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Pyrites, Meteorites and Meteor-Wrongs from Ancient Iran

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Pyrites, Meteorites and Meteor-Wrongs from Ancient Iran 0320-07_Iran_Antiq_43_06_Overlaet 09-01-2008 14:37 Pagina 153 Iranica Antiqua, vol. XLIII, 2008 doi: 10.2143/IA.43.0.2024046 GREAT BALLS OF FIRE? PYRITES, METEORITES AND METEOR-WRONGS FROM ANCIENT IRAN BY Bruno OVERLAET (Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels / Ghent University, Ghent) Abstract: Metallic nodules found in the Siyalk II settlement and in Iron Age III tombs in Luristan, Iran, were identified by the excavators as meteorites. However, these identifications must be questioned. The Siyalk nodules could be of telluric origin. The four Luristan specimens are identified as pyrite nodules. It is suggested that such nodules were used for fire-making, although other functions such as a use as sling balls are not to be excluded either. Keywords: pyrite, meteorite, fire-making, Luristan, Tepe Siyalk, Chamahzi Mumah, Gul Khanan Murdah, Iran. Meteors and meteor showers or shooting stars, like comets and other celes- tial anomalies, were in antiquity widely associated with acts of gods and were often seen as omens or divine warnings. When their fall had been wit- nessed and their remains could be retrieved, they could be venerated and placed in temples. A well known example is the stone (in antiquity consid- ered to be a meteorite) of Emesa (Cumont 1905: 2219-2222; Turcan 1985; Gradel 2004: 351-352). It was associated with the sun god and worshipped in its temple in Emesa, Syria. It was taken from its sanctuary to Rome by its high priest Marcus Aurelius Antoninus who adopted the sun god’s name Elagabalus on becoming emperor in 218 A.D. Two temples were constructed for it in Rome and its worship was declared the foremost of the official Roman cults. As such, it became even more important than the Roman Jupiter cult and a yearly religious procession with the stone was illustrated on Elagabal’s coins. It turned out to be a religious interlude, however, which ended on the emperor’s assassination and the return of the stone to Emesa. It is but one of the many examples that show the important role meteorites played in Greco-Roman, as well as in pre-Islamic Near Eastern religious 0320-07_Iran_Antiq_43_06_Overlaet 09-01-2008 14:37 Pagina 154 154 B. OVERLAET beliefs and traditions (Newton 1897; Farrington 1900: 199-202). The most familiar living example of “meteor worship” from the Near East is the black stone in the Ka’aba in Mecca. Although a physical analysis is not possible, all available information indicates that this is an impactite (fused sand and meteoritic material) and not an actual meteorite. It too had a turbulent his- tory since its acceptance by Mohammed. It was taken from Mecca in 930 A.D., was returned 21 years later, survived burnings and flooding of the Ka’aba and is now shattered into 15 pieces, held together in a silver setting. It demonstrates that celestial signs remained important in early Islam. Tra- dition relates meteor showers with the birth of Mohammad and with his first revelations. According to Al Yaqubi “on the Prophets revelation, the devils were struck by meteors from the sky” (Rada & Stephenson 1992: 6, 10-11). Such accounts testify to the strength of these ancient Near Eastern beliefs in celestial omens (see Bjorkman 1973). Similar celestial events are also asso- ciated with other and earlier prophets, such as Zoroaster (meteor showers associated with his preaching and meteor worship, see Alizadeh Gharib 1999; 2002) and Jesus Christ (the “star of Bethlehem”, a comet, a shooting star or a conjunction of planets on his birth). While on the one hand historic references testify to the veneration of meteorites as gods or divine emanations and to their association with mag- ical or spiritual powers, there was on the other hand also a much more “down to earth” use for them. The ferrous meteorites (only a small per- centage of all meteorites!) were a valued source for quality iron, traded and used throughout the ancient Near East (Bjorkman 1973: 110-113). Its natural nickel content would make meteoritic iron harder and more corro- sion resistant than common iron and ferrous meteorites would thus always have remained a valuable raw material. It must be noted, however, that not all nickel-rich iron is necessarily of meteoritic origin (Reiter 1997: 344- 348). Important telluric nickel-rich iron sources are known and more met- allurgical research on early iron is needed to distinguish telluric from mete- oritic iron. In 1989 Photos even postulated that “Early nickel-rich artifacts of unquestionably meteoritic origin have not been clearly identified in the east Mediterranean.” (Photos 1989: 406). When meteoritic iron was used, it may often have been unknowingly. When its origin was known, on the other hand, it would certainly attract interest. A celestial origin would naturally make it a sought after material for regalia, usually