The Celestial Disc from Nebra is one of the most curious and, according to some scholars, controversial archaeological finds in recent years. It is a bronze disc dating from 1600 BC. e. It measures 32 cm in diameter (about the same size as a vinyl record) and weighs about 4 pounds. The disc is painted blue-green and covered with gold leaf symbols. It contains a crescent moon, sun (or full moon), stars, an arched border (called a sun boat) and a stripe at the edge of the disc (which probably represents one of the horizons). The second gold border (on the opposite side) has not been preserved.
The item was discovered with a metal detector by black archaeologists in 1999 in a prehistoric fence around the Mittelbergvlesu Ziegelrod mound, near the town of Nebra, 112 miles southwest of Berlin. Unfortunately, the treasure hunters, carelessly removing it from the ground, severely damaged the disc: they broke the outer rim, lost one star and ripped off a fragment of the disc's gold coating. They tried to sell the disc, along with two swords, a chisel, two axes and fragments of bracelets, to local archaeologists. However, it turned out that, according to the law, these items belong to the people of Saxony-Anhalt, the land where they were discovered, so the criminals had no right to sell them legally. In February 2003, they tried to sell the disc to an antiquities collector in Switzerland for $ 400,000. The collector turned out to be an employee of the Swiss police,and his actions were part of a covert operation to expose the robbers. The meeting took place in the basement of a bar at the Hilton Hotel in Basel, where the criminals were arrested and the precious find was seized. Today the disc is owned by the people of the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
The disk features a crescent moon, a sun (or full moon), three arcs and 23 stars-points, arranged in random order, as well as seven stars similar to the constellation of the Pleiades. The X-ray image showed two more stars under the gold stripe on the right, and also that the arcs at the edges were added later than other elements.
The background is the azure night sky, once blue-purple, apparently, this color was given by rotten eggs that reacted with bronze. Along the edge of the disc, holes are made in the metal, probably to connect it with other materials, possibly with cloth.
So what was the Nebra celestial disc and what was it used for? Some researchers consider it to be the oldest depiction of space. It was probably a device for astronomical calculations to determine the time of planting and harvesting. Over the millennia, monuments have been created in Northern Europe, the location of which indicated the summer and winter solstice. The brightest examples are Stonehenge in England and Newgrange in Ireland. In the Bronze Age, for agricultural communities, the ability to set the time of the year (and hence the time of planting and harvesting) was undoubtedly vital. One such method was to determine the position of the sun during dusk and dawn. Intrigued by the possibility of using the Nebra disc as an astronomical instrument,Professor Wolfgard Schlosser of Bochum University measured the angle between the two arcs located at the edges of the disc and found that it was 82 °. Surprisingly, it turned out that on the Mitelberg mound, from the highest point that the rising sun reaches at the summer solstice, to the lowest point of the setting sun at the winter solstice, an angle of 82 ° to the horizon is formed. The angle varies depending on the location. For example, a little further north it will be 90 °, and a little south - 70 °. Within Central Europe, however, it is 82 °. Schlosser concluded that the arcs along the edges of the Nebra disk represent the solstice in the area. This may indicate that agricultural trenches in Central Europe were capable of performing complex astronomical calculations long beforethan previously thought. In addition, the presence of the Pleiades constellation on the disk confirms once again that people of the Bronze Age had astronomical knowledge. Today, only six stars of the constellation can be observed with the naked eye, but it is quite possible that in the Bronze Age the seventh star could be brighter, therefore there are seven stars on the disk, and the ancient Greeks named the constellation Seven Sisters. For many ancient civilizations, including Mesopotamia and Greece, the Pleiades played an important role: the constellation appeared in the sky in the fall, indicating the beginning of the harvest, and disappeared in the spring, indicating the time of grain sowing. The examples given give reason to conclude that the disc was of great importance for prehistoric agriculture, and to assume that the third golden arc, located under the moon, and the golden disc itself personify the harvest sickle.the presence of the Pleiades constellation on the disk confirms once again that people of the Bronze Age had astronomical knowledge. Today, only six stars of the constellation can be observed with the naked eye, but it is quite possible that in the Bronze Age the seventh star could be brighter, therefore there are seven stars on the disk, and the ancient Greeks named the constellation Seven Sisters. For many ancient civilizations, including Mesopotamia and Greece, the Pleiades played an important role: the constellation appeared in the sky in the fall, indicating the beginning of the harvest, and disappeared in the spring, indicating the time of grain sowing. These examples give reason to conclude that