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Nebra Sky Disc
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tjj
tjj
3606 posts

Edited Oct 23, 2019, 20:13
Re: Nebra Sky Disc
Oct 23, 2019, 19:45
It is the most amazing ancient artefact "The Nebra sky disk features the oldest concrete depiction of the cosmos yet known from anywhere in the world. In June 2013 it was included in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register and termed "one of the most important archaeological finds of the twentieth century."(Wikipedia)

I seem to recall it has been discussed here in the past - I think I would happily join a queue to actually see it. I understand it was used to calculate the thirteenth month in the lunar year.
To quote German archaeologist Harald Meller:
"Unlike the solar calendar, which indicates the position of the earth as it revolves around the sun, the lunar calendar is based on the phases of the moon. A lunar year is eleven days shorter than the solar year because 12 synodic months, or 12 returns of the moon to the new phase, take only 354 days. The sky disc of Nebra was used to determine if and when a thirteenth month - the so-called intercalary month - should be added to a lunar year to keep the lunar calendar in sync with the seasons."
https://www.dw.com/en/bronze-age-sky-disc-deciphered/a-1915398
(I don't think this is definitive though, there are lots of articles to be found on the internet ...)

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