(27 May 2016) A team of international researchers – belonging to Milan Polytechnic, the University of Pisa, the National Research Council, the Polytechnic of Turin, the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the University of Fayoum, as well as the company XGLab – has documented the meteoritic origin of the iron blade of the dagger that belonged to Tutankhamun, the ancient Egyptian ruler, known as the boy pharaoh, who lived in the fourteenth century BC. Research, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Italian-Egyptian Ministry of Scientific Research Affairs, was attended by Professors Massimo D’Orazio and Luigi Folco, of the Department of Earth Sciences of the University of Pisa. The two Professors coordinate the Pisa research group for the study of meteorites (extraterrestrial rocks captured by the Earth’s gravitational pull such as fragments of asteroids, comets, the Moon and Mars), which confirms itself as an international scientific reference for planetary sciences with significant contributions in the field of archeology. (Red)
