New Study Reveals Ancient Secrets of the 3,600-year-old Nebra Sky Disc

Discovered in 1999 in Germany, the  Nebra Sky Disc is the oldest known depiction of the cosmos. A recent examination of the Bronze Age artifact revealed the intricate methods used in its creation, which UNESCO described as “one of the most important archaeological finds of the twentieth century.”

 The Nebra Sky Disc is a product of the Únětice culture, which originated in the Bronze Age of Central Europe. It reflects a sophisticated ancient understanding of both metalworking and astronomy and was created sometime between 1800 and 1600 BCE.  Clusters of stars, a sun, and a crescent moon are among the celestial bodies depicted by golden inlays covering the blue-green patina of the Nebra Sky Disc.

The angle between the solstices is thought to be indicated by two golden arcs that run along the sides of the disc, one of which is now absent. It is thought that a boat is represented by another arc at the composition’s base. Only a few millimeters thick, the disc has a diameter of around 12 inches.

The Nebra Sky Disc is one of the best-investigated archaeological objects. The origin of the raw materials it is made of is well known The disc is made from copper, tin, and gold—materials whose origins have been traced to Cornwall, England. The rich blue-green patina of the disc’s bronze today results from chemical changes over time. Originally, it would have been a deep bronze hue.

The design and astronomical significance of this bronze disc are astounding, but so are the technical mysteries that surrounded its creation. The intricate processes that shaped this artifact have been revealed in fascinating detail by recent metallographic analyses.

Previous studies determined that the disc could not have been made simply by casting due to its material composition and physical structure. The most recent discovery confirms that the disc was made using an extremely complex hot-forging process, which adds yet another level of complexity.

The new research, published in the scientific journal Scientific Reports, utilized modern metallographic analyses to reveal that the disk was produced using an elaborate warm forging process.

The research team used light microscopy and more sophisticated techniques like energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and electron backscatter diffraction to perform microstructural analyses on color-etched surfaces. These investigations focused on how the finished bronze disk was made from a cast piece, shedding light on techniques that had not been completely clarified until now.

The results show that Early Bronze Age artisans were not only exceptional casters but also highly skilled in intricate bronze processing methods. About ten work cycles were required to produce the disc, each of which included heating the metal to roughly 700 degrees Celsius, shaping it with a hammer, and then annealing it to relax the material’s internal structure. With a final diameter of about 31 centimeters and a thickness of only a few millimeters, this technique enabled the disc to attain the necessary strength and thinness.

Famous coppersmith Herbert Bauer used a cast blank to make a replica of the  Sky Disc in order to better understand the craftsmanship. According to Bauer’s experiments, the original artifact needed fewer forging cycles than the replica, indicating that it was both thinner and larger.

These discoveries highlight the extraordinary abilities of Bronze Age metalworkers, who were skilled in both sophisticated processes like hot forging and casting.

The fact that, more than 20 years after the recovery of the Sky Disc, research has yielded such significant new findings once again underscores the extraordinary nature of this unique discovery of the century and the advanced level of metallurgical knowledge already developed in the Early Bronze Age, stated state archaeologist Prof. Dr. Harald Meller.

 The Nebra Sky Disc is also an impressive testament to how important it is for the advancement of knowledge to reexamine even well-known and supposedly well-researched discoveries when new methods become available, said Meller.

A group of experts from Saxony-Anhalt’s Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie (LDA) joined forces with the Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg and DeltaSigma Analytics GmbH to look into these procedures.

State Office for Monument Preservation and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt

Dieck, S., Michael, O., Wilke, M. et al. Archaeometallurgical investigation of the Nebra Sky Disc. Sci Rep 14, 28868 (2024). doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-80545-5

Arrowheads Reveal the First Evidence of Organized Armies at ‘Europe’s Oldest Known Battlefield’

Previous investigations in the Tollense Valley, in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania have uncovered evidence of a large and violent conflict that took place in the 13th century B.C.E (around 1250 B.C.).

Numerous human remains—representing more than 150 individuals—have been found, and based on the body count, archaeologists estimate that at least 2,000 warriors were involved -Europe’s earliest-known battle, and the largest from the time.

The burning question is who was fighting who. No one is sure who took part in the conflict or the disagreement that led to the bloodshed. Some earlier studies had suggested that only locals took part. But the new research, published in Antiquity, indicates that some combatants were foreign warriors, maybe even part of an invading army.

