Posted on 08/23/2010 4:41:32 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
A catastrophic volcanic eruption spewing huge clouds of ash about 3,600 years ago was behind the burial of the Nebra sky disk, one of the most spectacular archaeological finds in recent years, according to scientists at Mainz and Halle-Wittenberg universities in Germany.
The 3,600-year-old disk, discovered in 1999 near the town of Nebra in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, is the oldest known representation of the night sky. It is thought by some to have been used as an astronomical clock to determine when to add a thirteenth month synchronising the lunar calendar with the solar year.
The disk would be held against the sky, and when the position of the celestial objects matched those on the disk, the intercalary month would be added. Scientists said the disk became worthless after the eruption on the Mediterranean island of Thera -- north of Crete and also known as Santorini -- which ejected ash that obscured the sky all the way to Central Europe for 20 to 25 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at monstersandcritics.com ...
That idea is not supported in the text of Genesis.
There is considerable temporal information in the chapter that is in full agreement with the 40 days.
Perhaps the 40 days became accepted as a general idiom for a long period because of that text?
Seems logical to me.
I was also interested in the mention of the 40 days system of calendar keeping. Maybe the reason they no longer used the disc was a different, or updated, system came into use and the ash cloud theory is only a theory.
Zero. :’)
It won’t be useful for another couple of centuries yet. :’)
Was Thera coincident with the Exodus?
(Or am I just being dense and missing a joke...)
Anyone know which stars are pictured on the disc?
roughly...but I wasn’t there so can’t be certain...
IMO, yes.
SunkenCiv and I quit arguing (without resolution) about this a couple years ago.
It was the object of veneration of a cargo cult that would worship it by watching it spin on a disk while in a drug induced trance. Often accompanied by sexual abandon.
All I've heard is the big objects look like the Sun and Moon or full Moon and Moon. The cluster might be the Pleiades. What the swish is is a good question. The Milky Way or a Solar or Lunar arc?
I guess Pleides too. Sirius should be there somewhere.
Maybe the swish is the Orian belt. I will look into this more.
Another link mentioned this was found within a circular wall that was used for astronomical observations. The semicircular region on the edge might be a paticular part of the wall, maybe toward the east.
The cluster of 7 stars could be the 7 sisters of the Pleidies.
To the left and upward of these looks like the W of Cassiopiea.
On the left edge you see a double star. This maybe the double star of the big dipper handle that is visible with acute naked eyes.
I don’t have guesses for the rest.
Well, like Freud said, sometimes a star is just a star, or something like that. :-))
Wait, I thought you conceded defeat. ;’)
New Ice-Core Evidence Challenges the 1620s age for the Santorini (Minoan) Eruption
Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 25, Issue 3, March 1998, pp 279-289
13 July 1997 | Gregory A. Zielinski, Mark S. Germani
Posted on 07/29/2004 12:25:45 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1180724/posts
The island is indeed called Santorini — there is no town by that name on the island.
Nah. Waiting for more data.
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