Dated to c. 1600 BC, Nebra Sky Disk is one of the most important finds of the 20th Century

[Kazimiera]

Dated to c. 1600 BC, Nebra Sky Disk is one of the most important archaeological finds of the 20th Century

Source: http://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/0...0th-century-2/



The Nebra sky disk is a bronze disk of around 30 cm diameter and a weight of 2.2 kg, with a blue-green patina and inlaid with gold symbols. These are interpreted generally as a sun or full moon, a lunar crescent, and stars (including a cluster interpreted as the Pleiades). Two golden arcs along the sides, marking the angle between the solstices, were added later. A final addition was another arc at the bottom surrounded with multiple strokes (of uncertain meaning, variously interpreted as a Solar Barge with numerous oars, as the Milky Way, or as a rainbow).

The disk is attributed to a site near Nebra, Saxony-Anhalt, in Germany, and associatively dated to c. 1600 BC. It has been associated with the Bronze Age Unetice culture.The disk is unlike any known artistic style from the period, and was initially suspected of being a forgery, but is now widely accepted as authentic.


The Nebra sky disk.

The disk, two bronze swords, two hatchets, a chisel, and fragments of spiral bracelets were discovered in 1999 by Henry Westphal and Mario Renner while they were treasure-hunting with a metal detector. Archaeological artifacts are the property of the state in Saxony-Anhalt. The hunters were operating without a license and knew their activity constituted looting and was illegal. They damaged the disk with their spade and destroyed parts of the site. The next day, Westphal and Renner sold the entire hoard for 31,000 DM to a dealer in Cologne. The hoard changed hands within Germany over the next two years, being sold for up to a million DM. By 2001 knowledge of its existence became public. In February 2002 the state archaeologist Harald Meller acquired the disk in a police-led sting operation in Basel from a couple who had put it on the black market for 700,000 DM.The original finders were eventually traced. In a plea bargain, they led police and archaeologists to the discovery site. Archaeologists opened a dig at the site and uncovered evidence that supports the looters’ claims. There are traces of bronze artifacts in the ground, and the soil at the site matches soil samples found clinging to the artifacts. The disk and its accompanying finds are now held at the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle.



The two looters received sentences of four months and ten months, respectively, from a Naumburg court in September 2003. They appealed, but the appeals court actually raised their sentences to six and twelve months, respectively.

The discovery site is a prehistoric enclosure encircling the top of a 252 metres (827 ft) elevation in the Ziegelroda Forest, known as Mittelberg (“central hill”), some 60 km west of Leipzig. The surrounding area is known to have been settled in the Neolithic era, and Ziegelroda Forest contains around 1,000 barrows.

The enclosure is oriented in such a way that the sun seems to set every solstice behind the Brocken, the highest peak of the Harz mountains, some 80 km to the north-west. The treasure-hunters claimed the artifacts were discovered within a pit inside the bank-and-ditch enclosure.


Nebra Sky Disk, at the Pergamon Museum.

The precise dating of the Nebra sky disk depended upon the dating of a number of Bronze Age weapons, which were offered for sale with the disk and said to be from the same site. These axes and swords can be typologically dated to the mid 2nd millennium BC. Radiocarbon dating of a birchbark particle found on one of the swords to between 1600 and 1560 BC confirmed this estimate. This corresponds to the date of burial, at which time the disk had likely been in existence for several generations.


The swords found with the disk.

According to an initial analysis of trace elements by x-ray fluorescence by E. Pernicka, then at the University of Freiberg, the copper originated at Bischofshofen in Austria, while the gold was thought to be from the Carpathian Mountains. A more recent analysis found that the gold used in the first phase was from the river Carnon in Cornwall, United Kingdom.The tin content of the bronze was also from Cornwall.

The Nebra sky disk features the oldest concrete depiction of the cosmos worldwide. In June 2013 it was included in the UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register and termed “one of the most important archaeological finds of the 20th century.”

[johen]

Is it?
looks too simple, considering the other ones older than it:

- 30,000y old Lunar Calendars and Earliest Constellations identified in France and Germany.


-The 5000-year-old Cochno Stone carving that may see the light of day once more

With dozens of grooved spirals, carved indentations, geometric shapes, and mysterious patterns of many kinds, the Cochno Stone, located in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, is considered to have the finest example of Bronze Age cup and ring carvings in the whole of Europe. Yet, for the last 50 years it has laid buried beneath several feet of earth and vegetation in what was a desperate attempt at the time to protect it from vandals.
The stone, which measures 42ft by 26ft, was first discovered by the Rev James Harvey in 1887 on farmland near what is now the Faifley housing estate on the edge of Clydebank. It is covered in more than 90 carved indentations, known as cup and ring marks. The cup and ring marks, which are believed to date back some 5,000 years, are accompanied by an incised pre-Christian cross set within an oval, and two pairs of carved footprints, each foot only having 4 toes. Because of the array of markings on it, the Cochno Stone has been recognised as being of national importance and designated as a scheduled monument.
During the 1960s, the Cochno Stone was repeatedly damaged by vandals, so in 1964, Glasgow University archaeologists recommended it be buried to protect it from further damage. The stone has been covered ever since. However, the local council is now considering whether to reveal the spectacular stone once again.

[Marzipan]

Kazimiera do you believe there was a practical use or art?

Is it?
looks too simple, considering the other ones older than it

It greatly relies on use and status with availability of materials and skills of the person who made it and who it was made for.
It was found there but this doesn't guarantee it was made there either. Just as materials there originated from elsewhere.

[Poise n Pen]

I hate that graverobbers destroy stuff sometimes but I have to say...there are so many sites just sitting around for endless ages. You can only fault people so much for digging stuff up when the "authorities" have no interest. This is especially true in gaymany and france because of politics, and east europe and spain because of simply being too poor.

[Kazimiera]

Kazimiera do you believe there was a practical use or art?

Without going into a major discussion I do believe that historically "art" was utilitarian and served a purpose. Today we can hang a pretty picture on the wall but it doesn't really serve a purpose. Ceramics, especially, were a mode of self-expression fused with a practical use. I am not in a position to make a judgement on this disk, but my general train of thought is that people didn't make "purposeless" items.

[Poise n Pen]

Anything astrony related was probably actually used somehow to determine when to plant and things like that. There is endless evidence of this.

[Marzipan]

Without going into a major discussion I do believe that historically "art" was utilitarian and served a purpose. Today we can hang a pretty picture on the wall but it doesn't really serve a purpose. Ceramics, especially, were a mode of self-expression fused with a practical use. I am not in a position to make a judgement on this disk,but my general train of thought is that people didn't make "purposeless" items.

A thought that came to me is this can be a simple navigation device as the stars were the first compass.

I hate that graverobbers destroy stuff sometimes but I have to say...there are so many sites just sitting around for endless ages. You can only fault people so much for digging stuff up when the "authorities" have no interest. This is especially true in gaymany and france because of politics, and east europe and spain because of simply being too poor.

Yes but the dummies damaged the goods committing the crime and then had no shame appealing a lenient sentence. The leniency was given for their discovery, I'm sure, but they did commit a crime and wanted to be relieved.