Editing Nebra sky disc (section)

== Significance ==
[[File:Die Himmelsscheibe von Nebra (CC BY 4.0) .webm|thumb|Video explaining the significance of the sky disc]]

The find is regarded as reconfirming that the astronomical knowledge and abilities of the people of the [[European Bronze Age]] included close observation of the yearly course of the Sun and the angle between its rising and setting points at the summer and winter [[solstice]]s. While much older [[earthworks (archaeology)|earthworks]] and [[megalithic]] [[astronomical complex]]es, such as the [[Goseck circle]] and [[Stonehenge]], had already been used to mark the solstices, the disc presents this knowledge in the form of a portable object.<ref name="BMworld" /> The disc may have had both a practical [[archaeoastronomy|astronomical]] purpose as well as a [[prehistoric religion|religious]] significance.<ref name=meller2002>{{cite journal|author=Meller, H|date=2002|title=Die Himmelsscheibe von Nebra – ein frühbronzezeitlicher Fund von außergewohnlicher Bedeutung|journal=Archäeologie in Sachsen-Anhalt|volume=1/02|pages=7–30|language=de}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

===Calendar rule===

The depiction of the [[Pleiades]] on the disc in conjunction with a crescent moon is thought to represent a calendar rule for synchronising [[Solar calendar|solar]] and [[lunar calendar]]s, enabling the creation of a [[lunisolar calendar]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.archaeology.org/issues/338-features/maps/7543-maps-germany-nebra-sky-disc|title=The Nebra Sky Disc|website=Archaeology|date=June 2019|quote=In the first phase, the disc showed the night sky with 32 gold stars, including the Pleiades, a gold orb representing the sun or a full moon, and a crescent moon. It served as a reminder of when it was necessary to synchronize the lunar and solar years by inserting a leap month. This phenomenon occurred when the three-and-a-half-day-old moon—the crescent moon on the disc—was visible at the same time as the Pleiades. 'The astronomical rules that are depicted wouldn't be imaginable without decades of intensive observation,' says Harald Meller, director of the State Museum for Prehistory in Halle. 'Until the Sky Disc was discovered, no one thought prehistoric people capable of such precise astronomical knowledge.'}}</ref> This rule is known from an [[Ancient history|ancient]] [[Babylonia]]n collection of texts with the title [[MUL.APIN]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Symonds |first=Matthew |author-link=Matthew Symonds |date=2022-05-25 |title=The Nebra Sky Disc: decoding a prehistoric vision of the cosmos |url=https://the-past.com/feature/the-nebra-sky-disc-decoding-a-prehistoric-vision-of-the-cosmos/ |website=The Past}}</ref> According to one of the seven rules in the compendium, a leap month should be added when the Pleiades appear next to a crescent moon a few days old in the spring, as depicted on the disc. This conjunction occurs approximately every three years.<ref>{{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=(on the disc) there is a distinctive rosette of seven stars clustered between the full and crescent moons. These are identified as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters, recognised by many world cultures as calendar stars, since they are last seen in the night sky in March and only reappear again in October. ... The path of the sun provides a measure of the time of day and year, while the moon can do the same in measuring out months and weeks based on its regular cycles. A problem arises, however, when it comes to equating the solar and lunar years. The former is eleven days longer than the later and after three years the difference is equivalent to about a month. To bring the two calendars into harmony a rule is needed. The first written record of such a rule comes from a Babylonian cuneiform tablet dating to the seventh or sixth centuries BC, which advises to add a leap month every third year if no new moon appears next to the Pleiades in the spring but rather a crescent moon a few days old. That arrangement of heavenly bodies is precisely what the Sky Disc seems to show, reflecting an ingenious materialisation of a complex astronomical and calendrical rule without the need for writing.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.academia.edu/80363367|title=Time is power. Who makes time?: 13th Archaeological Conference of Central Germany|chapter=The Nebra Sky Disc – astronomy and time determination as a source of power|last=Meller|first=Harald|date=2021|publisher=Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte Halle (Saale).|isbn=978-3-948618-22-3|quote=The synchronisation key of the first phase [of the Nebra disc] allowed the longer solar year (approximately 365 days) to be harmonised with the shorter lunar year (around 354 days). Each year in spring, the crescent moon passed close to the Pleiades, appearing with different widths, depending on the lunar phase. The appearance of a 4.5 day-old crescent moon next to the Pleiades, as shown on the Sky Disc, meant that an extra month should have been added, since the solar and lunar years differed by approximately one month after every three years.}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dlijsmVJ9c&t=694s|title=Concepts of cosmos in the world of Stonehenge (British Museum 2022)|last1=Meller|first1=Harald}}</ref>

