The Nebra Sky Disc - Ancient European Map of the Stars. Nebra Sky Disk: The Oldest Known Realistic Depiction of the Heavens
The Nebra Sky Disc is one of the most fascinating archaeological finds of recent years. Dated to 1600 BC, this bronze disc has a diameter of 32cm and weighs around 2 kg. It is patinated blue-green and embossed with gold leaf symbols which represent a crecent moon, the sun, It was filled with representations of 23 stars, a curved gold band, interpreted as a sun boat, and a further gold band on the edge of the disc which represent one of the horizons. A final addition was another arc at the bottom surrounded with multiple strokes (of uncertain meaning, variously interpreted as a Solar Barge with numerous oars, as the Milky Way, or as a rainbow). Later, closer inspection of this disc inlaid with gold symbols revealed it to be the oldest known representation of the heavens
The object was discovered in 1999 by treasure hunters using a metal detector at a prehistoric enclosure encircling the Mittelberg hill, near the town of Nebra in the Ziegelroda Forest, 180km south-west of Berlin, Germany. The looters subsequently attempted to sell the disc, along with two swords, two axes, a chisel, and fragments of armlets, to local archaeologists. But they discovered that by law the objects belonged to the state of Sachsen-Anhalt, where they were unearthed, so they could not be sold legally. In February, 2003, they tried selling the disc to an antiquities collector in Switzerland for $400,000. However, the 'collector' was actually working for the Swiss police.
The disc illustrates the crescent moon, a sun or full moon, three arcs, and 23 stars dotted around, apparently at random. There is a further cluster of seven stars, identified as the Pleiades constellation.
So what exactly is the Nebra Sky Disc and what was it used for? Many researchers believe it is the oldest known realistic representation of the cosmos yet found, perhaps a kind of astronomical calculational tool to determine planting and harvest times. used as an advanced astronomical clock. For thousands of years all across northern Europe, monuments were aligned to mark the summer and winter solstices, Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England, and Newgrange in Ireland, being good examples.
As Bronze Age people were an agricultural society, a method for finding out the time of year and thus the correct times for planting and harvesting crops was obviously vital. One way of doing this was to identify the position of the sun at sunrise and sunset. Intrigued by the possibility of the Nebra disc as an astronomical device, Professor Wolfhard Schlosser, of the University of Bochum, measured the angle between the pair of arcs on either side of the disc, and found that it was eighty two degrees...... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebra_sky_disk http://www.ancient.eu.com/article/235/
