The earliest artifacts from meteoric iron: myths and reality

A lot of early finds of artifacts made from ferrous metal are considered tohave been made from meteoric iron. High nickel content is an indication of meteoricorigin of iron. However, as studies of the recent years have demonstrated, high nickelcontent cannot be used as a clear-cut indication of the meteoric origin of iron. Data ofchemical analysis are efficiently complemented by results of metallographic studies. Itturned out that the metal of a number of artifacts that was considered to be meteoric wasproduced by smelting iron from its ores using metallurgical techniques. The analysis ofnumerous, though fragmented, data leads to the conclusion that the production of itemsfrom meteoric iron was random and sporadic.