Villena treasure yields meteoric iron artefacts from the Bronze Age
Among the golden treasures from the Iberian Bronze Age in the treasury in the Spanish city of Villena, scientists encountered two exceptional specimens—a hollow hemisphere and what once was a bracelet, which caused quite a surprise. As the researchers explain in the scientific journal "Trabajos de Prehistoria," both items were made of meteoric iron, as confirmed by their analyses.
According to scientists, the Villena treasure (comprising around 66 items), discovered by José M. Soler at the end of 1963 at Rambla del Panadero and deposited in the Villena Museum, is one of the most significant gold collections from the Bronze Age on the Iberian Peninsula. Researchers appreciated its value but had difficulties determining its chronology within the Bronze Age. A particular challenge was dating the two iron objects - a minor hollow hemisphere covered with an open sheet of gold that might have been the finishing touch for a wand or sword handle and the bracelet.
Items of "otherworldly" origin
In 2007, Prof. Concepción Blasco Bosqued suggested testing the objects to see if they were made of "earthly" or meteoric iron. Scientists took samples from the mysterious hemisphere and the bracelet and subjected them to detailed analyses. They examined, among other things, their composition and viewed them under a metallographic microscope. The research findings indicated that the items were likely made of meteoric iron and were the first such items found on the Iberian Peninsula.
"The available data suggest that the cap and bracelet are the first two pieces attributable to meteoritic iron in the Iberian Peninsula, which is compatible with a chronology from the Late Bronze Age before widespread terrestrial iron production," the article states.
The items from the Villena treasure are heavily eroded. For this reason, experts emphasize the need for further research to resolve remaining doubts. They mention non-invasive methods such as gamma spectrometry, CT scanning, and muon radiography. These methods could finally confirm the extraterrestrial origin of the iron used to make the hemisphere and bracelet.
