It has been confirmed that the items in the Vilena treasure are made of meteoritic iron
Spanish scientists have reached important scientific conclusions while studying the famous Vilena treasure discovered 60 years ago. This was reported by Zamin.uz.
As a result of the research, it was confirmed that two Bronze Age items — a bracelet and a half-sphere-shaped ornament — are made of meteoritic iron. An article about this discovery was published in the prestigious scientific journal Trabajos de Prehistoria.
The Vilena treasure was found in 1963 in the Alicante province of Spain and consists of 66 priceless items. Most of the items in the treasure are made of pure gold and date back to 1500–1200 BC.
This collection is considered one of the most important monuments of the European Bronze Age. However, the two iron items in the treasure, namely the half-sphere resembling rusted iron and the bracelet, puzzled scientists for a long time.
Because the Iron Age on the Iberian Peninsula began only around 850 BC. This means these items should have appeared 300–400 years after the treasure was created.
Experts conducted chemical analyses to study the composition of these items. Since meteoritic iron contains a high amount of nickel, they were able to identify this difference.
Analyses carried out at the Vilena Archaeological Museum proved that the composition of these items fully corresponds to meteoritic iron. This indicates that the items were made in the 14th–12th centuries BC.
This finding confirms that Bronze Age jewelers not only had high skills in making items from gold but also from meteoritic iron. This discovery may enter history as the first artifacts made of meteoritic iron on the Iberian Peninsula.
Scientists plan to study these items again in the future using modern non-invasive methods. At the same time, research continues to determine how well our ancestors understood the unique properties of meteoritic iron.
