Goseck

Goseck is a municipality lying on the Saale River, in the Burgenlandkreis district of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt.

Geography

Geographic location

Goseck is located on the north bank of the Saale River about halfway between Naumburg and Weißenfels.

The municipality consists of the settlements Goseck and Markröhlitz.

History

Early period

The first evidence of human settlement is from the Neolithic period, the Goseck circle, dating to approximately the 5th millennium BC, discovered by aerial photographs from the 1990s and, since 2003, regarded as the oldest observatory in Europe. It consists of a circular Henge-construction with a diameter of 75 m. It marks the beginning of a millennia-old astronomical tradition known also from the Nebra skydisk, discovered in 1999, only 25 km distant therefrom. By means of a visor mechanism, the operators were able to, e.g., accurately determine the times of the summer and winter solstice. The reconstructed observatory was opened on the winter solstice, 21 December 2005, with great pageantry, including a spectacular fireworks display.