The Oldest Depiction Of The Universe Was Almost Lost To The Black Market

The design on this disc might look like a six-year-old's scribbles, but in reality, it's one of the most sophisticated and influential artifacts of the Bronze Age. And it might never have been discovered if not for a couple of illegal treasure hunters who dug it up and sold it on the black market.
Called the Nebra sky disc, named for the town in Germany where it was found in 1999, the artifact has been dated back to 1600 BC. It's thought to have been forged during the European Bronze Age, a period between 3200 and 600 BC.