[[:de:Harald Meller|Harald Meller]] suggests that knowledge of this rule may have come from Babylonia to Central Europe through long-distance trade and contacts, despite it being attested earlier on the Nebra disc than in Babylonia.<ref name="Meller 2021">{{cite book|url=https://www.academia.edu/80363367|title=Time is power. Who makes time?: 13th Archaeological Conference of Central Germany|chapter=The Nebra Sky Disc – astronomy and time determination as a source of power|last=Meller|first=Harald|date=2021|publisher=Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte Halle (Saale).|isbn=978-3-948618-22-3}}</ref> [[Baltic amber]] beads have been found in a foundational deposit under the large [[ziggurat]] of [[Aššur]] in [[Iraq]] dating from c. 1800-1750 BC, indicating that a connection existed between both regions when the Nebra disc was created.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/acar/92/2/article-p228_8.xml |journal=Acta Archaeologica |volume=92 |issue=2 |date=2023 |pages=228–243 |title=Baltic Amber in Aššur. Forms and Significance of Amber Exchange between Europe and the Middle East, c.2000–1300 BC |last1=Bunnefeld |first1=J. |last2=Becker |first2=J. |last3=Martin |first3=L. |last4=Pausewein |first4=R. |last5=Simon |first5=S. |last6=Meller |first6=H. |doi=10.1163/16000390-20210031|s2cid=258250358|url-access=subscription }}</ref> However some Assyriologists and astronomers have rejected the comparison of the Nebra Disc with MUL.APIN.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Feller |first1=Manfred |last2=Koch |first2=Johannes |title=Geheimnis der Himmelsscheibe doch nicht gelöst? Warum die angebliche Entschlüsselung der Himmelsscheibe durch R. Hansen und H. Meller falsch ist |url=http://home.arcor.de/manfred_feller/Himmelsscheibe|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304210010/http://home.arcor.de/manfred_feller/Himmelsscheibe |archive-date=2016-03-04}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Wolfschmidt |first=Gudrun |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1351570492 |title=Astronomy in Culture -- Cultures of Astronomy. Astronomie in der Kultur -- Kulturen der Astronomie. Featuring the Proceedings of the Splinter Meeting at the Annual Conference of the Astronomische Gesellschaft, Sept. 14-16, 2021. Nuncius Hamburgensis; Vol. 57. |date=2022 |others=Susanne M. Hoffmann, Susanne M. Hoffmann, Gudrun Wolfschmidt, Tredition GmbH Hamburg |isbn=978-3-347-71293-5 |location=Ahrensburg |oclc=1351570492}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hoffmann |first=Susanne |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) |issue=24 |pages=251–275}}</ref>

[[File:Nebra solstice 2.jpg|thumb|Gold strips on the side of the disc mark the summer and winter solstices,<ref name="Meller 2021"/><ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dlijsmVJ9c&t=760s |title=Concepts of cosmos in the world of Stonehenge |website=British Museum |date=2022}}</ref> and the top represents the [[horizon]]<ref name=":03">{{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]] |page=20 |oclc=940282526}}</ref> and [[north]]. This is opposite to modern star charts which are intended to be held aloft and viewed from below, not like geographic maps where we (imagine we can) look down from above.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Moore |first1=Stewart |title=Which way is up? |url=https://britastro.org/2018/which-way-is-up |website=British Astronomical Association |access-date=2025-03-30}}</ref>]]

The number of stars depicted on the disc (32) is also thought to be significant, possibly encoding the calendar rule numerically. Firstly, the conjunction of lunar crescent and Pleiades depicted on the disc occurs after 32 days following the last "new light" (the first visible crescent moon of the month), and not before.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.academia.edu/80363367|title=Time is power. Who makes time?: 13th Archaeological Conference of Central Germany|chapter=The Nebra Sky Disc – astronomy and time determination as a source of power|last=Meller|first=Harald|date=2021|publisher=Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte Halle (Saale).|isbn=978-3-948618-22-3|pages=151–152|quote=''Zudem vergehen bei einer 4,5 Tage alten Mondsichel nicht wie üblich 29 oder 30 Tage seit dem letzten Neulicht, sondern 32 Tage. Dies korrespondiert mit den 32 Sternen, die auf der Himmelsscheibe in der ersten Phase abgebildet waren, sodass die Schaltregel wohl sogar doppelt verschlüsselt in diesem auf den ersten Blick simplen Bildwerk dargestellt ist. Das große runde Goldobjekt könnte zugleich Vollmond und Sonne repräsentieren. Die 32 Sterne der ersten Phase verkörpern dann 32 Sonnenjahre, denen – zählt man Vollmond / Sonne hinzu – 33 Mondjahre entsprechen (Hansen 2007).'' '''English translation''': "with a 4.5-day old crescent moon, not 29 or 30 days elapse since the last new light, as is usually the case, but 32 days. This corresponds with the 32 stars that were depicted on the sky disc in the first phase, so that the leap rule is probably even depicted in a doubly coded way in this, at first sight, simple pictorial work. The large round gold object could represent both the full moon and the sun. The 32 stars of the first phase then embody 32 solar years, to which - if one adds the full moon / sun - 33 lunar years correspond (Hansen 2007).}}</ref> Secondly, because a [[Lunar Year|lunar year]] (354 days) is eleven days shorter than a [[Solar Year|solar year]] (365 days), 32 solar years is equal in length to 33 lunar years (with an error of only two days). That is, 32 x 365 = 11680 days, and 33 x 354 = 11682 days.<ref>{{cite web |date=2018 |title=The difference between solar and lunar years |url=https://sciencing.com/difference-between-solar-lunar-years-8513472.html |website=Sciencing.com}}</ref> This 32 solar-year cycle may be represented on the disc by 32 stars, plus the sun (or full moon), adding up to 33.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.academia.edu/80363367|title=Time is power. Who makes time?: 13th Archaeological Conference of Central Germany|chapter=The Nebra Sky Disc – astronomy and time determination as a source of power|last=Meller|first=Harald|date=2021|publisher=Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte Halle (Saale).|isbn=978-3-948618-22-3 |pages=151–152}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Hansen|first1=Rahlf|last2=Rink|first2=Christine|title=Himmelsscheibe, Sonnenwagen und Kalenderhüte - ein Versuch zur bronzezeitlichen Astronomie|date=2008|journal=Acta Praehistorica et Archaeologica|volume=40|url=https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/apa/article/view/71501|pages=97–98}}</ref>

