The Golden Hat (Berliner Goldhut) in room 305 is one of the highlights of the Neues Museum and the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin collections.
This 74-cm-high ceremonial hat (29″) from southern Germany was hammered without a seam from a single piece of gold leaf during the late Bronze Age (1000 – 800 BC). At least 20 further instruments were used to apply the decorations.
The Golden Hat is not only pretty to look at but had a practical use as a very advanced calendar.
It is displayed in its own room with detailed explanations of how the celestial symbols on 21 horizontal bands may be used to determine the calendar through either the 365-day sun year or the 12 lunar cycles of 354 days. The calculations allowed for leap years, too.
Spend the 10 – 15 minutes required to study the workings to elevate this Stone Age curiosity to a magnificent cultural and scientific object of human achievement.