It is not often that a handful of pale yellow fragments lying quietly in desert sand end up pulling scientists back into questions about ancient catastrophe and planetary violence. Libyan Desert Glass has been sitting in museum drawers and scattered across remote stretches of North Africa for decades, sometimes even cut into jewellery that once belonged to ancient Egyptian elites.

Scientists investigating King Tutankhamun's prized 'alien glass' have uncovered new clues about the violent event that created it.

It is not often that a handful of pale yellow fragments lying quietly in desert sand end up pulling scientists back into questions about ancient catastrophe and planetary…