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When was the disc made and buried?

Asked 26 Oct 2026 by ·4 answers·0·0 following
Most likely: the disc was made in the Early Bronze Age, perhaps 1800 to 1700 BC, used and altered for generations, and…Ahead on the evidence, not yet confirmed. It needs two reviews to be accepted.

Where it stands

Four answers have been proposed. The disc was made in the Early Bronze Age, perhaps 1800 to 1700 BC, used and altered for generations, and… leads, with evidence 5 for, 1 against: supported by its tests. Three are still possible. Of the two narrower questions under it, two are answered.

Why it matters

The disc cannot be dated directly; its Early Bronze Age date rests on its association with the hoard and the Mittelberg findspot⁠[1]. If that association fails, the disc is a single find dated only by style, and Gebhard and Krause place it in the Iron Age⁠[2].

Answers 4

Evidence: 5 for, 1 against
Most likely
None of these.
Not tested enough to call either way
Evidence: none yet
Still possible
The disc is a modern forgery.
Failed a test; not refuted outright
Evidence: 1 against
Disputed
Evidence: 1 for, 2 against
Disputed

History

  1. Pernicka et al. puts forward: the disc was made in the Early Bronze Age, perhaps 1800 to 1700 BC, used and altered for generations, and…
  2. Gebhard & Krause puts forward: the disc is not part of the hoard and dates to the Iron Age, in the first millennium BC.
  3. Pernicka et al. puts forward: the disc is a modern forgery.
  4. Gebhard & Krause: the looters gave divergent accounts of the find position, and the disc lay near the surface.Against: The disc was made in the Early Bronze Age, perhaps 1800 to 1700 BC, used and altered for generations, and…
  5. Pernicka et al.: the Regional Court of Halle found, with a probability close to certainty, that the disc was found with the…For: The disc was made in the Early Bronze Age, perhaps 1800 to 1700 BC, used and altered for generations, and…
  6. Pernicka et al.: the disc's uneven corrosion is explained by upright burial; its lead isotope variability by the variable…Against: The disc is not part of the hoard and dates to the Iron Age, in the first millennium BC.
  7. Gebhard & Krause: differences in corrosion and in the soil on three objects, and differences in chemical and lead isotope…For: The disc is not part of the hoard and dates to the Iron Age, in the first millennium BC.
  8. Pernicka et al.: metal type, patina, technology and the isotope and lead-210 analyses establish the disc as ancient; the 2020…Against: The disc is a modern forgery.
  9. Asked on this site
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