The Iron Age, widely known for revolutionizing human civilization, has yielded countless discoveries of tools and weapons made from its namesake ore. Archeologists have also found iron tools predating this era, and their discovery has left experts in the field mystified for decades - until now.

Pre-Iron Age societies lacked the technology required to smelt iron into practical tools. Yet, some of these ancient cultures had access to this metal, which would go on to shape human history in profound ways. Among the early civilizations that had access to advanced materials beyond their time were the Ancient Egyptians, who demonstrated a significant mastery of ironworking over 5,000 years ago, well before the Iron Age.

Another example is the Neolithic settlement of Alaca Höyük in central Turkey, where archaeologists discovered an iron dagger believed to be around 4,500 years old. The site contains multiple large, decorative royal tombs watched over by stone sphinxes and is famous for its many gold and bronze artifacts. However, it was the iron dagger that captured the imagination of historians and archaeologists.

The Alaca Höyük dagger's blade, made jagged by time, is relatively long and attached to an intricate golden hilt. Using modern geochemical identification processes, scientists have determined that this dagger and most Egyptian and pre-Iron Age iron tools are made from "meteoric iron." This unique type of iron, enriched with a higher concentration of nickel, is believed to have come from outer space and is distinct from the iron found on Earth.

Meteoric iron is formed within the molten cores of celestial bodies, and its extraterrestrial origins have long fascinated early civilizations. Ancient records indicate that these societies understood the nature of this metal as Egyptian hieroglyphs allude to iron being "from the sky." Later records from across the world similarly refer to this metal using terms that translate approximately to "sky iron."

These discoveries have opened up new avenues of research for archaeologists, hinting at the technological capabilities of early civilizations and their connection to the cosmos...