the disc was of great importance for prehistoric agriculture, and to assume that the third golden arc, located under the moon, and the golden disc itself personify the harvest sickle.the presence of the Pleiades constellation on the disk confirms once again that people of the Bronze Age had astronomical knowledge. Today, only six stars of the constellation can be observed with the naked eye, but it is quite possible that in the Bronze Age the seventh star could be brighter, therefore there are seven stars on the disk, and the ancient Greeks named the constellation Seven Sisters. For many ancient civilizations, including Mesopotamia and Greece, the Pleiades played an important role: the constellation appeared in the sky in the fall, indicating the beginning of the harvest, and disappeared in the spring, indicating the time of grain sowing. These examples give reason to conclude that the disc was of great importance for prehistoric agriculture, and to assume that the third golden arc, located under the moon, and the golden disc itself personify the harvest sickle.that the people of the Bronze Age had astronomical knowledge. Today, only six stars of the constellation can be observed with the naked eye, but it is quite possible that in the Bronze Age the seventh star could be brighter, therefore there are seven stars on the disk, and the ancient Greeks named the constellation Seven Sisters. For many ancient civilizations, including Mesopotamia and Greece, the Pleiades played an important role: the constellation appeared in the sky in the fall, indicating the beginning of the harvest, and disappeared in the spring, indicating the time of grain sowing. The examples given give reason to conclude that the disc was of great importance for prehistoric agriculture, and to assume that the third golden arc, located under the moon, and the golden disc itself personify the harvest sickle.that the people of the Bronze Age had astronomical knowledge. Today, only six stars of the constellation can be observed with the naked eye, but it is quite possible that in the Bronze Age the seventh star could be brighter, therefore there are seven stars on the disk, and the ancient Greeks named the constellation Seven Sisters. For many ancient civilizations, including Mesopotamia and Greece, the Pleiades played an important role: the constellation appeared in the sky in the fall, indicating the beginning of the harvest, and disappeared in the spring, indicating the time of grain sowing. These examples give reason to conclude that the disc was of great importance for prehistoric agriculture, and to assume that the third golden arc, located under the moon, and the golden disc itself personify the harvest sickle.in the Bronze Age, the seventh star could be brighter, so there are seven stars on the disk, and the ancient Greeks named the constellation Seven Sisters. For many ancient civilizations, including Mesopotamia and Greece, the Pleiades played an important role: the constellation appeared in the sky in the fall, indicating the beginning of the harvest, and disappeared in the spring, indicating the time of grain sowing. These examples give reason to conclude that the disc was of great importance for prehistoric agriculture, and to assume that the third golden arc, located under the moon, and the golden disc itself personify the harvest sickle.in the Bronze Age, the seventh star could be brighter, so there are seven stars on the disk, and the ancient Greeks named the constellation Seven Sisters. For many ancient civilizations, including Mesopotamia and Greece, the Pleiades played an important role: the constellation appeared in the sky in the fall, indicating the beginning of the harvest, and disappeared in the spring, indicating the time of grain sowing. These examples give reason to conclude that the disc was of great importance for prehistoric agriculture, and to assume that the third golden arc, located under the moon, and the golden disc itself personify the harvest sickle.showing the beginning of the harvest, and disappeared in the spring, indicating the time of sowing cereals. These examples give reason to conclude that the disc was of great importance for prehistoric agriculture, and to assume that the third golden arc, located under the moon, and the golden disc itself personify the harvest sickle.showing the beginning of harvest, and disappeared in the spring, indicating the time of sowing cereals. These examples give reason to conclude that the disc was of great importance for prehistoric agriculture, and to assume that the third golden arc, located under the moon, and the golden disc itself personify the harvest sickle.
There is another opinion: the disk depicts the sky during the day, and the arcs are a rainbow. However, most researchers believe that the third arc is a solar rook. Similar symbols have been found on a Bronze Age Scandinavian ship and the Trumhold Solar Carriage, a 15th or 14th century Danish artifact. before and. e., depicting a horse carrying the sun in a chariot. However, first of all, the origin of this symbol and the formation of the belief of ancient people that the sun floats on a ship across the night sky from west to east is associated with Egypt. The Egyptians believed that the most powerful deity, the lord of the sun, Ra, travels through the night sky on a ship and is reborn every morning at sunrise. If the golden arc at the bottom of the Nebra disc really represents a solar boat sailing across the night sky, thenit is the oldest evidence of this kind of belief in Europe.