The analysis of Bronze Age arrowheads found in the Tollense Valley has revealed that some of them were not produced locally. The new research posits that this wasn’t some family feud.

The war in the Tollense Valley 3,250 years ago was interregional, with locals pitted against invaders from the south.

Based on analysis of the arrowheads, they may even have been facing an organized army, archaeologists report in the Journal of Antiquity.

Their research expands on earlier genetic analyses of the teeth of some of the combatants, which also imply that some were not local but rather southern. And by “south,” the archaeologists mean Moravia or Bavaria rather than Greece or Italy.

The new paper compared bronze and flint arrowheads found in the valley with thousands of contemporary examples from across Europe.

Arrowheads are a type of indisputable evidence, according to Leif Inselmann, the study’s lead author and a former member of the University of Göttingen’s Seminar for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology.

Much like how a murder weapon in a criminal investigation provides clues about the culprit, the arrowheads offer us insights into the combatants in the Battle of the Tollense Valley and where they came from.

Numerous locals may have participated in the battle, as evidenced by the majority of the arrowheads discovered at the site, which are types that are sporadically found in the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania region.

On the other hand, certain arrowhead types were identified; these include arrowheads with unilateral barbs, rhomboid or straight bases, and tangs rather than sockets.

These arrowhead types are more prevalent in southern Europe, including modern-day Bavaria and Moravia. These arrowheads have not been found in local burials in the Tollense region, indicating that they were not simply acquired through trade by the local inhabitants and used in the battle.

The evidence points to a level of military complexity and organization far higher than previously believed for this era in Bronze Age Europe, suggesting that conflicts were not only more frequent than previously believed but also involved combatants from various regions.

The Battle of the Tollense Valley demonstrated that interregional conflicts existed in Europe more than 3,000 years ago; it was more than just a local skirmish.

The Largest Medieval Coins Treasure found in Recent Decades discovered in Germany

Archaeologists have unearthed one of the largest medieval coin hoards, consisting of approximately 1,600 coins, in recent years in the village of Glottertal in the Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald region of Germany.

This remarkable discovery provides a unique window into the economic activities of Europe in the fourteenth century and illuminates the minting industry, silver trade, and wider circulation of money in Breisgau.

According to a press statement issued by the State Office for Monument Preservation in the Stuttgart Regional Council, the hoard was unearthed during construction works while excavating a trench.

The treasure was discovered by Claus Völker, a local citizen who was assisting with the laying of a pipeline near the village swimming pool in early May 2024, records a press release.

Völker caught sight of what he initially described as “small metal plates” within the excavation. He reported the discovery to the Stuttgart Regional Council’s State Office for Monument Preservation (LAD) as soon as he realized the objects’ possible significance. The same day, Völker and LAD archaeologists visited the site the same day to recover the coins and discovered a whopping 1000 coins.

At the same time, three detectors certified by the LAD were assigned to search for the loot. The interior of the trench became a knee-deep quagmire due to bad weather, but the determined researchers managed to find an additional 600 coins in the small window that was open to them.

Initial examination and cleaning of the coins indicated where they came from.

The bulk of the coins, according to LAD archaeologist Andreas Haasis-Berner, were struck circa 1320 and originated from a number of well-known mints, including Breisach, Zofingen, and Freiburg. There were also coins from Colmar, Laufenburg, Zurich, Basel, and St. Gallen.

Commenting on the significance of the find, Haasis-Berner explained: ‘Analysing this coin hoard will provide information about the circulation of coins in Breisgau, the minting activity in the mints, the silver trade and also mining in the Glottertal valley.’ When asked whether the treasure was very valuable at the time, the archaeologist said: ‘You could have bought around 150 sheep with the coins.’

This wide variety of coins bears witness to the wide-ranging commerce networks and currency exchange that existed in the area in the early 14th century.

Because of the wealth and power of the cities that produced them, every coin tells a tale about the political and economic environments of medieval Europe.

Officials described the artifacts as one of the largest coin treasures found in recent decades. Of course, this description is a small number compared to the more than 100,000,000 coins in Japan on 4 November 2023, some of which are more than 2000 thousand years old.

2,000-year-old Roman Military Sandal with Nails Found in Germany

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a 2,000-year-old Roman Military Sandal near an auxiliary Roman camp in Germany.

Archaeologists from the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation unearthed the military-style footwear while excavating at a civilian settlement on the outskirts of a Roman military fort near Oberstimm.

