The earliest known iron beads may come from ancient Egyptian tombs, but they were forged from the hearts of meteorites, scientists say.

The findings, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, show that humans might have begun working with iron from space long before they managed to unlock iron in the Earth. 

The beads were excavated in 1911 from separate tombs of two teen boys in a cemetery in Gerzeh, in northern Egypt. Nine strange iron beads among their precious contents were parceled out to museums around Europe that had helped fund the expedition.

“The beads predate the emergence of iron smelting by nearly 2000 years, and other known meteoritic iron artefacts by more than 1000 years, giving them an exceptional position in the history of metal use,” the authors wrote....