high quality weapons (Farrington 1900: 206). A fine illustration of this practice is the fate of a meteorite that fell in India on 0320-07_Iran_Antiq_43_06_Overlaet 09-01-2008 14:37 Pagina 155 GREAT BALLS OF FIRE? 155 April 10, 1621. Shah Jahangir, the fourth Mogul ruler ordered two swords, a dagger and a knife to be made from it. The 26.5 cm. long gold-inlaid knife is now kept in the collection of the Freer Gallery of Art in Washing- ton, D.C. (inv. F1955.27a-b). Archaeological evidence is surprisingly rare as hardly any meteorites have been reported from archaeological digs in Iran. This may have various rea- sons. Field archaeologists rarely have the specific geological knowledge needed to correctly recognise and/or identify (ferrous) meteorites and they may in some cases have been overlooked. Of course, their use as a source of iron, also took them out of circulation in their original form. The first ferrous “meteorites” reported from archaeological digs in Iran were discovered by Roman Ghirshman at Tepe Siyalk. They are not men- tioned in detail in his excavation report but are only discussed in a short technical addendum by L. Halm (Halm 1938: 206). From this text it appears that three nodules were found in the Chalcolithic Siyalk II “habi- tation area”. Her description is worth citing in full: Pièce III. Trois boulets. (Sialk, Période II) Ces boulets, découverts dans les habitations, avaient probablement un usage domestique et étaient peut-être employés comme polissoirs. Ils avaient une forme approximativement sphérique et étaient très lourds et très durs. De plus, ils présentaient en surface de curieuses cristallisations. Tous trois se sont montrés sensibles à l’action de l’aimant, et constitués d’oxyde de fer, en majorité magnétique. On a également con- staté la présence de fer libre. En certains points de leur cassure, on trouve des nids d’oxyde ferrique, bien reconnaissable à sa coloration rouge, et quelques grains de quartz. Par places également, on note une combinaison de la silice et du fer. Les cristallisations tout à fait particulières que présente surtout le boulet C, et qu’on peut mettre en évidence par le polis- sage d’une section, cristallisations connues sous le nom de « structure de Widmannstatten », sont caractéristiques des météorites. Il est donc à peu près certain que ces boulets sont des fragments de météore, recueillis et utilisés en raison de leur poids et de leur dureté. Halm thus strongly sug- gests a meteorite identification (« à peu près certain ») but cautiously leaves other options open. There are no photographs of these nodules and the provided data do not allow making firm conclusions. The fact that the three nodules are attracted to a magnet and particularly that the one that was polished was 0320-07_Iran_Antiq_43_06_Overlaet 09-01-2008 14:37 Pagina 156 156 B. OVERLAET said to display the Widmanstätten structure, are indeed strong arguments in favour of meteorite identification. The Widmanstätten structure is tell- tale of a high nickel contents and a slow cooling process. However, with- out photographs documenting this Widmanstätten structure one must remain cautious. Telluric nickel-rich iron alloys are also known (Rickard 1941: 56-60; Photos 1989: 405-406; Moorey 1994: 279) and mistakes have been made. One such example is the wrongful identification of iron nodules with 2-3 % nickel from basaltic rocks on Disko Island, western Greenland (Rickard 1941: 58; Photos 1989: 405). When they were dis- covered in 1870 by Adolf Nordenskiöld he identified them as meteorites because of their nickel content and (an apparently wrongly interpreted) Widmanstätten structure. The largest of these “meteorites” was reported to weigh 21 tons and Nordenskiöld transported one of 19 tons to the Royal Academy at Stockholm and another of over 8 tons to the museum in Copenhagen. Shortly afterwards, however, it was attested that the iron was formed within the basalt and was thus of telluric origin. Its nickel content is below that of most meteorites and its Widmanstätten structure was dif- ferent from that found in meteorites (see Rickard 1941: 60 note 1). Inuit Eskimos did use these telluric iron nodules from Disko island as a source of iron just like they used genuine meteorites at other locations in Green- land, for example at Cape York (Rickard 1941: 56-59, pl. I, IIB; Photos 1989: 405). The reported Widmanstätten structure is, if correctly identified, a sound argument to identify these nodules as meteorites, but we lack the full doc- umentation. A very strong argument against meteorite identification, how- ever, is their shape. Contrary to popular belief, meteorites are never round but are of irregular shape. With the limited evidence a hand, the question remains unresolved, but one should be cautious about the meteorite identi- fication in view of their description as “boules”. There is no information whether these three nodules were found together or on different locations in the Siyalk II level.
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