The real story of its finding unfolded in the late 1990s on the forested crest of the Mittelberg in Saxony-Anhalt, where the object lay concealed for thousands of years as part of a cache of bronze items.
A new television drama rekindles attention to one of Europe’s most famous prehistoric finds. The ARD film “Das dunkle Vermächtnis” presents a fictional murder case account of the Nebra sky disk’s discovery. In the plot, one of the artifact’s finders, Arko Haumann, is killed just before he is due to speak at an anniversary celebration of the find in Nebra. His former companion, Paul Wenrich, concedes he threatened Haumann because Haumann intended to “set everything straight” but denies the murder, according to Münchner Merkur.
The Nebra sky disk is widely regarded as the world’s oldest concrete representation of astronomical phenomena. It emerged from the ground along with other Bronze Age objects after remaining buried for millennia on the Mittelberg, a hill that has become synonymous with the find.
A forested crest
The real story of its finding unfolded in the late 1990s on the forested crest of the Mittelberg in Saxony-Anhalt, where the object lay concealed for thousands of years as part of a cache of bronze items. In 1999, two metal detectorists located the treasure and kept it, even though discoveries of this kind are state property.
From there, the hoard passed between intermediaries and dealers until authorities secured it through complex undercover investigations. In 2003, robbers and fences received suspended sentences in connection with the case, according to Schwäbische Post.
Today, the disk resides in the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle, where it is preserved and displayed.