Kaulinsium

The Nebra Sky Disk – Confusion in the Ranks of Modern Astronomers Wednesday : 01 March

We have been deciphering astronomical artefacts for thirty years, and as we discovered some time ago (see The Nebra Sky Disk Decipherment) the key to decipherment of the Nebra Sky Disk (found in Germany in 1999) is determined by the fact that the Sun on that disk is NOT in the solar boat depicted on that same disk.

According to the clear and incontrovertible evidence of the Latvian Dainas, which represent the ancient status of Indo-European astronomical knowledge in northern Europe, the Sun is in the solar boat by night only, and not by day. Hence, the Nebra Sky Disk can only represent the day sky and thus the disk can only be the representation of a solar eclipse, since the Sun, Moon and Stars are all visible at the same time, which occurs only during such an eclipse.

The correct decipherment of the Nebra Sky Disk is as follows:

In spite of the clear depiction of the Sun, Moon and Stars on the Nebra Sky Disk, all kinds of fantastic theories have been presented about it by people with little or no experience in dealing with ancient astronomical artefacts. Surprisingly, some of the most preposterous theories derive from mainstream astronomers, who have decided to “dabble” in ancient decipherment, even though their learning is confined generally to modern astronomy, which is a horse of a different color.

One such newer and quite erroneous interpretation of the Nebra Sky Disk is now being propagated by the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle/Saale Germany (see http://archlsa.de/aktuelles/presse-daten/1LDA%20Halle.pdf) and has even been released to the press, allegedly as “the decipherment” of the Nebra Sky Disk.

Nothing could be further from the truth than this inept decipherment attempt.

The alleged decipherment begins by counting the number of objects on the disk and claiming that this is significant for calendration, which is sheer and utter nonsense. There is no precedent for this kind of confused calculation anywhere in ancient astronomical artefacts. The disk has a number of stars on it as well as a cluster of seven stars depicting the Pleiades. These stars are now all “lumped” together to give a number which allegedly has to do with lunar intercalations, even though there is no precedent anywhere for counting individual stars as a method to count Moons. Moreover, the entire Nebra Sky Disk, rather than the clearly placed solar symbol on the disk, is now suggested to represent the Sun (even though it clearly also shows the Moon and Stars) and at some point this “Sun” must now also be counted as “1” for purposes of the alleged calendric calculations. This alleged decipherment can not be taken seriously.

Worse, an abstruse and contrived connection is drawn to lunar intercalation in ancient Babylonia a thousand years later, giving the impression that the ancient Germans calculated by the Moon, for which there is no evidence anywhere, as Nordic cultures were all worshippers of the Sun. Moreover, the alleged importance of the position of the Moon with respect to the Pleiades is found nowhere else in Germanic and Nordic artefacts. It is here a simple invention to support this faulty theory.

This alleged decipherment of the Nebra Sky Disk pretends that the ancients went to all of this trouble to make a unique and incomparable disk with the precious metal gold on it so that it could be held up in the air by “elite priests” (what else?) to see if the Moon was newly waxing at a certain location in the sky, something which any child could do at any time without such a disk. If this practice had actually been followed regularly by the ancients, as alleged, then we would have to find many artefacts of this nature in northern Europe showing both the development of this practice in the eras prior to the making of the Nebra Sky Disk and also the further use of this practice in the eras after the making of the Nebra Sky Disk. In fact, we find nothing. This alleged decipherment is a fata morgana in the eyes of a few modern German astronomers who want us to believe that the ancient Germans used intercalary months like the later Babylonians. Rubbish.

Besides, no one would make a gold disk like this for such an alleged calendric intercalary purpose. In addition, the width of the Moon on the disk is far wider than it should be for the alleged purpose. Rather, this is a quite typical drawing of a crescent Moon and similar to the size that any of us would draw if asked to draw the Moon. Another problem with this alleged decipherment is that it does not account for the presence of the Sun, nor for the solar boat. Decipherments must account for ALL of the evidence, not just for some of it. The calendration theory is prima facie wrong already because of the presence of the Sun on the Nebra Sky Disk. A lunar intercalation would not require this depiction.

As a matter of simple logic, and the simplest explanation is most likely to be the correct one for mankind and astronomy in the Neolithic era, it is quite clear that the unique and singular Nebra Sky Disk was specially made to commemorate an equally unique and special event, i.e. a solar eclipse at the Pleiades at the Vernal Equinox point in 1699 BC, a date which approximates the date of the making of the Nebra Sky Disk.

The Nebra Sky Disk was not made as an impossibly star-counting calendar in an era and for a region where there is no other evidence at all for the existence of the kind of intercalary lunar calendration which is alleged, nor for the use of the Pleiades for this kind of intercalary purpose.

This is a case which shows why much of ancient history is in a shambles, because many scholars in the humanities do not know how and have never been taught how to deal with evidence properly. It is all just guesswork and speculation.