The archaeologist Christoph Sommerfeld has argued that the disc encodes knowledge of the 19-year lunisolar [[Metonic cycle]].<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.academia.edu/8821194 |journal=Preaehistorische Zeitschrift |date=2012 |volume=87 |issue=1 |pages=110–131 |doi=10.1515/pz-2012-0006|title=... Sterne mal Sterne durch Sonne ist Mond - Bemerkungen über die Nebra-Scheibe |last=Sommerfeld |first=Christoph|s2cid=163304521}}</ref> According to Sommerfeld the Metonic cycle is similarly encoded on the disc of the [[Trundholm sun chariot]], dating from c. 1500 BC.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.academia.edu/14021967 |journal=Praehistorische Zeitschrift |volume=85 |issue=2 |date=2010 |title=... nach Jahr und Tag – Bemerkungen über die Trundholm-Scheiben |last=Sommerfel |first=Christoph |doi=10.1515/pz.2010.012 |pages=207–242 |s2cid=164902130}}</ref> The Metonic cycle is also thought to be encoded on the Late Bronze Age [[Golden hat|Berlin Gold Hat]], which features a band of 19 "[[star and crescent]]" symbols.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Menghin |first=Wilfried |date=2008 |title=Zahlensymbolik und digitales Rechnersystem in der Ornamentik des Berliner Goldhutes |url=https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/apa/issue/view/5045 |journal=Acta Praehistorica et Archaeologica |volume=40 |pages=157–169 |doi=10.11588/apa.2008.0.71505}}</ref>

Some authors have argued that the number of pin holes around the rim of the disc (approximately 38 to 40) has an astronomical significance. The exact number is not known due to damage to the disc.<ref name="tandfonline.com"/><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.academia.edu/37209960 |journal=Archäologische Informationen |volume=41 |date=2018 |title=Functional principles of early time measurement at Stonehenge and Nebra |last1=Herten |first1=Friedel |last2=Waldmann |first2=Georg |pages=275–288}}</ref>

The Nebra Disc has been compared to a passage from the Greek poet [[Hesiod]], written around 700 BC, which describes the role of the Pleiades for organizing the agricultural year:
<blockquote>
"When the Pleiades, daughters of Atlas, are rising, begin your harvest, and your ploughing when they are going to set. Forty nights and days they are hidden and appear again as the year moves round, when first you sharpen your sickle. This is the law of the plains, and of those who live near the sea, and who inhabit rich country, the glens and hollows far from the tossing sea,—strip to sow and strip to plough and strip to reap, if you wish to get in all Demeter's fruits in due season, and that each kind may grow in its season."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0020,002:387 |title=Hesiod, ''Works and Days'' (Hes. WD 387) |website=Perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Garrow |first1=Duncan |title=The World of Stonehenge |last2=Wilkin |first2=Neil |date=June 2022 |publisher=British Museum Press |isbn=9780714123493 |pages=145 |oclc=1297081545 |quote=The Greek poet Hesiod, writing in c. 700 BC, noted that '[w]hen the Pleiades rise it is the time to use the sickle, but the plough when they are setting'. Their disappearance and appearance has been seen historically as a marker of the beginning and end of the farming year in Europe [...] In the region of Germany where the disc was found, the Pleiades is last seen in the sky on 10 March, alongside the young, crescent moon. The full moon accompanies the reappearance of the constellation on 17 October. On the disc, the Pleiades is tellingly placed between the crescent and full moons, suggesting an awareness of this celestial rhythm.}}</ref>
</blockquote>

