Ancient Jewelry Had Extraterrestrial Origin

Ancient Jewelry Had Extraterrestrial Origin
古老珠宝源于外太空
Iron is a great material for making tools. But the oldest known iron artifacts were actually intended for decoration: nine Egyptian beads that date back to 3200 B.C. And now we know that this ancient jewelry has an even more impressive origin—the iron out of which it was crafted came from space.
铁是一种用于制造工具的好材料。但是已知的最古老的铁器却是用于装饰的：九个起源于公元前3200年埃及宝珠。现在我们知道这个古老的珠宝的缘起更令人印象深刻——铁的材料来自于太空。
The metal cylinders were discovered in Egypt in 1911. To analyze the structure and chemical composition of the beads, researchers bombarded them with neutrons and gamma rays. The tests revealed that the jewelry contained trace elements not present in Earthly ores—but that are found in iron-rich meteorites. The study is in the Journal of Archaeological Science. [Thilo Rehren et al., 5,000-year-old Egyptian iron beads made from hammered meteoritic iron]
该合金圆柱体1911年在埃及发现。为了分析珠子的结构以及化学组成，研究人员使用中子和伽玛射线撞击它。测试表明该珠宝包含不存在于早期矿石的元素——但存在于富含铁的陨石中。研究发表在the Journal of Archaeological Science. [Thilo Rehren et al., 5,000-year-old Egyptian iron beads made from hammered meteoritic iron]

The meteoric metal was hammered flat and rolled into beads more than 5,000 years ago. This date is some 1,500 years before the invention of smelting. That technique made it possible for terrestrial iron to be shaped into tools, and to supplant copper and bronze as civilization's metal of choice. The new finding shows that long before smelting revolutionized tool use, some humans were already iron men.
在五千年以前，陨石的金属被锻造得扁平并打磨成珠子。这比熔炼的发明早了1500年。这种技术可以把地球上的铁塑造成工具，用于挖掘铜，适应文明对金属的需要。这个新发现表明，远在熔炼和工具革命之前，有些人已经是钢铁侠了。