# Sky Disc of Nebra



## Rosemary (Oct 16, 2005)

*Topic:* Ancient History
Article source






  [One of Germany’s most acclaimed archaeological finds - a 3,600-year-old disc depicting the stars and the planets.

According to Germany’s museum establishment, the Sky Disc of Nebra is the oldest depiction of the heavens discovery. 

 They claimed that they discovered it in a muddy field close to a prehistoric hill fort near the east German town of Nebra, with two ancient swords and jewellery.

 "An examination of the patina confirms its ancient origins. I have no doubt that it does indeed come from the Bronze Age," another professor, Josef Riederer, told the court. 

The case is embarrassing Germany’s curatorial establishment, which had hailed the disc as the most sensational archaeological discovery of the last century. The disc, with its gold appliqués, was the oldest concrete representation of the cosmos to date and a key find not only for archaeology but also for astronomy and the history of religion, experts claimed.]

I watched a documentary about the Sky Disc of Nebra last night. It was very interesting. The Disc would have been made before Egypt became 'sophisticated' with their hiroglyphics and buildings . Until now, it was thought that northern European tribes were little more than Bronze Age savages. Yet here we have an artifact that shows quite clearly how civilised they were when it came to astrology. The gold apliques depict the sun, moon, stars and a ship. The ship was thought to be used by the sun during the night. On another applique, degrees are marked with indents. These signify 82 degrees - the degrees being the summer solistice of that area. One group of gold dots have been identified as being the star cluster of Pleiades.


----------



## Brian G Turner (Oct 16, 2005)

Rosemary said:
			
		

> Until now, it was thought that northern European tribes were little more than Bronze Age savages. Yet here we have an artifact that shows quite clearly how civilised they were when it came to astrology. The gold apliques depict the sun, moon, stars and a ship.



Ah - ah - ah - ah!!!

Certain tribes in Northern Europe - especially in Britain - were building complex henges to represent the movement of the sun, moon, and stars. They were certainly not "savages" - and quite "civilised" - in that regard. 

Still, it is an interesting story - and what comes out most is the complete lack of testing to verify any single testimony.


----------



## Rosemary (Oct 16, 2005)

I believe it has or is going through the courts, due to the Disc being regarded by some as a fake.

Perhaps it was by the more ancient writers that they were described as 'savages'.  Probably also comparing their way of living with that of the Egyptians who had fine stone buildings.  Not positive on that I'm afraid.


----------



## littlemissattitude (Oct 17, 2005)

Where would archaeology be if it didn't have archaeologists arguing over the authenticity of relics?


----------



## Teresa Edgerton (Oct 17, 2005)

I remember reading somewhere, many years ago, that transporting and erecting the stones at Stonehenge (considering all the man hours, and the resources needed to keep that many workers supplied with the necessities of life over that period of time) required a degree of organization comparable to the US space program.

So it's been known for a while that the ancient inhabitants of Britain were far from savages.

It's sort of mind-boggling to think what their civilization must have been like in order to accomplish some of the things that they did accomplish, and yet we'll never know much about them.

Endless potential for speculation leading up to a fantasy or science fiction novel, however.  I've often thought I'd like to tackle it, but I probably never will.


----------



## littlemissattitude (Oct 17, 2005)

I've never quite been able to understand why those of us in "civilization" look down on people who live in supposedly "less advanced" cultures.  Can you imagine how much knowledge people who live off the land have to keep, many times in their heads because they don't have written languages, just in order to live every day.  It may be different knowledge than we need to have, but it isn't any less than we do, and it isn't any less complicated than we need.  In fact, I'd be willing to wager that a lot of it is a lot more complicated than what we need to know to get on day to day.

I mean, how many of us could go out in the countryside and know which things are good to eat and which could poison us?  All we do is go down to the grocery store and pick stuff off the shelves.


----------



## Rosemary (Oct 17, 2005)

Kelpie said:
			
		

> So it's been known for a while that the ancient inhabitants of Britain were far from savages.
> 
> It's sort of mind-boggling to think what their civilization must have been like in order to accomplish some of the things that they did accomplish, and yet we'll never know much about them.
> 
> Endless potential for speculation leading up to a fantasy or science fiction novel, however. I've often thought I'd like to tackle it, but I probably never will.


I've done about 8 years of research into the ancient inhabitants of Britain, mainly because I had always wanted to write a historical novel !  It isn't easy because so much of their history was oral and what was written down has not been translated very well.  I'm enjoying the research part so much that I'm not bothered about the novel anymore!


----------