Depictions of the Pleiades are also known from some rock carvings dating from the early Bronze Age, such as at [[Mont Bégo]] in the [[Vallée des merveilles|southern Alps]]<ref>{{cite thesis |url=https://researchrepository.universityofgalway.ie/entities/publication/df448825-8ce7-4880-ba13-5ad14b3b760a |title=Calendars, feasting, cosmology and identities: later Neolithic-early Bronze Age Ireland in European context |date=2016 |degree=PhD |publisher=University of Galway |last1=McVeigh| first1=Thor |pages=233}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://sciencepress.mnhn.fr/en/periodiques/comptes-rendus-palevol/8/fasc5/rock-carvings-pleiads-sacred-mont-bego-mountain-tende-alpes-maritimes-france |journal=Comptes Rendus Palevol |volume=8| issue=5 |date=2009|pages=461–469 |title=Rock carvings of the Pleiads in the sacred mont Bego mountain, Tende, Alpes-Maritimes, France |last1=Echassoux |first1=Annie |display-authors=etal |doi=10.1016/j.crpv.2009.03.00|doi-broken-date=22 February 2025 }}</ref> and on the 'Calendar Stone' at [[:de:Kalenderstein von Leodagger|Leodagger]] in Austria, a cult site associated with the [[Únětice culture]] which may have functioned as a calendar.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.academia.edu/78853672 |title=PROCEEDINGS PUBLICATIONS OF THE ERBE-SYMPOSIUM |volume=2 |date=2021 |chapter=Targeting celestial bodies – News regarding the “Kalenderstein” (calendar stone) in Leodagger (Lower Austria) |last1=Hager |first1=Helen}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pROaEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22leodagger%22%22Sonnwendberg%22&pg=PT184 |title=Himmelswelten und Kosmovisionen |publisher=Tredition |editor-last1=Wolfschmidt |editor-first1=Gudrun |date=2020 |isbn=9783347024304}}</ref> The Nebra Disc has some similarities to petroglyphs from the [[Nordic Bronze Age]], some of which are thought to have a calendrical meaning.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://web.astronomicalheritage.net/show-entity?identity=96&idsubentity=1 |website=UNESCO Portal to the Heritage of Astronomy |title=Nebra Sky Disc — Bronze Age representation of the sky, Germany}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Gold und Kult der Bronzezeit |publisher=Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg |year=2003 |pages=47| url=https://archive.org/details/goldundkultderbr0000unse/page/46/mode/2up |isbn=3-926982-95-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Ilon |first=Gabor |url=https://www.academia.edu/35176394 |title=The Golden Treasure from Szent Vid in Velem |publisher=Archaeolingua |year=2015 |pages=73 |quote=In the Nordic Bronze Age, sets of 7 and 28 appear on the Aspeberget rock carvings, one of which portrays a figure holding a sistrum-like object in its right hand, depicted by twenty-eight cup marks arranged in four rows of seven each. In his study devoted to ancient astronomy, Flemming Kaul suggested that it depicted the four lunar phases and the lunar months}}</ref>

===Mythology===

[[File:Mycenae ring 2.jpg|thumb|220x220px|Gold signet ring from Mycenae with similar celestial imagery, fifteenth century BC <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.agefotostock.com/age/en/details-photo/greek-civilization-goldsmithery-gold-signet-ring-with-worship-scene-female-figures-landscape-sun-and-moon-from-mycenae-acropolis-treasure/DAE-90003942 |title= Greek civilization. Gold signet ring with worship scene, female figures, landscape, sun and moon. From Mycenae, Acropolis treasure. Athens, Ethnikó Arheologikó Moussío (National Archaeological Museum) |website=agefotostock}}</ref>]]

