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Ancient Jewelry Had Extraterrestrial Origin
古代的珠宝来自外星
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.
铁是制作工具的绝佳材料。但是最早的铁制品实际上是用来装饰用的，是公元前3200年九个埃及铁珠子。现在我们发现这个古代珠宝可能有一个更让人震惊的来历，这串珠子的原料可能来自外太空。
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.
这些铁珠子于1911年在埃及发现。为了分析这些珠子的结构和化学成分，研究人员用中子和伽马射线撞击它们。测试发现这些珠宝包含非地球矿石的踪迹，这些矿石只在富铁陨石中发现过。研究发表在《考古学》杂志上。
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.
5000多年前，这些陨石金属被敲打成珠子。日期是在发明融化金属技术之前1500年。融化金属技术使得地球上的铁矿制成工具成为可能，并且取代铜成为文明社会的金属首选。新发现表明在融化金属技术革命工具的使用之前，一些人已经在使用铁制品了。
—Sophie Bushwick
