Rebound in the controversy over the age of the famous Nebra disc:this astronomical representation of the celestial vault would be the oldest known, dating from the Bronze Age. A new scientific publication refutes point by point recent work that rejuvenated this 1000-year-old object.
The complete treasure of Nebra:a celestial disc, two swords, scissors and spiral bracelets.
The shepherd's answer to the shepherdess! Thirteen specialists have just protested against a recent study questioning the age of the famous Nebra disc, discovered in Germany in 1999, published in the journal Archäologische Informations and of which Sciences et Avenir echoed. This study aimed to demonstrate that this oldest representation of the cosmos in the world (2200-1600 BC), hitherto dated to the Bronze Age and exhibited at the National Museum of Prehistory of Saxony-Anhalt in Halle (Germany), was actually a creation of the Iron Age (800-50 BC). The two authors - the German archaeologists, Rupper Gebhard, professor of protohistory at the University of Munich, and Rüdiger Krause, professor of prehistory at the Goethe University in Frankfurt - thus dethroned the illustrious object of its cosmic supremacy by brutally rejuvenating it. 1000 years old.
The 13 of the response
The response therefore came from thirteen specialists who co-authored an article in the scientific journal Archaeologia Austria . According to them, the works of their German counterparts have "used documents selectively while ignoring a substantial number of publications ".
Using replicas, reconstruction of the discovery of the Nebra treasure by one of the two looters in 2005 on Mount Mittelberg (Germany). ©LDA Halle.
These specialists thus refute the argument according to which the disc of Nebra would not have been found with the treasure which accompanied it (two swords, two axes, a set of bracelets in spiral and a chisel) on the mount Mittelberg, close to the city of Nebra, in the region of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The treasure seekers behind its discovery would have extracted it from a nearby but more recent site. An assertion which, according to the group of experts, does not stand up to studies carried out by many specialists since 2002, when the disk was spectacularly seized by the Swiss police while treasure hunters were trying to sell it.
"The authenticity of the Nebra Disc find location is unequivocal "
"The authenticity of the Nebra Disc find location is unequivocal ", summarize the researchers. This evidence is based in particular on the results of numerous sedimentological analyses, on the study of the chemical concentrations of gold and copper present in the geological basement of the place of discovery; isotopic ratios of pewter, copper, lead… All in perfect correlation with other objects dated from the beginning of the Bronze Age, and in particular the radiocarbon dating of a piece of birch bark found on one of the swords dating back to 1600-1650 BC
The details provided at the time by the police investigation of the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and Archeology of Saxony-Anhalt, and the full confessions of the looters, also corroborate these facts. “The Nebra Disk has been one of the most studied and documented objects of decades “, recall the signatories of the article who conclude:“At the beginning of the Iron Age, the disc of Nebra was already buried for a long time! ".