The settlement would have been occupied sometime between A.D. 60 and 130, according to a translated statement from the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation (BLfD).

Surprising discoveries like the Oberstimm Sole show again and again that even after archaeological excavations are completed, valuable information is gathered.

This underscores the invaluable work of our restorers, says Mathias Pfeil, general conservator of the Bavarian State Office for the Conservation of Monuments (BLfD).

The rare find was disguised by a thick layer of corrosion, giving it the appearance of two indeterminate lumps of bent metal. Even, a curved and heavily corroded metal piece was initially suspected to be the remains of a sickle.

An X-ray at the laboratory of the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation (BLfD) revealed that the corroded lumps were hobnails.

The shoe was a caliga, a heavy-duty, hobnailed sandal that was part of the uniform issued to Roman legionary soldiers and auxiliaries. The shoe would have been worn while the person was marching, with the nails providing traction.

The iron nails were used to reinforce and fix the leather sole. They provided stability and traction to the shoe when walking on difficult terrain, just like modern cleats do.

The discovery shows that the practices, lifestyles, and also the clothing that the Romans brought to Bavaria were adopted by the local people, says Amira Adaileh, a specialist at the Bavarian State Office for the Conservation of Monuments.

Individual shoe nails are frequently discovered at Roman sites, but only in certain circumstances are they preserved alongside remnants of the leather sole. 

Comparable findings in Bavaria are known so far from only a handful of sites and they offer important new perspectives on Roman daily life and craftsmanship.

Fossil of a beetle inside a lizard inside a snake – an ancient food chain

Paleontologists have uncovered a fossil that has preserved an insect inside a lizard inside a snake – a prehistoric battle of the food chain that ended in a volcanic lake some 48 million years ago.

Pulled from an abandoned quarry in southwest Germany called the Messel Pit, the fossil is only the second of its kind ever found, with the remains of three animals sitting snug in one another.

Earlier excavations have revealed the fossilized stomach contents of a prehistoric horse, whose last meal was grapes and leaves, and pollen grains were identified inside a fossilized bird. Remains of insects have also been detected in a sample of fish excrement.

We have been lucky to glimpse such a primordial food chain of the snake, that ate a lizard, that had previously treated itself to a beetle, and ended up in a volcanic lake of the time. It is uncertain how the snake died.

Perhaps the snake’s body fell dead close to the shores of the lake before the waters claimed it. It had died there not more than 48 hours after its “last supper,” scientists say.

“It’s probably the kind of fossil that I will go the rest of my professional life without ever encountering again, such is the rarity of these things.” Such are the words of Dr. Krister Smith, a paleontologist at the Senkenberg Institute in Germany who took charge of the fossil analysis.

According to Dr. Smith, the almost entirely preserved snake was recovered from a plate found in the pit back in 2009, and the discovery soon turned out to be groundbreaking. Smith remarks, “we had never found a tripartite food chain–this is a first for Messel.”

Dr. Smith and Argentine paleontologist Dr. Agustín Scanferla used high-resolution computer imaging to identify the taxonomy of the snake and the lizard, however, they were unable to name the beetle, the least preserved of the three.

The snake, measuring some 3.4 feet in length, was identified as Palaeophython fischeri, a species which belongs to a group of tree-dwelling snakes that was able to grow to more than 6.5 feet in length and is related to today’s boas.

The preserved sample from Germany was only a juvenile, an assurance being not only the shorter length but also its food choice, the lizard. Adult boas are known to opt for bigger animals.

The lizard would have measured nearly eight inches and a clear hint for paleontologists that it was inside the snake’s body was that the snake’s ribs overlapped it.

It is an example of the now extinct species Geiseltaliellus maarius, a type of iguanian lizard that inhabited the region of what is now Germany, France, and Belgium. Messel has been the site that has provided some of the best-preserved samples of this lizard species.

What’s also interesting is that, even though lizards are known for shedding their tails when under threat, this one has kept it despite falling prey to the snake.

“Since the stomach contents are digested relatively fast and the lizard shows an excellent level of preservation, we assume that the snake died no more than one to two days after consuming its prey and then sank to the bottom of the Messel Lake, where it was preserved,” explained Dr. Smith.

This is a rare type of fossil, but it’s not the first instance in which a fossil has simultaneously exposed three levels of an ancient food chain. According to National Geographic, in 2008, a fossil dated at more than 250 millions of years old depicted a shark that had devoured an amphibian that had previously consumed a spiny-finned fish.

