![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() It could, however, have been nailed to a shield or standard made of wood. The holes around the perimeter suggest that the Disc was attached to a support of some kind, but at 2kg it is perhaps too heavy to have been worn. The source of the gold in the rainbow stripe has not yet been identified. 2009), and this applies to all objects of the hoard as the copper used in their alloy came from the same deposit of ore. On the other hand, metallurgical investigations of the possible source of the copper used in making the bronze for the Disc still indicates the Mitterberg mining district in the eastern Alps (Ehser et al. This minor gold deposit is found in association with alluvial tin deposits that were important in prehistoric times. The chemical composition of gold in the sun plate of the Nebra Sky Disc correlates closely with natural gold from the River Carnon in Cornwall, England (Ehser et al. The attachment of the shorter curved gold strip (‘rainbow’) appears to have been a separate, final step. At some time later, one star was replaced and the two horizon arcs were attached. The filled circle (‘sun’), crescent (‘moon’) and smaller spots (‘stars’) were attached first. Synchrotron X-ray fluorescence (SyXRF) analyses revealed that there are three types of gold on the Sky Disc which can be distinguished from each other by their Ag and Sn concentrations (Pernicka et al., 2008 Gumprich, 2004). C 14 analyses of a small piece of birch bark found in the handle of one sword confirmed this date, which is the time when the hoard was buried, not the time of the production of the Disc. The archaeological context of the Sky Disc can be deduced from these accompanying finds in the hoard, which can all be dated to the Early Bronze Age, around 1600 BC, in central Europe-the period of the classical Únĕtice Culture. Although the Sky Disc was separately offered for purchase, the treasure hunters claimed to have found the other part of the hoard at the same place. The Early Bronze Age Nebra hoard comprises the Nebra Sky Disc, two bronze swords decorated with gold pommels, two flanged bronze axes, two bronze arm-spirals and one bronze chisel. However, the rim of the disc is punctuated by 38 (?) pin-holes which may indicate that it was sewn onto fabric or nailed onto wood. The profile of the disc is almost flat and the back of the disc shows no trace of any attachment (Figure 1b). The shorter gold strip on the rim between them measures about 120 degrees, or a third of a full circle with a radius of 90mm. Each of the two thin arcs lining the rim of the disc subtends nearly 90 degrees, or a quarter of a circle, with a radius of 160mm. A shorter curved gold strip is placed along the rim between the two long gold arcs. Two of these have been removed and one slightly adjusted to make room for two thin gold strips, curved into arcs, lining the rim of the disc. The surface of the disc is further adorned with small round thin gold spots (measuring 10mm in diameter) of which there were originally 32. One is a filled circle while the other forms a crescent (lune). The centre of the disc is dominated by two gold plates, each about 100mm across. The bronze disc (Figure 1a-b) weighs 2kg and has a diameter of 320mm, with a thickness of 4.5mm at its centre thinning out to 1.5mm at the rim. Meller, Der Geschmiedete Himmel (2004), p. ![]()
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