Editing Nebra sky disc (section)

== History ==
As preserved, the disc was developed in four stages:
# Initially the disc 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 [[Lunar phase|crescent Moon]] (or either the Sun or the Moon undergoing [[eclipse]]), and the dots as [[star]]s, with the cluster of seven dots likely representing a star cluster. The star cluster is thought to refer to the [[Pleiades]],<ref name="Pernicka et al" /> or possibly the general symbol of a star cluster.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Hoffmann |first=Susanne M |editor-last=Meller |editor-first=Harald |editor2-last=Reichenberger |editor2-first=Alfred |editor3-last=Risch |editor3-first=Roberto |title=Das babylonische Astronomie-Kompendium MUL.APIN: Messung von Zeit und Raum |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/360311636 |journal=Tagungen des Landesmuseums für Vorgeschichte Halle (Saale) |volume=24 |pages=251–275}}</ref>
# 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 disc. To make space for these arcs, one small circle was moved from the left side toward the centre of the disc 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 sunsets at summer and winter [[solstice]] at the latitude of the Mittelberg (51°N).<ref name="McIntosh">{{cite book | title=Lost Treasures; Civilization's Great Riches Rediscovered | publisher=Carlton Books | author=McIntosh, Jane | year=2010 | location=London | pages=16 | isbn=9781847322999}}</ref><ref name="BMworld">{{cite book |oclc=	1297081545|title=The World of Stonehenge|date=June 2022|pages=145–147|publisher=British Museum Press|isbn=9780714123493|last1=Garrow|first1=Duncan|last2=Wilkin|first2=Neil|quote=both the gold arcs [on the Nebra disc] occupy a very precise angle of between 82 and 83 degrees, a figure that is well beyond the error expected if a right angle was intended. The reason for this seems to be connected to observations of the sun. The arcs mark the full range of points on the horizon at which the sun sets and rises in a solar year. The terminal of each arc inscribes the summer solstice sunrise and sunset and the winter solstice sunrise and sunset as seen from the latitude of the Mittelberg 3,600 years ago. ... The marking of solstice sunrise and sunset at monuments such as Stonehenge was about the expression of religious and symbolic ideas linking the monument to the cycles of the cosmos. The same concerns were probably true of the Sky Disc, which had the benefit of being a portable and possesable object.}}</ref> The arcs relate to the Sun's path – the ecliptic. Given that ancient astronomers knew the planets and many stars that mark the ecliptic, they could observe it sweep across the horizon within the arcs, in a single winter night, not just sunrise and sunset over an entire year.<ref>{{cite web |last1=PM 2Ring |title=Where does the ecliptic cross the horizon during the course of a night? |url=https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/57755/where-does-the-ecliptic-cross-the-horizon-during-the-course-of-a-night/57760?noredirect=1#comment132262_57760 |website=astronomy.stackexchange.com |access-date=28 May 2024}}</ref> Thus, the arcs are consistent with wholly nighttime use.
# The final addition was another arc at the bottom, identified as a [[Solar Deity#Solar vessels and chariots|solar boat]],<ref name=":04">{{Cite book |last1=Bohan |first1=Elise |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/940282526 |title=Big History |last2=Dinwiddie |first2=Robert |last3=Challoner |first3=Jack |last4=Stuart |first4=Colin |last5=Harvey |first5=Derek |last6=Wragg-Sykes |first6=Rebecca |last7=Chrisp |first7=Peter |last8=Hubbard |first8=Ben |last9=Parker |first9=Phillip |collaboration=Writers |date=February 2016 |publisher=[[DK (publisher)|DK]] |others=Foreword by [[David Christian (historian)|David Christian]] |isbn=978-1-4654-5443-0 |edition=1st American |location=[[New York City|New York]] |pages=21 |oclc=940282526}}</ref> again made of gold, but originating from a different source. 
# By the time the disc was buried it also had 38 to 40 holes punched out around its perimeter, each approximately {{convert|3|mm}} in diameter. The exact number is obscured by damage to the disc edge.<ref name="tandfonline.com">{{cite journal|journal=Time and Mind|volume=11|issue=1|title=Morphometric findings on the Nebra Sky Disc|last1=Dathe|first1=Henning|last2=Kruger|first2=Harald|year=2018 |pages=89–104|doi=10.1080/1751696X.2018.1433358|s2cid=165508431|doi-access=free}}</ref>

<gallery>
Image:Nebra-1.jpg| 1) On the left the [[Sun]] or the [[Full Moon]], on the right the [[Waxing Moon]], and between and above, the [[Pleiades]]
Image:Nebra-2.jpg| 2) Arcs were added on the horizon for the zones of the [[Sunrise|rising]] and [[Sunset|setting]] Sun; individual stars were shifted and/or covered
Image:Nebra-3.jpg| 3) Addition of the "[[Solar Deity#Solar vessels and chariots|solar boat]]"
Image:Nebra-4.jpg| 4) Diagram of the disc in its current condition (a star and a part of the Sun—or Full Moon—have been restored)
</gallery>