We rented a car in order to get into the countryside north of Naumburg and visit some remote prehistoric sites. The first was Goseck and the second was Nebra. The significance of these sites goes back to prehistoric times, and both are associated with ancient astronomers.
At Goseck, a 6900-year-old astronomical site was uncovered, similar to Stonehenge (some call it Goseck Henge), but much older and made of wood instead of stone. (Stonehenge was built from 3000 BC to 2000 BC, and Goseck Henge in 4900 BC). Goseck Henge is the oldest solar calendar in the world, and much older than the oldest of the Egyptian pyramids, which was built from 2630–2610 BC.
Like Stonehenge, Goseck Henge consisted of a circular earth bank and ditch surrounding a palisade. The palisade at Goseck Henge is a double row of wooden posts. (Because trees can be dated precisely, the age of Goseck Henge is known very accurately). The palisade was reconstructed using oak posts and ancient methods after an archaeological dig in 2002-2004 uncovered the whole site.
We walked into the middle of the reconstructed henge. The ditch is 220 feet in diameter, and it has causeways and openings in the palisade at locations to mark important astronomical events. The largest causeways in the southeast and southwest mark the winter solstice sunrise and sunset. Another, smaller, pair of gaps in the northeast and northwest of the palisade mark the summer solstice. A small gap in the palisade south of the spring solstice is said to indicate the time to celebrate the spring feast of Beltane, around May 1. There is yet another opening and causeway on the northern side, but its significance is not known.
Goseck Henge was built by people of the culture that is now known as the “Stroke-Ornamented Ware Culture”, after the way they decorated their pottery. The builders left behind buried skeletons, human and animal bones, ox skulls and ritual fires around the site. These remains suggest that burial rituals or human sacrifice was part of the culture.
Only 15 miles away near the town of Nebra, the oldest depiction of the cosmos ever found was unearthed on the top of Mittelberg hill in the Ziegelroda Forest. It is called the Sky Disk of Nebra, and it is a bronze disk measuring 32 centimeters (about a foot) in diameter. It dates from 1600 BC, so it is 3000 years younger than Goseck Henge, and slightly younger than the last of the great pyramids in Egypt. It depicts a crescent moon, a circle that was probably a full moon, and a cluster of seven stars that probably represents the Pleiades constellation as it appeared 3,600 years ago.
There is a very good museum close to the site where the Sky Disk of Nebra was found. The museum has a planetarium, and admission to the museum includes a planetarium show. The show is really great; it shows how the Sky Disk could be used for various calculations in the days before printed calendars. For example, the gold arc on the right edge and the outline of another (the gold is missing but the impression remains) on the left edge are geographically and astronomically significant. If the Sky Disk is laid on a picture of the Goseck Henge, the right-hand arc matches the angle between openings in the palisade for the sunrises on the winter and summer solstices. The left-hand arc matches the angle between opening for the sunsets. How else could people recognize the exact solstice day? We can imagine the years of precise observation required to determine that at some point every year, the sun stopped rising, or setting, at the extreme southern end of its range and began to rise further and further north.
At Goseck, a 6900-year-old astronomical site was uncovered, similar to Stonehenge (some call it Goseck Henge), but much older and made of wood instead of stone. (Stonehenge was built from 3000 BC to 2000 BC, and Goseck Henge in 4900 BC). Goseck Henge is the oldest solar calendar in the world, and much older than the oldest of the Egyptian pyramids, which was built from 2630–2610 BC.
Like Stonehenge, Goseck Henge consisted of a circular earth bank and ditch surrounding a palisade. The palisade at Goseck Henge is a double row of wooden posts. (Because trees can be dated precisely, the age of Goseck Henge is known very accurately). The palisade was reconstructed using oak posts and ancient methods after an archaeological dig in 2002-2004 uncovered the whole site.
We walked into the middle of the reconstructed henge. The ditch is 220 feet in diameter, and it has causeways and openings in the palisade at locations to mark important astronomical events. The largest causeways in the southeast and southwest mark the winter solstice sunrise and sunset. Another, smaller, pair of gaps in the northeast and northwest of the palisade mark the summer solstice. A small gap in the palisade south of the spring solstice is said to indicate the time to celebrate the spring feast of Beltane, around May 1. There is yet another opening and causeway on the northern side, but its significance is not known. 
Only 15 miles away near the town of Nebra, the oldest depiction of the cosmos ever found was unearthed on the top of Mittelberg hill in the Ziegelroda Forest. It is called the Sky Disk of Nebra, and it is a bronze disk measuring 32 centimeters (about a foot) in diameter. It dates from 1600 BC, so it is 3000 years younger than Goseck Henge, and slightly younger than the last of the great pyramids in Egypt. It depicts a crescent moon, a circle that was probably a full moon, and a cluster of seven stars that probably represents the Pleiades constellation as it appeared 3,600 years ago. 
There is a very good museum close to the site where the Sky Disk of Nebra was found. The museum has a planetarium, and admission to the museum includes a planetarium show. The show is really great; it shows how the Sky Disk could be used for various calculations in the days before printed calendars. For example, the gold arc on the right edge and the outline of another (the gold is missing but the impression remains) on the left edge are geographically and astronomically significant. If the Sky Disk is laid on a picture of the Goseck Henge, the right-hand arc matches the angle between openings in the palisade for the sunrises on the winter and summer solstices. The left-hand arc matches the angle between opening for the sunsets. How else could people recognize the exact solstice day? We can imagine the years of precise observation required to determine that at some point every year, the sun stopped rising, or setting, at the extreme southern end of its range and began to rise further and further north.
The constellation of the Pleiades, depicted as a cluster of seven stars, is most important in its relation to the moon. On or near the vernal equinox (first day of spring), the Pleiades rises at sunset, and the moon is full; this indicates that it is time to plant crops. This relationship between the constellation and the full moon is shown on the left side of the Sky Disk. Near the autumnal equinox (first day of fall), the Pleiades sets just after sunset, so the moon is a crescent; when this occurs, it's time to harvest crops. This relationship between the constellation and the new moon is shown on the right side of the Sky Disk. So information on both the solstices and both the equinoxes is found in the Sky Disk.
But there's more. Once every four years on the autumnal equinox, the new moon is very new, and the crescent is very thin. The next year on the autumnal equinox, the crescent is slightly thicker. When the thickness of the crescent gets to the thickness shown in the Sky Disk, it is time to add a 13th lunar month to the year. (a lunar month is 29.531 days, so 12 lunar months is only 354 days) After that, the crescent is again very thin the next year.
And we're not done yet. There are 32 stars on the disc. When the Moon is added, there are 33 objects in total. Intriguingly, 33 Lunar years are equivalent to 32 Solar years. According to archaeologist Harald Meller,
It's no wonder that some people thought the Sky Disk must be a forgery. It is way ahead of its time.
One final observation: there is some art work along the bottom edge of the Sky Disk. This could be “the sun boat”, with numerous oars, carrying the sun across the sky. This symbol was added later, long after the disk was originally made.
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