Where was the oldest astronomical depiction of the sky found? Just a few years ago, even experts would have guessed that it was India, Egypt, or Mesopotamia, but it is possible that the answer is: Germany.
The so-called Neben’s disc is a crucial discovery for European prehistory, the history of astronomy, and early religious history.
The circumstances of the discovery resemble a detective story.
On a beautiful summer day in 1999, two treasure hunters equipped with metal detectors were searching a tumulus on the Mittelberg hill (near the town of Nebra, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt in eastern Germany) known since 1986. They discovered a disc just below the surface of the ground, in dense forest, which they initially thought was the lid of a trash can. As they continued digging, they found swords with gold-adorned handles. Just a few days later, the illegal diggers sold their find to a dealer from the Rhineland for 31,000 German marks (around 16,000 euros). He polished the find with steel wool, causing severe damage. e arranged in Switzerland to verify the authenticity of the discovery and facilitate the sale. Although the meeting location was changed last minute, the Swiss police, in coordination with the German authorities, managed to make the arrest.
The Oldest Depiction of the Sky?
The place of the discovery reached the official archaeology in the spring of 2001. There were rumors that the entire treasure was still intact and still in Germany, so the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Saxony-Anhalt, as well as the regional authorities responsible for archaeology, took swift action to reach the finding. The previous owners informed the media in early 2002, probably trying to increase the value of the treasure, but also due to personal ambitions. However, the authorities managed to postpone the news announcement while simultaneously contacting illegal sellers.
“ića” is located in a ring-shaped space surrounded by walls on Mittelberg. The disc and other artifacts were discovered in a stone pit at the base of the walls. According to current knowledge, it is believed to be a sanctuary or observatory, and possibly both.
The find consists mainly of the disc itself, with a diameter of 32 centimeters. It is considered to be the oldest known concrete representation of the sky in human history, indicating that prehistoric humans possessed unexpected knowledge of astronomy.
Alongside the celestial disc, two bronze swords, two axes with reinforced edges, a chisel, and parts of spiral bracelets were also found at the same location. As the “treasure hunters” had looted the discovery site, it has not yet been determined whether it was a storage place or a tomb.
Based on the style of the swords, the artifacts have been dated to around 1600 BC. The origin of the copper was successfully narrowed down to the region of the Eastern Alps, based on the characteristic isotopic ratio of tin in the copper. It is known that… (translation cannot be completed without the rest of the text) There are prehistoric copper mines in Tyrol (northern Italy) and Salzburg (Austria).
Based on the damages on the disc, it can be concluded that it was laid vertically in the ground, but it was not possible to determine why the arc was missing on the left side.
The analysis showed that the disc was likely modified several times over several centuries of use:
Interpretation of the celestial disc
The disc depicts the starry sky. In the center, there are the Sun and the Moon or a full Moon and a crescent Moon. If we imagine the full circular disk as the Sun, the Moon is noticeably facing the wrong way towards the Sun. Perhaps such an arrangement was made for aesthetic reasons as it creates a harmonious bend along the edge of the Celestial disc.
On the other hand, this supports the claim that the full circular disk represents the full Moon – if we assume that the celestial vessel is at the bottom, then the crescent Moon on the right side is correctly visible as a waxing crescent in the west, and if we turn the disk so that the celestial vessel is at the top , on the left side represents a crescent moon falling in the east.
Out of the original 32 stars, 28 still exist today, and two are still covered by the existing arc at the edge. The prominent central group of stars is usually interpreted as the Seven Sisters, or the Pleiades. The other stars have not been successfully associated with any constellation. For this reason, the most common hypothesis is that the stars are arranged more or less randomly and do not represent any constellation.
However, if we abandon the identification with the Pleiades, a different and very interesting interpretation opens up. The seven grouped stars on the Celestial Disk could be a depiction of the North Star, the guiding star that enables orientation in the night sky. The prominent wreath composed of six additional points would then serve to attract attention – similar to how the great red dot on a city map today attracts the attention of observers to indicate its location.
Another interesting aspect is the arches directing eti značajno promijenjen. But slightly slanted than today.
Following this, the two mentioned angles are 109.4 and 66.3 degrees. That is a quite significant similarity. In any case, it can be concluded that the origin of the disk is the coast of Northern and Central Germany.
The Tropic of Cancer is also part of the orientation lines of Stonehenge, although the angles there are different due to a different geographical latitude. The Minor and Major Lunar Standstills are points on the horizon that the Moon cannot cross to the north or south as it rises or sets during the year, similar to the solstices. The fact that there are two pairs of such points is the result of the phenomenon that the Moon’s path varies by approximately five degrees relative to the plane of the ecliptic over a period of 18.6 years.
One question that largely remains unresolved is the role of the celestial boat. The assumption that it could be a depiction of a ship stems from the stylized representation of oars resembling feathers, as ship oars were depicted in the past, and which only appears in the That harbor. Additionally, it seems that this harbor was added later because the gold in which the boat is made contains a significantly smaller percentage of silver.
The celestial disk obviously represents a very complex depiction. Different interpretations are intertwined and support each other, and due to the special design, offer various possibilities for the use of the disk. For example, the interpretation of the side arches as a way of determining the position of the sun in relation to the center of the disk, or the interpretation of the side arches as the Moon’s tropics from the perspective of the center of the circular plate (Sun/Moon?). In that case, the position of the circle would be completely intentional.
In the same way, at first it seemed that the arrangement of the stars was “intentionally random” because the group of stars was considered to be the Pleiades. But as soon as this group of stars was interpreted as emphasizing the North pole, almost all stars could be identified.
Nevertheless, many puzzles still remain unsolved:
However, it can be concluded that knowledge about the laws of the sky already existed in prehistoric times. The news had to be immense, especially considering that people of that time were not familiar with any system of written documentation.
The position of the blade of the paddle parallel to the surface of the water when pulling the paddle backward in preparation for the next stroke (op. prev.).