A depiction of a sun and crescent moon similar to the Nebra disc appears on a gold signet ring from [[Mycenae]] in Greece, dating from the fifteenth century BC.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.academia.edu/44024499 |title=The Materiality of the Sky: Proceedings of the 22nd Annual SEAC Conference, 2014 |date=2016 |chapter=Cosmovisions Put Upon a Disk: Another View of the Nebra Disk |editor-last1=Silva |editor-first1=Fabio |editor-last2=Malville |editor-first2=Kim |editor-last3=Lomsdalen |editor-first3=Tore |editor-last4=Ventura |editor-first4=Frank |publisher=Sophia Centre Press |isbn=978-1907767-09-8 |last=Rappenglück |first=Michael |pages=58}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233530036 |journal=Antiquity |volume=81 |issue=312 |title=An interpretation of the Nebra Disc |last1=Pasztor |first1=Emilia |last2=Roslund |first2=Curt |date=2007 |pages=267–78 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00095168}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.academia.edu/9176986 |title=The Sun in Myth and Art |chapter=The Sun in Greek Culture and Art | publisher=Thames & Hudson |date=1993 |pages=280–293 |last1=Valavanis |first1=Panos |last2=Nagy |first2=Gregory}}</ref> Beneath the sun and moon is a seated female figure holding three [[Papaver somniferum|opium poppies]] in her hand, identified as a goddess of nature and fertility, possibly the Minoan [[poppy goddess]], or an early form of the goddess [[Demeter]].<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/624904 |journal=The Journal of Hellenic Studies |volume=45 |date=1925 |title='The Ring of Nestor': A Glimpse into the Minoan After-World |last=Evans |first=Arthur |doi=10.2307/624904 |pages=11 |jstor=624904 |hdl=2027/mdp.39015008678354 |s2cid=161114626 |quote=waving lines ... cut off the upper part of the field on the great signet of Mycenae, and contain above their curve a rayed disk and crescent representing the heavenly luminaries. ... the seated Goddess, whose character is there marked by the double-axe as well as by the celestial symbols, holds poppy-heads presented to her by a votary.|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Poppy goddess |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Mythica |last=Trckova-Flamee |first=Alena |date=2005 |quote=The image of the so-called Poppy Goddess appears in pre-Hellenic iconography. She is represented as a large female figurine with raised hands in a gesture of greeting or blessing. [...] A goddess with the same emblems — three poppies — in her hand is depicted also in a gold signet ring from Mycenae. [...] The role of this goddess was correlated together with her attributes — poppies and its effects in a form of opium. [...] The motif of a seated goddess (who was called Demeter) on a throne with poppies in her hand is found on a Greek vase (plate) of the fifth century BCE. There is presently not enough evidence to connect a real name to this so-called Poppy Goddess of the pre-Hellenic period; nevertheless there are links to the Greek pantheon and to a ritual performed, later in honor of the goddess Demeter.}}</ref><ref>{{cite arXiv |title=Evidence of Minoan astronomy and calendrical practices |date=2009 |last=Ridderstad |first=Marianna |class=physics.hist-ph |eprint=0910.4801 |quote=The scene on the ring [from Mycenae] shows the sun, the moon, and what looks like the Milky Way on the sky, as well as the "Poppy Goddess" seated under a tree [...] The poppy flower of the Minoan 'Poppy Goddess' was associated in Classical Greek art with many goddesses, but, especially, it was the symbol of Demeter, who as the great mother and fertility goddess had a cult that had its origin in Minoan-Mycenaean times [...] as the Palaikastro mould shows, the Poppy Goddess was not only a chthonic fertility goddess, but also the goddess of celestial cycles.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/223596674 |journal=International Congress Series |volume=1242 |issue=3 |pages=23–29 |date=December 2002 |doi=10.1016/S0531-5131(02)00769-0 |title=Archaeological evidence on the use of opium in the Minoan world |last1=Askitopoulou |first1=Helen |last2=Ramoutsaki |first2=Ioanna A. |last3=Konsolaki |first3=Eleni}}</ref> The gold arcs on the Nebra disc also bear a resemblance to the [[Labrys|Minoan double-axe]] or ''labrys'', which is centrally depicted on the gold signet ring and considered to be the main symbol of the Minoan goddess, as well as a symbol of Demeter.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.academia.edu/44075963 |title=Orientierung, Navigation und Zeitbestimmung – Wie der Himmel den Lebensraum des Menschen prägt. Nuncius Hamburgensis - Beiträge zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften Band 42. |chapter=Der minoische Kalender – eine Brücke von Babylon nach Nebra |publisher=Tredition |date=2019 |last1=Hansen |first1=Rahlf |last2=Rink |first2=Christine |pages=432–461 |isbn=978-3-7482-1146-4}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{cite book |url=https://www.academia.edu/2143502 |title=Athanasia. The Earthly, the Celestial and the Underworld in the Mediterranean from the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age. N. Ch. Stampolidis, A. Kanta and A. Giannikouri (eds.) |date=2012 |chapter=The Minoan Double Axe Goddess and Her Astral Realm |last1=MacGillivray |first1=Joseph |publisher=MEDITERRANEAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY |isbn=978-960-7143-40-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://chs.harvard.edu/primary-source/homeric-hymn-to-demeter-sb/ |website=The Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University |title=Homeric Hymn to Demeter |quote=Demeter ... she of the golden double-axe}}</ref> According to the archaeologist [[Kristian Kristiansen (archaeologist)|Kristian Kristiansen]], imagery similar to that found on Mycenaean signet rings appears in [[Nordic Bronze Age]] petroglyphs from the [[The King's Grave|Kivik King's Grave]] in Sweden, dating from the 16th to 15th centuries BC, whilst Baltic amber has been found in the elite [[Grave Circle A, Mycenae|shaft graves]] at Mycenae.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=di7Dc7Y1ETYC |title=The rise of Bronze Age society |date=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |last1=Kristiansen |first1=Kristian |last2=Larsson |first2=Thomas B. |isbn=9780521843638|pages=192–193}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kristiansen |first1=Kristian |last2=Suchowska-Ducke |first2=Paulina |date=December 2015 |title=Connected Histories: the Dynamics of Bronze Age Interaction and Trade 1500–1100 bc |journal=[[Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |volume=81 |pages=361–392 |doi=10.1017/ppr.2015.17 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Opium poppy has also been found in settlements of the Únětice culture where it may have been used in cult rituals.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.academia.edu/10283430 |title=Carpathian heartlands: studies on the prehistory and history of Transsylvania in European contexts, dedicated to Horia Ciugudean on his 60th birthday |date=2016 |chapter=Food and cooking in the Únětice culture |last=Pokutta |first=Dalia |publisher=Muzeul Naţional al Unirii |editor-last1=Boroffka |editor-first1=Nikolaus |pages=143}}</ref>

====Solar boat====

The gold arc at the bottom of the Disc is usually interpreted as a mythological [[Solar deity#Solar boats|solar boat]] or sun-ship, which carried the sun through the day and night.<ref name="Meller 2021"/> The short lines on each side of the gold arc may represent the oars of a large crew.<ref name="The World of Stonehenge"/> According to the archaeologist Harald Meller this imagery was "hitherto unknown in Europe" and probably originated in [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]], possibly reaching Central Europe through wide-ranging contacts and travel.<ref name="Meller 2021"/> In contrast the archaeologist Mary Cahill has argued that sun-ships were already depicted on [[gold lunula]]e from the [[Bell Beaker culture#Solar symbolism|Bell Beaker culture]], from which the Únětice culture developed.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Cahill |first=Mary |date=Spring 2015 |title=Here comes the sun...: Solar symbolism in Early Bronze Age Ireland |url=https://www.academia.edu/11627053 |journal=Archaeology Ireland |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=26–33 |url-access=registration |via=Academia.edu}}</ref> Solar boats may even be depicted on rock art from the Neolithic or earlier.<ref>{{cite thesis |url=https://researchrepository.universityofgalway.ie/entities/publication/df448825-8ce7-4880-ba13-5ad14b3b760a |title=Calendars, feasting, cosmology and identities: later Neolithic-early Bronze Age Ireland in European context |date=2016 |degree=PhD |publisher=University of Galway |last1=McVeigh| first1=Thor |pages=167–182}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.academia.edu/36843380 |title=North Meets South: Theoretical Aspects on the Northern and Southern Rock Art Traditions in Scandinavia |chapter=The Circumpolar Context of the 'Sun Ship' Motif in South Scandinavian Rock Art|date=2017 |publisher=Oxbow Books |isbn=978-1-78570-820-6 |last=Lahelma |first=Antti |pages=144–171}}</ref>

