Ancient Egyptian Necklaces Found to Be Made of Meteorite Metal

The more things change

The hordes of modern day jewelers cashing in on trendy (and pricey) jewelry made from meteorites are thousands of years late to the game. As it turns out, some ancient Egyptian beads were crafted from the space rocks as well.

A cache of nine iron beads dated from about 3,300 BC—the oldest known iron artifacts from Egypt—were long a mystery to archaeologists, who wondered how the ancient people crafted the beads thousands of years prior to the introduction of iron smelting in the region.