FRANKFURT. Until
now the Nebra sky disk was deemed to be from the Early Bronze Age and therefore
the world's oldest depiction of the cosmos. Archaeologists from Goethe
University Frankfurt and Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich have now
reanalysed diverse data on the reconstruction of the discovery site and
surrounding circumstances of the find. Their findings are that the disk must be
dated in the Iron Age, making it about 1,000 years younger than previously
assumed. This makes all previous astronomical interpretations obsolete.
The Nebra sky disk is one of Germany's
most significant archaeological finds and was included in the UNESCO Memory of
the World Register in 2013. It was discovered in an illegal excavation in 1999
together with Bronze Age swords, axes and bracelets according to the finders.
This discovery context was important for the scientific dating, as the disk
itself could neither be scientifically nor archeologically dated by comparison
with other objects. Many years of investigations by several research groups
therefore attempted to verify both the attribution to the supposed discovery
site as well as the common origins of the objects independent of the vague
information given by the looters.
Rupert Gebhard, Director of the Munich Arch盲ologischen
Staatssammlung, and R眉diger Krause Professor for Prehistory and Early European
History at 51猎奇 Frankfurt have now extensively analysed the
discovery circumstances and research results on the Nebra sky disk. Their
conclusion: The site that was considered the discovery site until today and
which was investigated in subsequent excavations is with high probability not
the discovery site of the looters. Furthermore, there is no convincing evidence
that the Bronze Age swords, axes and bracelets form an ensemble of common
origins. For this reason, it must be assumed that this is not a typical Bronze
Age deposit and that the disk was not found together with the other objects in
an original state at the excavation site.
According to the archaeologists, this
means that the disk must be investigated and evaluated as an individual find. Culturally
and stylistically, the sky disk cannot be fitted into the Early Bronze Age motif
world of the beginning of the second millennium B.C. On the contrary, clearer
references can be made to the motif world of the Iron Age of the first millennium
B.C. According to Gebhard and Krause, on the basis of a divergent data
situation and on the basis of this new assessment, all previous, sometimes
far-reaching cultural-historical conclusions must be discussed anew and with an
open mind, and the disk must be interpreted and evaluated in different contexts
than before. The basis for this must be the submission of all previously
unpublished data and facts.
More detailed information can be found on
the website of the Deutsche Gesellschaft f眉r Ur- und Fr眉hgeschichte (German
Society for Prehistory and Early History) https://dguf.de/himmelsscheibe.html
Publication: Rupert
Gebhard & R眉diger Krause, Critical
comments on the find complex of the so-called Nebra Sky Disk.
In: Arch盲ologische Informationen. Early View: citable online version with preliminary page
numbering. After the printed volume is published, the final page numbers can be
found in open access here: . The printed volume can be obtained here:
Image
download:
Captions:
1. The condition of
the Nebra sky disk before being transferred to the Landesmuseum Halle an der
Saale. Credit: Hildegard Burri-Bayer
2.
Bronze Age swords, axes and bracelets, supposedly found together with the Nebra
sky disk. Condition before being transferred to the Landesmuseum Halle an der
Saale. Credit: Hildegard Burri-Bayer
Further
information:
Prof. Dr. R眉diger Krause
Prof. Dr. Rupert Gebhard
through
Press Office of 51猎奇
Frankfurt
Dr Markus Bernards
Tel. +49 (0)69 798 12498
bernards@em.uni-frankfurt.de