Solar boats or vessels also appear in later [[Proto-Indo-European mythology|Indo-European]] traditions: in [[Latvians|Latvian]] folk songs the sun goddess [[Saulė]] sleeps through the night in a golden boat, whilst in the [[Atharvaveda]] the Sun is twice told ‘O Aditya, thou hast boarded a ship of a hundred oars for well-being’.<ref name="West 2007 207–209">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXrJA_5LKlYC |title=Indo-European Poetry and Myth |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199280759 |last=West |first=M.L. |pages=207–209}}</ref> In [[Greek mythology]] the Sun's vessel takes the form of a golden bowl or cup, which may resemble the bowl-like shape of the Nebra boat.<ref name="West 2007 207–209"/><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.academia.edu/40428177 |journal=Journal of Indo-European Studies |volume=47 |date=2019 |title=Antimachus's Enigma: On Erytheia, the Latvian Sun-goddess and a Red Fish |last1=Massetti |first1=Laura |pages=223–240 |quote=synchronic analysis of Greek passages dealing with the journey of Helios reveals that the poetic image of the golden ‘cup, vessel’ hints at the solar boat.}}</ref> Similar artefacts from the Bronze Age include the ship-like [[Caergwrle Bowl|Caergwrle bowl]] from Wales<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzh0pnpZudw|title=The World of the Nebra Sky Disc: The Caergwrle Ship|last=Meller|first=Harald|website=Halle State Museum of Prehistory|date=2022}}</ref> and miniature [[:de:Goldboote vom Torshøj|gold boats from Nors]] in Denmark.<ref>{{cite AV media  |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx_lxoNwpBo | website=Halle State Museum of Prehistory  |title=The World of the Nebra Sky Disc: The Nors Boats  |date=2022}}</ref> Gold bowls from the later Bronze Age such as from the [[Eberswalde Hoard]] in Germany feature circular solar symbols, and some of these may contain calendrical information, including the equivalence of 32 solar and 33 lunar years possibly depicted on the Nebra Disc.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://artsandculture.google.com/story/DAVRgpAwHmLsLw?hl=en|title=Life and Belief During the Bronze Age" Neues Museum, Berlin|access-date=13 March 2022 |quote=Gold vessels in the Eberswalde hoard bear sun and circular symbols like those on the Berlin gold hat. Some of these contain calendrical information as well. The base of a bowl [from the Eberswalde hoard] is formed from ten, or counting the centre disc, eleven concentric circles topped by a band of 22 circular discs. This corresponds to the number of solar years (10+22=32) and together with the centre disc the number of lunar years (11+22=33) until the solar and lunar calendars are in alignment.}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVneygj8t2Y&t=3741s| website=HEAS |title=The Sky Disc of Nebra: A window to the Bronze Age world in Europe and beyond. (Ernst Pernicka) |date=2022}}</ref>

Numerous depictions of solar boats are known from the Nordic Bronze Age, dating from c. 1600 BC onwards.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/310773387 |title=Oxford Handbook of the European Bronze Age |chapter=The Sky Disc of Nebra |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |last=Meller |first=Harald |pages=266–269}}</ref> Many of these are flat-bottomed vessels but some have a curved shape similar to the Nebra boat. Some of these depictions show people performing backward bends or backward leaps over ships, which the archaeologist Rune Iversen has connected to similar depictions from Egypt, which show backward-bend dances performed during festivals for the goddess [[Hathor]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Iversen |first=Rune |date=2014 |title=Bronze Age acrobats: Denmark, Egypt, Crete |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00438243.2014.886526 |url-status=live |journal=World Archaeology |volume=46 |issue=2 |pages=242–255 |doi=10.1080/00438243.2014.886526 |s2cid=162668376 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211219122033/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00438243.2014.886526 |archive-date=19 December 2021 |access-date=19 December 2021|url-access=subscription }}</ref> They may also be related to a later account from the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] historian [[Tacitus]], who stated that the Germanic [[Suebi]] worshipped the goddess [["Isis" of the Suebi|Isis]] in the form of a ship.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0083%3Achapter%3D9 |website=perseus.tufts.edu |title=Tacitus, Germania. 9}}</ref> Isis was equated with Hathor from the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]] onwards, and both goddesses were associated with the [[solar barque]], often being depicted at the [[Bow (watercraft)|prow]] of the ship, which they steered and protected.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1n8eAAAAIAAJ |title=Hathor and Thoth |publisher=Leiden |date=1973 |pages=73 |last=Bleeker |first=C.J.|isbn=90-04-03734-9 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Wilkinson |first=Richard H. |author-link=Richard H. Wilkinson |url=https://archive.org/details/completegodsgodd00wilk_0 |title=The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt |publisher=Thames & Hudson |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-500-05120-7 |pages=148–149, 160}}</ref> Both were also associated with the goddess Demeter by the later Greeks.<ref name=":2" />

