An article published Sunday detailed the discovery of an extraterrestrial Bronze Age “treasure.”
New analysis of a Bronze Age hoard discovered in Spain in 1963 revealed the artifacts were manufactured using iron from a meteorite, according to a study published in the journal Trabajos de Prehistoria. The hoard contains various items, such as bottles, bowls and jewelry made of gold, amber, silver and iron, LiveScience noted.
“The connection between gold and iron is important, as both elements have a great symbolic and social value,” study author Ignacio Montero Ruiz told the outlet. “In this case, [the artifacts] were … probably hidden treasure that could have belonged to a whole community and not to a single person. There were no kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula at this historical period.”
Treasure of Villena.
The second largest Bronze Age hoard of gold in Europe, just behind that from the Royal Graves in Mycenae. pic.twitter.com/qqU6b6GWjZ— Mythical Iberia (@MythicalIberia) February 12, 2022
The items were originally discovered in a gravel pit in Alicante and reportedly caused much confusion for the archaeological community when they were first analyzed. The pieces were described as “a dark leaden metal. It is shiny in some areas, and covered with a ferrous-looking oxide that is mostly cracked,” by one Spanish outlet, El Pais. (RELATED: Crazy Video From Doorbell Camera Shows Meteor Flying Over Suburban Town In England)
But the latest analysis revealed that two of the items contain pieces of a meteorite that crashed into Earth around a million years ago. Then, around 1400 to 1200 B.C., someone found the stones and shaped them into a bracelet and a hollow sphere, which is believed to have decorated a sword’s pommel (top of the handle).