Other examples are known as well. One such piece of evidence was found 15 miles from where the Nebra disc was found. Not far from the town of Gozk, in a wheat field, thanks to aerial photography, for the first time, the ruins of a building were discovered, which today is considered the oldest European observatory. German Stonehenge, as it is nicknamed here, is a huge circle 246 feet in diameter. It was built by the oldest agricultural communities in the region around 4900 BC. e. The object consists of four concentric circles, a mound, a moat, and two human-height wooden palisades. There were three gates behind the fence, facing south-east, south-west and north, respectively. An observer in the center of the circle during the winter solstice could see the prow and the sunset through the southeast and southwest outlets. We can say with confidence: if the position of these gates is related to the position of the sun during sunrise and sunset during the winter and summer solstices, then the inhabitants of Gosek were able to accurately calculate the trajectory of the sun across the sky.
Indeed, the angle between the two solar gates of the circular structure at Goseck corresponds to the angle between the golden arcs located at the edges of the disc from Nebra. Although the Nebra disk was created 2,400 years before Goseck's appearance, Professor Wolfgard Schlosser is confident that there is a connection between the two, since both demonstrate the astronomical knowledge of ancient people. Schlosser even suggested that the disc depicts the most ancient primitive astronomical observatories, probably built on the type of goseke koi.
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In late 2004, the Nebra CD became the subject of discussion. German archaeologist, Professor Peter Schauer from the University of Regensburg, said that the disc is a modern forgery and all the assumptions that this map of the sky is "just fiction." Professor Schauer argued that the green patina on the artifact, which made it possible to date the object to the Bronze Age, was not at all ancient: it could have been artificially aged "with acid, urine and a blowtorch", and the holes along the edge of the disc were too neatly made as for antiquity - they could have been drilled using a mechanism of relatively recent times. He called the object the drum of the Siberian shamans of the 19th century. However, later it turned out that before making such statements, Schauer did not study the artifact and did not publish a single article on this subject in specialized journals. However,Schauer's protests over the disc's authenticity still shake the German archaeological community. As well as the problem related to the circumstances of the find and the lack of reliable archaeological data on the disc from Nebra, which makes it difficult to accurately date the item, especially when you consider that today the artifact remains a unique find with nothing to compare. When determining the time of creation of the object, the typological dating of the Bronze Age weapon was used, presumably found in the same place that the robbers sold together with the disk. Axes and swords were dated to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e.which makes it difficult to accurately date the object, especially when you consider that even today the artifact remains a unique find that has nothing to compare with. When determining the time of creation of the object, the typological dating of the weapon of the Bronze Age was used, presumably found in the same place that the robbers sold with the disc. Axes and swords were dated to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e.which makes it difficult to accurately date the item, especially when you consider that even today the artifact remains a unique find that has nothing to compare with. When determining the time of creation of the object, the typological dating of the weapon of the Bronze Age was used, presumably found in the same place that the robbers sold with the disc. Axes and swords were dated to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e.
Convincing evidence of the ancient origin of the fox was offered by the Institute for Archaeological Research in Germany (Halle), where they conducted several examinations of the artifact, confirming its authenticity. For example, traces of copper used to create the disc were found in the Austrian Alps in Bronze Age mines. Research has also shown that the artifact is covered in a virtually unique mixture of heavy malachite crystals, and micrographs of the corrosion on the disc lead one to believe that it is indeed an ancient artifact and not a fake.
Further studies of the disk, carried out by a group of German scientists in early 2006, confirmed that this is an ancient astronomical clock, on which the solar and lunar calendars are aligned. Thus, the celestial disk from Nebra is the oldest known celestial guidebook and, together with the structure at Gosek, the first evidence of deep astronomical knowledge in Europe. However, the problem is apparently not exhausted. It is curious that Wolfgard Schlosseraot suggested that the disc (which now costs $ 11.2 million) was not the only such artifact: there was another disc that was somewhere waiting in the wings.
B. Houghton