Both these findings are precious as they reveal significant details on how food chains functioned. In the case of the snake fossil, it is interesting that the lizard had eaten a beetle.

Before that, scientists didn’t know that the Messel lizard liked to dine on insects, as in previous digs they had been able to identify only remains of plants in fossilized lizard bellies. In the case of the shark, it was revealed that amphibians consumed fish before becoming a menu item to the fish itself.

‘The Mayor’ buried 6,800 years ago with drinks and food for afterlife discovered in Bavaria

About 6,800 years ago, a “mayor” was buried with a wealth of food and riches, including a halved boar’s tooth, according to archaeologists who found the rare burial in southern Germany.

The mayor’s Middle Neolithic remains were found near the Bavarian town of Eichendorf, close to Munich and Germany’s southeastern borders with Austria and the Czech Republic.

According to the local government of Bavaria’s Dingolfing-Landau district, the discovery was made last week by district archaeologists excavating at the village of Exing, about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) to the west.

The person in the grave was buried with food and drink for the afterlife; dyes for body painting; a stone ax and a stone adze; and a boar’s tooth split in two. 

The rich grave goods indicate that the person buried there was of high status, possibly an elder or a chieftain — and archaeologists have dubbed them “The Mayor.”

The investigation hasn’t yet determined how old the person was when they died, or whether they were male or female.

Rich grave

District archaeologist Florian Eibl told the German outlet Der Spiegel that it was unusual to find  human remains in a grave from this time and at this place, as very few Neolithic skeletons have survived.

In addition, he said, the finds indicated a person of special position who was older in years and had probably earned their wealth and status, rather than inherited it. 

The two parts of a boar’s tooth were probably two halves of a container that had once held a flint blade and tools for making fire — a symbol of status, because hunting wild boars was dangerous at that time, he said. 

The person in the grave was buried in a squatting position, and several vessels had been placed around their head — but it’s not yet known what they originally held. 

A drinking vessel placed in front of the skeleton’s face was probably their personal cup, and stone blades were also placed in the grave. 

Archaeological site 

Archaeologists from the district government have worked on excavations at Exing since 2023, ahead of a residential development there.

The spectacular finds from Exing span roughly 7,000 years, from the Neolithic through to the Copper and Bronze Ages, including pieces of gold jewelry.

Eibl said the area was important during the Neolithic period for its rich settlements such as Köthingeichendorf, which was a center of importance throughout Europe at that time. 

The skeleton of “The Mayor” will now be examined on site by an anthropologist and have photographs taken to produce a precise 3D model. The technique, known as photogrammetry, involves stitching multiple digital images together to make a virtual model.

‘4,200-year-old Zombie grave’ discovered in Germany

Archaeologists excavating in East Germany have found a 4,200-year-old grave near Oppin in Saxony-Anhalt containing the skeleton of a man believed to be at risk of becoming a “zombie”.

A supposed zombie grave, dating back thousands of years, shedding light on the superstitious practices of Bronze Age Europeans.

The deceased was pinned under a large stone to prevent him from rising from the grave to wreak havoc on the living. The slab was four inches (10 centimeters) thick, 20 inches (50 centimeters) wide, and roughly three feet (one meter) long. Its intended function was to stop the deceased from excavating his own grave, as zombies—or, more accurately, revenants—have been known to do.

The tomb of the suspected zombie was uncovered during excavations that have been launched along the route of a planned long-distance, underground power line known as the SuedOstLink, which will transmit electricity from Saxony-Anhalt into Bavaria.

“It is an adult man, about 40 to 60 years old. He is lying on his left side with his legs bent and facing east,” excavation manager Uwe Moos said at the excavation site. “A large stone, about one metre long, 50 centimeters wide and ten centimeters high, lies across his lower legs.”

According to Moos, the deceased may have been unloved or suffered from a serious illness. “The heavy stone was intended to prevent him from coming back,” said Moos. The man may have come from the Bell Beaker culture – making it the first such revenant grave from this period in central Germany.

Although stories about vampires, zombies, and other undead ghouls were particularly prevalent in Europe during the Middle Ages, little is known about how deeply the idea of the revenant permeated Bronze Age mythology.

The fact that a zombie burial was found in eastern Germany indicates that the legends were known in the area as early as the third millennium BC, indicating that they may have originated even earlier in prehistory.

“We know that even in the Stone Age, people were afraid of revenants,” said archaeologist and Project Manager Susanne Friederich, in an interview with the German public broadcasting outlet MDR. “Back then, people believed that dead people sometimes tried to free themselves from their graves.”

