Taproom Artifact: Nebra Sky Disk
Nebra Sky Disk dates roughly back to 1600 BC. Many researchers believe the Nebra Sky Disc to be the oldest known realistic representation of the cosmos. They hypothesize the disk was a form of astronomical calculational tool to determine planting and harvest times. This bronze disc has a diameter of 32cm and weighs around 2 kg. It is patinated blue-green and embossed with gold leaf symbols. On the surface of the sun disk are etched a crescent moon and the sun. Between these etchings is a star system that is likely the Pleiades. Two arcs are etched at the edges of the disk. At their axis point, an 82-degree angle is made which matches the winter and summer solstice. A sun ship is etched at the bottom of the disc to perhaps indicate the navigation of the sea. Finally, 40 holes are punched in the diameter of the disk to coincide with time increments. Other constellations and planets are etched on the face of the disc including Ura Major, Lupus, Eridanus, Mercury, Venus and Mars.
The disc was discovered in 1999 by treasure hunters using a metal detector at a prehistoric enclosure encircling the Mittelberg Hill, near the town of Nebra in Germany. Unfortunately, the treasure hunters caused considerable damage to the disc during its removal from the ground including splintering its outer rim, losing one of the stars, and chipping a large piece off the gold disc. The looters subsequently attempted to sell the disc, along with two swords, two axes, a chisel, and fragments of armlets, to local archaeologists. But they discovered that by law the objects belonged to the state of Sachsen-Anhalt, where they were unearthed, so they could not be sold legally. In February 2003, they tried selling the disc to an antiquity’s collector in Switzerland for $400,000. However, the 'collector' was working for the Swiss police as part of a 'sting' operation to trap the group, which played out in the basement bar of the Hilton Hotel in Basle. The group was subsequently arrested, and the disc was recovered. It is now the property of the state of Sachsen-Anhalt.
They hypothesize the disk was to determine planting and harvest times. This theory is consistent with what is known of civilizations across northern Europe who built monuments to mark the summer and winter solstices including Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England, and Newgrange in Ireland. At Mittelberg Hill near where the Disc was found, the sun appears to travel around eighty-two degrees along the horizon. This angle would vary locations. Further north, for example, it would be ninety degrees, and to the south, seventy. But in this area of central Europe, the suns passage across the sky measures precisely eighty-two degrees.
Lost World’s Nebra Pilsner is named after this amazing artifact.