In 1999, three treasure hunters were using metal detectors to comb a forest near the town of Nebra, Germany, when they were suddenly lucky as they stumbled upon an ancient treasure. This area in the forest is well known for the frequent discovery of precious objects from the past, as it was home to some of the oldest settlements in Europe. In the found treasure, the robbers found two bronze swords, an ax, two chisels, several fragments of spiral bracelets and a shiny bronze disc with gold inserts. It immediately became clear that the most valuable item in the find was a mysterious disc.
The Nebra disk is the world's oldest star map
But the lucky treasure hunters never knew that this precious disc would become one of the most significant archaeological finds of the century! The robbers found what is now called the "Disc of Nebra", according to the UNESCO classification - this is the oldest image of space objects in the world. The older sky map simply does not exist. The disc has a diameter of 30 centimeters and weighs 2.2 kilograms. It features a blue-green patina with gold embossing that denotes the positions of the sun, moon, and stars in the sky. The two golden arcs on the sides of the Nebra disc were added later to indicate the exact angle between the summer and winter solstice sunset positions, at the latitude of Mittelberg Hill where the disc was found.
Detailed scientific analysis has shown that the Nebra disk is at least 3,600 years old, making it a truly precious artifact. Prior to its discovery, it was believed that the most ancient sky maps were created in Egypt, around 1400 BC. Perhaps the disc from Nebra would not have aroused as much curiosity if it had been found in Egypt or Greece, where civilizations were at their peak at that time. But the disc was found in Northern Europe - a cruel region with a primitive society, where there were no big cities, writing and developed scientific theories. Therefore, the found map of the starry sky indicates that 3600 years ago in Europe there were already creative people with impressive intellectual abilities who analyzed the world around them and were able to understand it. And their developed imagination allowed them to encode information to pass it on to the next generation.