One can never get tired of admiring exquisite jewelry and other beautiful artifacts produced by ancient civilizations that were so artistic and creative. Some of these ancient artifacts are truly unique because they were made with materials of extraordinary rarity and value.
Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun, commonly referred to as King Tut, had several cosmic jewels placed in his tomb when he died, being only 18 years old.
When Egyptologist Howard Carter and his team found stairs that led to Tutankhamunβs tomb in the Valley of the Kings, on November 4, 1922, they were startled to see all the extraordinary treasures in his burial. At the time, the scientists had no idea some of the artifacts were produced with otherworldly materials.
βIt took many years before researchers could determine some of King Tutβs afterlife gifts were formed when a meteorite smashed into the Earth 28 million years ago.
King Tutβs Cosmic Scarab Brooch Caretaker thought King Tutβs bracelet was made of chalcedony, a type of quartz. However, scientists became curious when geographer Patrick Clayton, who was exploring in 1932 the Great Sand Sea along the border of modern Egypt and Libya, stumbled upon the mysterious glass in the sand. This yellow-green glass was identical to the gemstone discovered in King Tutβs tomb.
What was it possibly?β
Today, scientists know that the material known as Libyan Desert Glass was formed about 28 million years ago when a meteorite entered the Earthβs atmosphere and exploded over Egypt. This cosmic impact heated the sand beneath it to a temperature of about 2,000 degrees Celsius. As a result of this, desert glass was formed, and this material was later used to create King Tutβs scarab brooch.
King Tutankhamunβs magnificent brooch βis adorned with a rare green desert glass scarab set on the body of a falcon, symbolizing the sun. The front legs and wings of this composite creature support a celestial boat containing the disk of the moon β crowned by a silver moon disk with a crescent in gold.β
The Pharaoh Tutankhamun is depicted in the disk flanked by the god Thoth and by the sun god Ra-Horakhty in a protective pose. The βscarabβ is one of the oldest and most problematic symbols for the ancient Egyptians. Egyptian pharaohs worshipped dung beetles, and most probably, it was symbolically sacred to the Egyptians as the cross is to Christians.
The scarabs with aesthetic qualities and shamanic symbolism were already known in the Old Kingdom (3rd millennium BC) and probably, it was symbolically sacred to the Egyptians as the cross is to Christians.
The scarab has an important role in the magical protection. A silver moon disk with a crescent in gold was found on the back, which had suffered little corrosion while buried in the damp of the Nile River shores, where an ancient Egyptian civilization was flourishing.
The dagger is considered one of the most outstanding items to have been retrieved from Tutankhamunβs tomb. It is assumed to have been made of the same material as the meteorite named Kharga, which was found in 2000 on the Mars Matrouh plateau in Egypt, 150 miles west of Alexandria. The dagger is also considered one of the most outstanding items retrieved from Tutankhamunβs tomb due to its material.
Tutankhamunβs tomb also contained other objects with a link to the cosmos.
This information sheds light on the significance and symbolism of some of the items found in King Tutankhamunβs tomb.
