The Mittelberg hill near Nebra, aerial photograph. © LDA, photo: J. Lipták.

The excavation area on the Mittelberg hill near Nebra, aerial photograph. © LDA, photo: J. Lipták.

The Mittelberg hill near Nebra, aerial photograph. © LDA, photo: J. Lipták.

The excavated areas of the Mittelberg hill (2002–2005) are darkly shaded. © LDA, mapping: N. Seeländer.

Plan and section of the features in the area of the looter’s hole (see illustration below for explanations). © LDA, mapping: T. Blankenburg

Terrain model of the Mittelberg hill with a marker on the findspot of the Sky Disc. The Mittelberg is littered with burial mounds of the 3rd millennium BC, many of which are aligned to the slope edges towards the Unstrut River (red). © LDA, illustration: Kocmoc.

Archaeological documentation of the looter´s pit feature Befund 4/02 on the Mittelberg hill near Nebra 2002. a) Planum in a photo (left) and drawing (right). b) East-West section (left) and North-South section (right) in photo and drawing. The pit-like feature consists of three layers (4a – c). The core (4a) consisted of fresh leaves, wood, and humus remains. The surrounding pit filling (4b) contained less recent organic components. In contrast to the adjacent material of the humification horizon, the area around the pit (4c) had a brown colour. Below the pit, high copper and gold concentrations could be measured in the undisturbed, banded clay erosion layer (4d). The stone packing east of the pit could be identified as a natural geological phenomenon. © LDA, photos: T. Koiki, mapping: T. Blankenburg.