Is the Nebra Sky Disk the Oldest Star Chart?

but we're missing some important context. While the Nebrasky disc is undoubtedly valuable, its age is open to debate. The artifact measures about twelve inches or thirty centimes wide and weighs about four and a half pounds or two kilos. A series of about forty tiny holes were made along the perimeter. The disc has a bluish green backdrop punctuated by golden symbols. Special attention has been paid to seven tightly packed dots on the disc. They most likely depict plaits,

a star cluster visible from both hemispheres. There's also a large golden circle thought to represent the Sun or the Moon. It faces a crescent shaped object that might be an artist's take on an eclipse or a lunar phase. Finally, there are twenty five golden dots, a curved line towards the bottom, and two long arcs hugging the sides of the disk the ladder of oak horizons possible reference to the solstices. Who knows. Perhaps the disc helped farmers time

their harvests in accordance with the changing seasons. It could have had religious value as well. The arcs, stars, and other ornaments were made of gold, and the disc itself is corroded bronze, hence its blue green color. Following its discovery, the Nebrous guide discs spent three years on the black market until authorities seized the relic in a two thousand

two sting operation. Short thereafter, in two thousand five, Regensburg University archaeologist Peter Schauer claimed the disc was a modern forgery. His arguments have been dismissed. The corrosion and other lines of evidence are testimony to the objects advanced age. Still, the nature of its recovery raises questions. The two men who found the Sky Disc claimed they unearthed it at a site near Nebra, Germany, about a hundred and ten

miles or a hundred eighty kilometers southwest of Berlin. Since the disc was considered property of the state, they had no legal right to dig it up or to attempt to sell it, but these guys did both, and in two thousand five they were found guilty of illegal excavation. Before the sting, the looters tried to sell the disc as part of a collection that also included two axes, to swords and other artifacts allegedly taken from the same location. Right now, the disc is on display at the State

Museum of Prehistory in Hell, Germany. According to the locally based State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and Archaeologies official website, it cannot be directly dated using radiometric dating techniques, yet all is not lost. Radiocarbon dating shows that the bark on one of those associated sword hilts is about three thousand, six hundred years old. If the sky disc was indeed made at the same time more or less,

then it's definitely a Bronze Age treasure. However, a controversial paper released in September proposes that the discs place of origin may not have been reported accurately. The authors also suspect it could be a thousand years younger than previously thought, making it an iron Age relic. But the director of

the Hell State Museum isn't sold. Neither is Deputy State Archaeologist Alfred Reichenberger, who wrote a press release questioning paper in which he said the colleagues not only ignore the abundance of published research results in recent years, their various arguments are also easily refuted looters, a court case and

rejected fakery charges. After everything it's been through just in the past twenty one years or so, one wonders what the future has in store for this mysterious nebra Sky disc Today's episode was written by Mark Mancini and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots of other curious topics, visit how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.