Nebra Sky Disk Could Be Younger than First Thought

The Nebra sky disk is a bronze disk of around 32 cm (12.6 inches) diameter and a mass of 2.2 kg, having a blue-green patina and inlaid with gold symbols.

The metal artifact was found in 1999 by illegal treasure hunters near Nebra, a small town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.

The Nebra disk was apparently developed in several stages. Its earliest version had 32 small round gold circles attached, a large circular gold plate, and a large crescent-shaped gold plate.

The circular plate may be interpreted as either the Sun or the full Moon, the crescent shape as the crescent Moon, or either the Sun or the Moon undergoing eclipse, and the dots as stars, with the cluster of seven dots likely representing the Pleiades.

Later, two arcs — constructed from gold of a different origin — were added at opposite edges of the disk. Given that the arcs seem to relate to solar phenomena, it is likely the circular gold plate represents the Sun, not the Moon.

Finally, another arc was added at the bottom. This arc is called the Sun boat and is also made of gold, but from a different origin. When the disk was buried it had 39-40 holes, each about 3 mm in diameter, perforated around its perimeter.

The Nebra disk is considered authentic and was initially dated to 1600 BCE based on associated finds: two bronze swords, a chisel, axe heads, and bracelets.

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Image credit: Dbachmann / CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Nebra sky disk, one of the oldest concrete depictions of cosmic phenomena, was created in the first millennium BCE, roughly 1,000 years later than previously assumed, according to new research by German scientists.

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The famous Nebra Sky Disk, thought to have been used by Stone Age mages to map the night sky.