Horizon
Season 41 Episode 4 - Secrets of the Star Disc
This is the extraordinary story of how a small metal disc is rewriting the epic saga of how civilisation first came to Europe, 3600 years ago. When grave robbers ransacked a Bronze Age tomb in Germany, they had no idea that they had unearthed the find of a lifetime. But they knew that it was worth selling. It was a small bronze disc of exquisite design. So they contacted the archaeologist Harald Meller, offering to sell it to him for €300,000. Meller went deep into the criminal underworld and, after a police sting, he got his disc. It depicted the sun, the moon and the stars. This suggested an understanding of the heavens greater than that of the first great civilisations, like Egypt. Could it possibly be real? After exhaustive tests, the disc was declared genuine. Then a team of crack scientists pieced together what it meant. What emerged is a true marvel. This disc, it seems, is a Bronze Age Bible, combining an advanced understanding of the stars with some of the most sophisticated religious imagery of the age. In intellectual achievement and also age, it surpasses anything yet found in Egypt or Greece. It seems that civilisation had already dawned in Europe.
Episodes in Season 41
The Demonic Ape
60 min
The Moscow Theatre Siege
60 min
The Atkins Diet
60 min
Secrets of the Star Disc
60 min
The Dark Secret of Hendrik Schön
60 min
Thalidomide - A Second Chance?
60 min
Diamond Labs
60 min
T-Rex - Warrior or Wimp?
60 min
Project Poltergeist
60 min
The Truth of Troy
60 min
The Truth About Vitamins
60 min
King Solomon's Tablet of Stone
60 min
Derek Tastes of Earwax
60 min
What Really Killed the Dinosaurs?
60 min
Making Millions the Easy Way
60 min
Saturn - Lord of the Rings
60 min
The Hunt for the Supertwister
60 min
Dr Money and the Boy with No Penis
60 min