A common theme in many ancient mythologies, particularly those of the Celtic and Norse people, was the revenant or zombie. Ancient Greeks also had a genuine fear of revenants, as evidenced by their custom of weighing down entombed bodies.

The Romans believed in revenants, and putting stone blocks in the mouths of the dead prevented them from rising and devouring the flesh of the living, according to a wealth of literature.

To stop the evil dead from rising, one way was to lay a large stone across the body. However, it wasn’t the only one.

“There are graves where the corpse even lies on its stomach,” Friederich said.  “If it lies on its stomach, it burrows deeper and deeper instead of rising to the surface … there are also dead bodies lying on their stomachs who were also pierced with a lance, so they were practically fixed in the ground.”

The excavations are taking place in the run-up to the grid expansion of the direct current line SuedOstLink. The approximately 150-kilometer-long section through Saxony-Anhalt will be archaeologically investigated until 2025. The skeletal remains have been recovered from the Neolithic grave and are being transferred to a laboratory in Halle for further study.

A sculpture of a snake-bodied Roman-German deity was discovered in Stuttgart

A sculpture of a snake-bodied Roman-German deity was discovered at the Roman fort in Stuttgart, Germany.

Since the beginning of the year, excavations have been taking place at the Roman fort on Altenburger Steige in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt under the expert supervision of the State Office for Monument Preservation (LAD) at the Stuttgart Regional Council. Archaeologists examine the construction site for the extension of the municipal Altenburg School.

In Roman times, from around 100 to 150 AD, there was initially a fort for an equestrian unit, which was followed by an extensive civilian settlement until around 260 AD.

During the excavations, a stone figurine from the Roman world of gods was found, which can be linked to finds from over 100 years ago.

An employee of the executing company ArchaeoBW noticed an inconspicuous, mud-smeared sandstone. Upon closer inspection and after initial cleaning, the find turned out to be a 30-centimeter tall kneeling figure with a human head.

Despite the weathering of the stone, you can see how her arms rest on the sides of her upper body and her hands rest on her hips and legs. However, the latter does not have a human shape, instead merging into a kind of snake body.

The chief archaeologist of the LAD, Dr. Andreas Thiel, explained: The figure is a hybrid creature from the Roman-Germanic world of gods, a ‘giant.’ As comparable finds show, the figure was part of a Jupiter-Giant column. These monuments combine classical antiquity with presumably Germanic beliefs: The thunderbolt-wielding Jupiter rides his horse over a crouching figure on the ground, usually naked and bearded, as can be seen, for example, in a group from Hausen an der Zaber, in the Heilbronn district.

However, the figure beneath the horse is often depicted in a pose that seems to hold up the horse. These groups of figures topped tall stone pillars erected in public squares. It is presumed that Jupiter is represented here as the god of weather and lord of the forces of nature, Thiel says.

In addition to its scientific significance, the new find also has another highly interesting aspect, according to Thiel: ‘Every archaeologist is delighted when a beautiful find is made. Every excavation on the Hallschlag brings pieces of the puzzle of the Roman past of the state capital to light. In this case, we are in the fortunate position that our giant fits in with other finds that came to light in Bad Cannstatt over a hundred years ago,”.

‘We have many artifacts from Roman Bad Cannstatt in our depot. When we heard about the new discovery, we immediately thought of another part of a Jupiter Giant column: its base usually included a so-called four-god stone. In the depot of the Württemberg State Museum there is a badly damaged four-gods stone with depictions of the Roman gods Mercury, Juno, Hercules, and Minerva,’ explained Dr Astrid Fendt, Head of the Department of Archaeology and Head of Classical and Provincial Roman Archaeology at the Württemberg State Museum in Stuttgart.

And Andreas Thiel added: ‘This very four-god stone comes from a well (which was located on the edge of the currently excavated area) and was found during the excavations in 1908. The inconspicuous giant could also have been lying there, but probably escaped the attention of our colleagues at the time, which is not surprising if you imagine the stone still dirty.’

Overall, it is a great stroke of luck that the recently discovered giant can be linked to a fragment that has long been stored in the Württemberg State Museum’s depot.

This allows for the reconstruction of a Jupiter giant column, which was once erected near an important road junction in the Roman settlement of Bad Cannstatt. Archaeologists see this as another piece in the puzzle of Stuttgart’s rich Roman past.