gift, this is almost certainly why it was found bound to Tutankhamun’s body as a symbol of royal and divine power. It is for these reasons we have rated this claim true.