This artefact was for a long time considered a fake. It is now accepted as a genuine artefact describing the night sky. It is a bronze disc about 32 centimetres in diameter with a diagram of the heavens embossed onto it in gold. It shows representations of the sun, moon, Pleiades and three other crescents, two presumed to be horizon lines and the other a possible ‘Solar Barge’ at the bottom.
The disc was found on top of a the Mittelberg mountain in Germany, along with a horde of other Bronze age relics, from which it is dated at 1600 BC. The disc was made by a race of people that lived in Europe before the arrival of the Celts, and is said to be one of the oldest chart of the heavens in the world.
On the left and right sides are two long arcs. These span about 80 degrees each. The difference between sunrise on the summer solstice and on the winter solstice is 82.7 degrees at this latitude, as is the difference between the sunsets on the two solstices. The two arcs are said to represent the portions of the horizon where the sun rises during the year.
Between the two arcs are a full circle and a crescent. The crescent obviously represents a crescent moon, while the large circle may be the sun or a full moon. Considering recent conclusions of its original function it is likely that this is a sun symbol. In the background are 23 stars dotted in an apparently random pattern, and one group of seven stars which represent the Pleiades star cluster. X-Rays indicate that under the gold of the right arc are two more stars, so it is likely that the two arcs were added some time after the other features.
It has been widely proposed that the disc was intended as an astronomical tool, and that through comparison of the skies and a visual display of the extremes of the rising and setting positions of the sun along the horizon (As presented by the arcs on each side), that with the disc in a horizontal plane, it could be used to determine the time of year. In addition, it is proposed that it was used to calculate the difference between the solar and lunar cycles in the form of adding a 13th lunar month, something which is required every two or three years. It is perhaps relevant that the cache site was found on the top of a hill, a good place for observing the sun’s movements. The site was surrounded by an artificial low bank, which could be used for measuring the position of the sun on the horizon.
Ever since the disc was discovered, archaeologists and astronomers have been puzzled by the shape of the moon as it appears on the disc. According to the ancient Babylonian rule, a thirteenth month should only be added to the lunar calendar only when one sees the constellation of the moon and the Pleiades exactly as they appear on the Nebra sky disc.
Source: Ancient Wisdom
