The Nebra Sky Disc

When I was writing my first novel, I needed a fake priceless artreal to use as a model.  After all, fiction must be believable, right?

ifact for my manuscript. Immediately, I donned on my research hat and searched for something

Naturally, I didn’t want to use a painting even though I’ve always been fascinated with the Mona Lisa.  Been done. And re-done. And… well, you get the picture—get it (painting, picture).  I know, too corny for art.

Anyway, I also considered Tut stuff, but Egyptian mysteries are tut commonplace.  For a brief moment, Hummel figurines stood atop my list, but hand painted figurines of children based on the art of a nun didn’t really inspire a grisly murder.

Then I came across the Nebra Sky Disc, a bronze artifact dated to 1600 BC. Since I’ve always had a fan-girl obsession with Stonehenge, this was the priceless artifact for me. This little disc, appeared from nowhere onto the international antiquities market in 2001.  Like most stone age artifacts, the disc pays homage to ancient mankind’s fascination with the seasons and depicts the autumn equinox.

Nebra Visitor's Center

At that time of my initial research, there was some question about the Nebra’s authenticity. The disc was discovered by two amateur treasure hunters illegally using a metal detector in a German forest. Talk about shady.  Duh, I did it again (forest, shady). Apologies.  Anyway, I was prepared for real or fake. After all, I was writing fiction.

Fortunately, scientific analysis proved the Nebra was the real deal, or the real disc. The piece is not quite twelve-inches wide, but its value cannot be measured. A priceless bit of history like that can totally disrupt the digestive system of your novel’s main character.  More important though, the Nebra Sky Disc is another example of advanced abilities of the people of Europe’s Bronze Age.

In my fictional novel, Artifact of death, a mysterious lawyer persuades Private Investigator, Cole Deacon, to search for a missing professor. Cole discovers the professor is not only dead, but rumored to have stolen a companion artifact of the Nebra Sky Disc that portrays the summer solstice.  Cole’s investigation leads him to Monique VanSotten, a museum curator and world-renown expert in Bronze Age artifacts with ties to the dead professor.  Unfortunately, the original owner of the priceless disc, a shadowy figure from the East German underworld, is also aware of Monique’s existence and wants his treasure returned.  Cavalier Cole tries to protect Monique while hunting for the disc and the professor’s killer, but fears for both his heart and his life as he falls for a woman who may have committed murder.