The historians Joseph S. Hopkins and Haukur Þorgeirsson have connected Tacitus' 'Isis of the Suebi' with the [[Norse mythology|Norse]] goddess [[Freyja]], arguing for a strong association between Freyja and ship imagery within [[Old Norse]] texts, and particularly with the [[stone ship]]s of Scandinavia.<ref>{{cite journal| url=https://www.academia.edu/1825953| journal=RMN Newsletter |date=2011 |title=The Ship in the Field
 |last1=Hopkins |first1=Joseph S. |last2=Þorgeirsson |first2=Haukur|pages=14–18}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Arrhenius |first=Birgit |url=https://su.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A285966&dswid=-3623 |title=Glaube, Kult und Herrschaft |date=2009 |publisher=Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH |pages=219–230 |chapter=Brisingamen and the Menet necklace |quote=This article discusses the jewellery worn by the goddess Freyja, the ''Brisingamen''. ... its origin may have been the ''Menet'' (alternatively ''Menat'' or ''Menit'') – originally the necklace of the cow god Hathor which in the Greco-Roman time was taken over by the fertility goddess Isis.}}</ref> Both Freyja and her twin brother Freyr have characteristics associated with solar gods,<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Wang |first=Lan |date=2017 |title=Freyja and Freyr: Successors of the Sun |url=https://www.duo.uio.no/handle/10852/57994?show=full  |degree=Masters |publisher=University of Oslo|pages=34–38}}</ref> including the golden ship ''[[Skíðblaðnir]]'' belonging to Freyr, which may represent a solar boat.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Wang |first=Lan |title=Freyja and Freyr: Successors of the Sun |date=2017 |degree=Masters |publisher=University of Oslo |url=https://www.duo.uio.no/handle/10852/57994?show=full |pages=14, 37}}</ref>

====Divine Twins====

According to Kristian Kristiansen the pairs of swords and axes deposited with the Nebra Disc represent the mythological [[Divine twins|Divine Twins]], later known as the [[Dioscuri]] in Greece and as the [[Ashvins]] in India, among other Indo-European traditions.<ref name="Kristiansen 2011">{{cite book |url=https://www.academia.edu/1133755 |title=InterweavIng worlds: Systemic Interactions in Eurasia, 7th to 1st Millennia BC |chapter=Bridging India and Scandinavia: Institutional Transmission and Elite Conquest during the Bronze Age |date=2011 |publisher=Oxbow Books |isbn=978-1-84217-998-7 |last=Kristiansen |first=Kristian |quote=the twin swords and axes in the Nebra hoard correspond to a widely shared ritual tradition of such depositions, which are the material correlates of the Divine Twins in Bronze Age ritual. This idea is further supported by the Nebra disc that links the Divine Twins (twin axes and swords) and the sun cult together, and thus confirms their intimate relation. ... [the Divine Twins] are also said to represent the morning and evening star, and the twin stars in the constellation of Gemini. This constellation, which belongs in the winter sky, could possibly be identified in the lower part of the Nebra disc, as it consists of 8 stars in a formation much like what we see on the disc.}}</ref> Similar depositions are known from a number of other Bronze Age burials. Kristiansen further suggests that the constellation of [[Gemini (constellation)|Gemini]], which is associated with the Dioscuri, might be represented in the lower part of the Disc next to the solar boat.<ref name="Kristiansen 2011"/> The archeologist [[Timothy Darvill]] has suggested a connection between these paired depositions and the Nebra Disc with the [[trilithon]]s at [[Stonehenge]], which may also represent an early form of the Divine Twins.<ref name=":3">{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dlijsmVJ9c&t=2765s |title=Concepts of cosmos in the world of Stonehenge |date=2023 |website=British Museum Events}}</ref> The central trilithon in particular may have embodied "a pair of deities representing day and night, the sun and moon, summer and winter, life and death, perhaps even the prehistoric equivalents of the twins [[Apollo]] and [[Artemis]] as they are known in later pantheons across the Old World."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Darvill |first=Timothy |title=Houses of the holy: Architecture and meaning in the structure of Stonehenge, Wiltshire, UK |magazine=Time and Mind |volume=9 |issue=2 |date=2016 |pages=89–121 |doi=10.1080/1751696X.2016.1171496 |s2cid=164201703 |url= https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1751696X.2016.1171496 |quote=each of the trilithons could be considered conjoined deities, pairs of gods, or an early form of the Divine Twins born at the same time from a single union (Darvill 2006, 144–145). The Great Trilithon to the southwest is the largest and most prominent. It is set astride the principal axis and might cautiously be identified with a pair of deities representing day and night, the sun and moon, summer and winter, life and death, perhaps even the prehistoric equivalents of the twins Apollo and Artemis as they are known in later pantheons across the Old World.|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In Greece Apollo and Artemis were associated with the sun and the moon respectively, whilst the Pleiades were known as '[[Pleiades (Greek mythology)|the companions of Artemis]]', echoing the depiction on the Nebra Disc.<ref name=":3" /> According an account recorded by the Greek historian [[Herodotus]], the Egyptians maintained that Apollo and Artemis were the children of Isis, equivalent to the gods [[Horus]] and [[Bastet|Bubastis]], and that Isis was Demeter.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D156 |website=perseus.tufts.edu |title=Herodotus, ''Histories'', 2.156 |quote=Apollo and Artemis were (they say) children of Dionysus and Isis, and Leto was made their nurse and preserver; in Egyptian, Apollo is Horus, Demeter Isis, Artemis Bubastis. It was from this legend and no other that Aeschylus son of Euphorion took a notion which is in no poet before him: that Artemis was the daughter of Demeter.}}</ref>

