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[Diego]

Bronze Age 'star chart' found
from Ananova

German archaeologists claim to have found a Bronze Age star chart.

The bowl is thought to be around 3,600 years old and depicts the sun, the moon, a star formation and a ship.
If genuine it suggests astronomy may have been practised hundreds of years earlier than thought.

The bronze bowl is 16 inches in diameter and weighs almost 4.5 pounds but is now in the hands of a private collector. It was found, together with a bronze sword and bracelets, by two men in Sangerhausen, Sachsen-Anhalt, according to Germany's Express newspaper.

Harald Meller, a local government archaeologist, said: "It shows a journey through the skies. A depiction, that was well known in ancient Egypt, but not thought to be so in central Europe."

The finders, who are alleged to have sold the treasure for around £9,000, have been arrested in connection with fencing charges. Since then it has been sold on again - this time to a private collector for £215,000.

German laws on the ownership of this kind of discovery are unclear and negotiations are now under way between the collector and office for archaeology in Sachsen-Anhalt. Meller, who is said to be furious that the bowl was sold, said: "If the slab is genuine, it could well be the most important find in European cultural history."