5,500-Year-Old Sumerian Star Map Recorded the Impact of a Massive Asteroid
31st January 2026
The circular stone-cast tablet was discovered in the late 1800s from the 650 BC King Ashurbanipal ‘s underground library in Nineveh, Iraq.
Data processing, which was long believed to be an Assyrian tablet, mirrored the sky over Mesopotamia in 3300 BC and proved to be much more ancient Sumerian origin.
The tablet is the first astronomical instrument, the “Astrolabe.” It consists of a segmented, disk-shaped star chart with marked units of angle measure inscribed upon the rim.
Unfortunately considerable parts of the planisphere on this tablet are missing (approximately 40%), damage which dates to the sacking of Nineveh. The reverse of the tablet is not inscribed.