by
tylluanpenry
@ Thursday, 10. Apr, 2008 - 13:46:08
No, this isn't another tale about meteorites and UFO's. Instead this wonderful artefact is the oldest map of the heavens known to us.
The first picture does have a little retouching where the original gold is missing.


This was found in Germany, near the town of Nebra, about nine years ago, by treasure hunters, and recovered by the authorities in about 2002. It is believed to be approximately 3,600 years old and is just over a foot across.
The disc maps 32 stars, including the Pleiades, as they appear in reference to a local mountain on the horizon, the Brocken which is the highest mountain in north Germany. It also shows a golden ship, Sun, Moon and stars, and astronomers have confirmed that the sky map matches the latitude of the place where it was found.
Experts believe the star map and the site where it was found formed an observatory, which was used to set the calendar for planting and harvesting crops although you can imagine there are quite a few other theories doing the rounds as well! However, it all points to Bronze Age man having a far greater understanding of the heavens than was previously thought.
Very little is known about the people who made or used the disc. They are not mentioned in ancient Greek or other Mediterranean sources and we only know them through the artifacts that remain.
I think this is a truly beautiful object and it just goes to show that we really know next to nothing about our ancient ancestors....