Golden Ceremonial Hat ("Berlin Gold Hat") (Late Bronze Age, 1000–800 BCE) by Artist unknownNeues Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Throughout human history people have always sought to understand the celestial world above them. Some of the earliest recorded efforts are more accurate than you might think. This is particularly true of the Berlin Gold Hat.
Golden Ceremonial Hat - top ("Berlin Gold Hat") (Late Bronze Age, 1000–800 BCE) by UnknownNeues Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
This impressive piece of Bronze Age ceremonial wear has a number of major heavenly bodies stamped into its thin gold plate. But what do these patterns mean and who would have worn this hat? Let's take a closer look at its secrets in 3D.
Golden Ceremonial Hat ("Berlin Gold Hat") (Late Bronze Age, 1000–800 BCE) by Artist unknownNeues Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Both the sun and the moon appear regularly in what appear to be cycles around the design of the hat.
The patterns of the sun and moon appear to mark out cycles of days and nights, seasons, and even months and weeks.
There are 19 lunar years depicted on the hat, featuring a total of 228 solar and 235 lunar months.
A contemporary scholar of astronomy would have been able to read these patterns and use the hat to predict astronomical events such as eclipses - almost 500 years before the Ancient Greeks formalized this kind of knowledge.
It is entirely possible this hat belonged to a ruler or ancient sage who would have worn it on ceremonial occasions or when making proclamations about the future. It is thought to date to between 1000 and 800 BCE.
Axes from the Bronze Age (-1600/-1500) by UnknownRijksmuseum van Oudheden
Fascinated by the Bronze Age?
You can find out more about its impact on human civilisation here.
