Extraterrestrial origin of Tutankhamun’s pendant has been proven

An international group of scientists, using advanced technologies, determinedthat the mysterious yellow glass from which Tutankhamun’s famous pendant was made was formed as a result of a meteorite hitting the surface of the Earth.

Scientists from Germany, Egypt and Morocco analyzed samples of yellow glass, which has long been found in the Libyan desert – the Great Sand Sea. This desert, connecting Egypt and Libya, has an area of ​​72 thousand square kilometers.

“If you find yourself in a certain part of the desert in southeastern Libya and southwestern Egypt, you will notice pieces of yellow glass scattered across the sandy landscape,” the researchers write. “It was first described in a scientific paper in 1933 and called Libyan glass. Mineral collectors value it for its beauty, rarity and mystery. A pendant found in the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun contains a shard of such glass.”

Libyan yellow glass differs in its composition from any other natural glass on Earth. For almost a century, its origins have been controversial among scientists. In 1996, another study found that the glass was about 29 million years old. It was later proven that the original material consisted of quartz grains coated with mixed clay minerals and iron and titanium oxides.

In the new study, scientists examined two glass samples they purchased from a local resident in Libya. Using transmission electron microscopy, which can see even the smallest particles of material 20,000 times smaller than the thickness of a sheet of paper, they discovered different types of zirconium oxide minerals, including cubic zirconia, which is used in jewelry instead of diamonds. A rare polymorph known as ortho-II was also discovered, which only forms at very high pressure – about 130,000 atmospheres.

By comparing the pressure and temperature parameters required to form these polymorphs, scientists came to the conclusion that glass could only be formed by a meteorite impact or an atomic bomb explosion. However, the absence of meteorite craters in the Libyan desert remains a mystery. The nearest known meteorite craters, GP and Oasis, are far from where the glass was found and are too small for such a powerful impact.