===Connections with Britain===

Archaeoastronomist Emília Pásztor has argued against a practical astronomical function for the disc. According to Pásztor "the close agreement of the length of the peripheral arcs with the movement of the sun's risings or settings might be a pure coincidence".<ref>{{Citation | first = Emilia | last = Pásztor | editor-last = Ruggles | editor-first = Clive L. N. | chapter = Nebra Disk | title = Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy | date = 2015 | pages = 1349–1356 | place = New York | publisher = Springer Science+Business Media | doi = 10.1007/978-1-4614-6141-8_128 | isbn = 978-1-4614-6140-1}}</ref> This claim is undermined by the finding of a similar feature on the roughly contemporary gold lozenge from [[Bush Barrow]] at [[Stonehenge]], where the acute angles of the overall design (81°) correspond to the angle between the solstices at the latitude of Stonehenge.<ref>{{cite AV media|title=Stonehenge's Richest Man: The Bush Barrow Chieftain (British Museum 2022)|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j47p5n5rF6Y|quote=The point at the top and the bottom [of the Bush Barrow gold lozenge] has a very precise angle of 81 degrees. That's the same angle between where the sun rises at midwinter and midsummer solstices, so it has an astronomical importance. And the very finely detailed embossed decoration, particularly around the outer border, is laid out to a tolerance of less than half a millimetre. What that tells us is they understood astronomy, geometry and mathematics, 4,000 years ago.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|magazine=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 |quote=The potential observation of the horizon arc described by the Sun during its annual motion is exemplified by another impressive find from the Early Bronze Age: A diamond-shaped gold plaque of extraordinary quality was excavated in a burial under Bush Barrow in Wiltshire, southern England, less than a mile away from Stonehenge. ... Both objects, the Nebra Sky Disc and the Bush Barrow Lozenge, are unique in their appearance, but they may be related in their ritual and possibly astronomical relevance.|doi-access=free}}</ref> According to [[Euan MacKie]] (2009) "The Nebra disc and the Bush Barrow lozenge both seem to be designed to reflect the annual solar cycle at about latitude 51° north."<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/10771931|title=The Prehistoric Solar Calendar: An Out-of-fashion Idea Revisited with New Evidence|date=March 2009|magazine=Time and Mind |volume=2|issue=1|pages=9–46|doi=10.2752/175169709X374263|last1=MacKie|first1=Euan|s2cid=162360353 |quote=Ker and his colleagues found the pair of acute angles of the basic diamond pattern [of the Bush Barrow lozenge] to be 81°. They realized that this was the angle between midsummer and midwinter sunrises (and sunsets of course) on a low horizon at the latitude of Stonehenge (51.17° N) four thousand years ago. ... The Nebra disc and the Bush Barrow lozenge both seem to be designed to reflect the annual solar cycle at about latitude 51° north, and both have elements in their design which could refer specifically to the solar calendar.}}</ref>

MacKie further suggests that both the Nebra disc and Bush Barrow lozenge may be linked to the solar calendar reconstructed by [[Alexander Thom]] from his analysis of standing stone alignments in Britain.<ref name="MacKie2006">{{cite book|author=MacKie, E|date=2006|chapter=New evidence for a professional priesthood in the European Early Bronze Age?|title=Viewing the Sky Through Past and Present Cultures: Selected Papers from the Oxford VII International Conference on Archaeoastronomy|editor=Todd W. Bostwick|editor2=Bryan Bates|series= [[Pueblo Grande Ruin and Irrigation Sites|Pueblo Grande Museum]] Anthropological Papers |volume=15|publisher=City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department|pages=343–362|isbn=1-882572-38-6}}</ref> Both the Nebra sky disc and Bush Barrow lozenge were made with gold from [[Bronze Age Cornwall|Cornwall]], providing a direct link between them.<ref name=Ehser /><ref>{{Cite web|date=2019|title=Where did the gold from the time of Stonehenge come from? Analysing the Bush Barrow dagger|url=https://www.wiltshiremuseum.org.uk/news-articles/bush-barrow-dagger-gold-studs/|access-date=26 April 2022|website=Wiltshire Museum}}</ref> According to the archaeologist [[:de:Sabine Gerloff|Sabine Gerloff]] the gold plating technique used on the Nebra sky disc also originated in Britain, and was introduced from there to the continent.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.academia.edu/17283618|title=Der Griff nach den Sternen. Internationales Symposium in Halle (Saale) 16.-21. Februar 2005|chapter=Von Troja an die Saale, von Wessex nach Mykene – Chronologie, Fernverbindungen und Zinnrouten der Frühbronzezeit Mittel- und Westeuropas|last=Gerloff|first=Sabine|editor-last1=Meller|editor-first1=Harald|editor-last2=Bertemes|editor-first2=Francois|date=2010|publisher=Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt – Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte Halle (Saale)|isbn=978-3-939414-28-5|pages=603–639|quote=This phase also includes the hoard of Nebra with its famous disc showing gold-plated heavenly bodies. Its plating technique is generally connected to Mycenaean metalwork. It will be shown, however, that this technique together with that of metal inlay had its origins in Britain, where it was already applied to organic material during the first phase of the Early Bronze Age, and flourished during the second and third phases when it was introduced on the continent and used on prestige metalwork.}}</ref>