Whether it was really meteorite material or just Earth iron has long been debated. But now scientists have found conclusive evidence that the ancient Egyptians actually used meteorites in their jewelry.
The Egyptian iron bead was found at Gerzeh cemetery, some 40 miles south of Cairo. It was dated around 3300 BC. This is very early, the time when Egyptian civilization only just started to develop. They supposedly did not know how to use iron, or were possibly just starting to experiment with it.
This iron, that fell out of the sky, must have been something very special for the ancient Egyptians. It must have been precious metal to them, and they probably attributed magical or divine powers to it. Possibly the finds of meteorite iron actually inspired the ancient Egyptians to try and work with iron in the first place.
That the ancient Egyptians just found the meteorite while taking a walk along the Nile is a reasonable assumption. They liked it and then decided to try and make it into a bead. But what if there was more? What if they did not make this ‘bead’ themselves? It seems too early in time for them to have done this. Someone could have given it to them, to show or teach them something. It could actually have had some ‘magical’ function at the time, part of a technology that has been lost since..