Nebra Sky Disk - History

History

The disk as preserved was developed in four stages (Meller 2004):

1. Initially the disk had thirty-two small round gold circles, a large circular plate, and a large crescent-shaped plate attached. The circular plate is 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.
2. At some later date, two arcs (constructed from gold of a different origin, as shown by its chemical impurities) were added at opposite edges of the disk. To make space for these arcs, one small circle was moved from the left side toward the center of the disk and two of the circles on the right were covered over, so that thirty remain visible. The two arcs span an angle of 82°, correctly indicating the angle between the positions of sunset at summer and winter solstice at the latitude of the Mittelberg (51°N). Given that the arcs relate to solar phenomena, it is likely the circular plate represents the Sun not the Moon.
3. The final addition was another arc at the bottom, the "sun boat", again made of gold from a different origin.
4. By the time the disk was buried it also had thirty-nine or forty holes punched out around its perimeter, each approximately 3 mm in diameter.

• 1) On the left the full moon, on the right the waxing moon, and between and above, the Pleiades

• 2) Arcs are added on the horizon for the zones of the rising and setting sun. Individual stars were shifted and/or covered.

• 3) Addition of the "sun boat"

• 4) Diagram of the disk in its current condition (a star and a part of the sun—or full moon—were restored)