  The extragalactic background light (EBL) is of fundamental importance both
for understanding the entire process of galaxy evolution and for gamma-ray
astronomy. However, the overall spectrum of the EBL between 0.1 and 1000
microns has never been determined directly neither from observed luminosity
functions (LFs), over a wide redshift range, nor from any multiwavelength
observation of galaxy spectral energy distributions (SEDs). The evolving,
overall spectrum of the EBL is derived here utilizing a novel method based on
observations only. It is emphasized that the local EBL seems already well
constrained from the UV up to the mid-IR. Since different independent
methodologies such as direct measurement, galaxy counts, gamma-ray attenuation
and realistic EBL modelings point towards the same EBL intensity level. A
relevant contribution from Pop III stars to the local EBL seems unlikely.
