The oldest known depiction of the night sky was recovered in a police sting in Basel.

1600 BC · 2002 · apart: 3602 years

Looters with a metal detector dug up the 3,600-year-old Nebra sky disc in 1999 and sold it; in 2002 it was seized from black-market dealers.

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The event

• The Nebra sky discc. 1600 BC · Nebra, Germany. This bronze disc with a gold sun or moon, crescent and stars, probably including the Pleiades, is the oldest known concrete depiction of the heavens. Treasure hunters with a metal detector dug it up and sold it in 1999; in 2002 a police sting in Basel recovered it.

16th century BC · 21st century

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