Iron From The Sky, Romans, Flying Kung Fu: The Theories Keep Coming, The Evidence Keeps Saying No
An IIUM linguistics professor’s theory that meteor showers supplied ancient Kedah’s iron ore runs against the findings of the lead archaeologist of the Sungai Batu site, whose team’s chemical testing had already found no cosmic signatures in the ore — only ordinary earth minerals mined by people who knew exactly what they were doing.
Prof. Dr Solehah Yaacob, an Arabic language and linguistics professor at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), recently presented a theory that ancient Kedah’s abundance of iron ore was the result of ancient meteor showers — a claim already contradicted by every physical test conducted on the ground at the Sungai Batu excavation site.
Her presentation, titled Besi Dari Langit — Mengapa Kedah Kaya Dengan Besi? (Iron From the Sky — Why is Kedah Rich in Iron?), linked the geological layout of Gunung Jerai and the ancient iron smelting complex at Sungai Batu to potential space impacts.
The evidence from the site itself pointed in a different direction entirely.
Prof. Emeritus Datuk Dr. Mokhtar Saidin, the archaeologist who led decades of excavation and research at the Sungai Batu complex, and his team at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) conducted X-ray fluorescence testing on ore samples from the site.
Their findings were unambiguous.
The ore consisted entirely of hematite, magnetite, and goethite — standard Earth minerals formed by weathering processes over hundreds of millions of years.
The testing found no traces of nickel-iron alloys or Widmanstätten structures, the chemical fingerprints that are present in all iron meteorites and absent in all terrestrial ore.
Archaeological records from the same site show that ancient workers sourced the ore from deposits located between one and 11 kilometres from the smelting furnaces — distances consistent with organised, deliberate, ground-level mining operations.
What The Jerai Formation Says
Geologists familiar with the region have noted that the iron abundance in the Bujang Valley and Gunung Jerai area is accounted for by the Jerai Formation— a geological record of sedimentary deposition, underground granite intrusions, and weathering spanning millions of years.
No crater consistent with an impact event of the scale required to deposit industrial quantities of iron ore has been identified in the region.
Critics have also noted that ancient texts and religious scripture frequently describe iron as having been sent down from the heavens — a metaphorical and theological framing that Prof. Solehah appears to have interpreted as a literal geological event, without fieldwork to support the reading.
The Sungai Batu complex is considered one of the oldest iron smelting sites in Southeast Asia, with activity dated to as early as 788 BC.
The people who built it identified iron-bearing terrain, engineered extraction methods, constructed smelting furnaces, and ran what researchers describe as an organised industrial operation nearly three millennia ago.
The meteor theory, researchers say, does not add to that history.
It removes the human element.
A Familiar Pattern
This is not Prof. Solehah’s first theory to draw institutional and academic scrutiny.
In November 2025, she claimed that the ancient Romans learned shipbuilding from the Malays.
The theory prompted IIUM to issue a statement distancing the university from her views, describing them as entirely personal and expressing concern that unverified claims had compromised academic standards.
She has also faced criticism for claims that ancient Malays possessed flight capabilities and taught the Chinese what she described as flying kung fu.
IIUM has not issued a statement regarding the meteor shower theory at the time of publication.
