The object was analysed in 1966–1967 by the Vienna Naturhistorisches Museum using electron beam micro-analysis, which found no traces of nickel, chromium or cobalt in the iron, suggesting that it was not of meteoric origin, while the lack of sulfur indicated that it is not a pyrite. Because of its low magnesium content, Dr. Gero Kurat of the museum and Dr. Rudolf Grill of the Federal Geological Office in Vienna thought that it might be cast iron, Grill suggesting that similar rough lumps had been used as ballast in early mining machinery.
