Antikythera mechanism expedition begins search for missing fragments of world’s oldest known compu

HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO POST A LINK FOR THE SITE.

KINDLY ANTIPATHY17 HAS POSTED A LINK IN POST BELOW.

THANKS ANTIPATHY



It was more than a century ago when local sponge diver spotted an eerie hand sticking out from the silt while working the barren crags off Point Glyphadia on the Aegean island of Antikythera.

The intrepid divers could only go as deep as 75m for a few minutes. Nevertheless, they managed to recover a wealth of ancient art.

But it would be one shapeless, nondescript lump of bronze which would turn out to be one of the most extraordinary discoveries in history.

I'm completely in love with this story and have followed it avidly since joining ATS. I'm excited by the news they are heading to look for more! There has been so much discussion on this on ATS and to be honest, I thought it was fake, but this news is fantastic for the believers amongst us!

Can't wait for more info. I hope they find the rest of it. WOW

a reply to: CaptainBeno

Hey boss, your link isn't working.

a reply to: Antipathy17

any better now? Having dramas sorry

a reply to: CaptainBeno

I've tried it again but with no luck.

Bloody hell,

Try www.news.com.au

The story is there, if you can post the lionk your end it would really help!!!!! Thanks in advance

a reply to: CaptainBeno

Page Link

Okay, I have a working link Just click above.

a reply to: Antipathy17

Thanks you! Very kind of you. Interesting read BTW!

This is an amazing machine, and if more pieces exist.....just that much more amazing.

If there was one of these machines, and it survived the waters and time, I wonder how many working examples of it were made and existed at the time. Dozens? Hundreds? Can anyone give an educated guess...

a reply to: Aleister

I know, truely amazing. To think someone had the tech to build something like this all that time ago....I'm so intrigued. Can't wait for more info. It kinda changes everyting we know.

Awesomeness!! Thanks, OP, for bringing this expedition to us. I am very interested to see what they find. The article says they think they only have surface artifacts so far, and perhaps only half of the Antikythera mechanism.

“They reckon they’ve got half of it,” Dr Hunter says. “That would seem to suggest that the other half has to be down there somewhere ... either that or the cargo may have been scrap!”

Let's hope it was not scrap!

a reply to: CaptainBeno

No problem. I absolutely love this topic myself. It could just be an early machine... but it could be a mechanical calculator... AND it can be more complex than we imagined... or re-write history.

a reply to: Antipathy17

I know! Seriously, who the hell could build something like this?? This expedition only serves to confirm it's the real deal. I'm amazed at its complexity. There is nothing like it. A serious big deal in my world.

originally posted by: CaptainBeno
a reply to: Aleister

I know, truely amazing. To think someone had the tech to build something like this all that time ago....I'm so intrigued. Can't wait for more info. It kinda changes everyting we know.

I don't think there were any advanced technologies in play, just advanced intelligence.

Ancient man was a lot smarter than we give him credit for.

originally posted by: Antipathy17
a reply to: CaptainBeno

No problem. I absolutely love this topic myself. It could just be an early machine... but it could be a mechanical calculator... AND it can be more complex than we imagined... or re-write history.

It's already that complex. It was a mechanical model of the solar system including the Moon, Sun and the five known planets. It calculated when eclipses would occur. That is the upper limit on mathematical calculations of the solar system.

This mechanism would have been the closest someone from that time would have been able to achieve. Instead of programming languages, they could only use gears made from silver and gold. But the Greeks knew how to use gears and make clockwork mechanisms as well as basic equations on the position of the Sun and Moon.

But why was it being transported? Was it a gift or stolen treasure? Merchants wouldn't travel unless the weather was good. How was it found in silt? A map of greece shows that it was in one of the most remotest islands of Greece.

goo.gl...

Lots of other artifacts were found at that time, so could it have been possible that the device was actually in the courtyard of a temple, but was lost when the shifting sea levels reclaimed land? Over 2000 years ago, sea levels would have been much lower than now.

I love this story too.the only thing that would make it cooler would be to find an apple or Microsoft label on it.mind

a reply to: stormcell

It calculated when eclipses would occur. That is the upper limit on mathematical calculations of the solar system.

Calculating when is not too hard, there's a cycle. Calculating where is another thing. The mechanism would not show where the eclipse would be visible, just the date there would be an eclipse somewhere on Earth.

The ancient Greeks built a machine that can predict, for many years ahead, not only eclipses but also a remarkable array of their characteristics, such as directions of obscuration, magnitude, colour, angular diameter of the Moon, relationship with the Moon’s node and eclipse time. It was not entirely accurate, but it was an astonishing achievement for its era.

www.plosone.org...


It was actually the Babylonians who discovered the "Saros Cycle".Very, very smart people and very good observers.
members.bitstream.net...


Here's the Lego version:
acarol.woz.org...

Over 2000 years ago, sea levels would have been much lower than now.

Not 75 meters lower.

a reply to: Phage

G'day Phage,

Thanks for that addition.

Cheers.

a reply to: Phage

Could they have use it to predict ocean tides too do you think? Just curious that's all.

a reply to: weirdguy
Depends on what you mean. Predicting the time of high and low tides is pretty trivial, each occurs about 50 minutes later each day. Seafarers had to have recognized this a very long time ago.

Predicting the height of the tide is more problematic but I suppose it's possible the mechanism could have done so. But as far as I know, the markings make it pretty clear what its purpose was.

a reply to: stormcell

Howdy

Found in a ship with Greek statuary and they can read the language in which the instructions were made and that is a dialect of Greek.

So at least one of Archimedes' machines, probably (considering Gallus' interests and the fact that that portion of the De Republica seems to be concerned with astronomical prodigia and in particular eclipses) quite similar to the Antikythera mechanism, was still operated around 150 BC. Pappus of Alexandria stated that Archimedes had written a now lost manuscript on the construction of these devices entitled On Sphere-Making. The surviving texts from the Library of Alexandria describe many of his creations, some even containing simple blueprints. One such device is his odometer, the exact model later used by the Romans to place their mile markers (described by Vitruvius, Heron of Alexandria and in the time of Emperor Commodus). The blueprints in the text appeared functional, but attempts to build them as pictured had failed. When the gears pictured, which had square teeth, were replaced with gears of the type in the Antikythera mechanism, which were angled, the device was perfectly functional. Whether this is an example of a device created by Archimedes and described by texts lost in the burning of the Library of Alexandria, or if it is a device based on his discoveries, or if it has anything to do with him at all, is debatable.

If Cicero's account is correct, then this technology existed as early as the 3rd century BC. Archimedes' device is also mentioned by later Roman era writers such as Lactantius (Divinarum Institutionum Libri VII), Claudian (In sphaeram Archimedes), and Proclus (Commentary on the first book of Euclid's Elements of Geometry) in the 4th and 5th centuries. Cicero also says that another such device was built 'recently' by his friend Posidonius, "... each one of the revolutions of which brings about the same movement in the Sun and Moon and five wandering stars [planets] as is brought about each day and night in the heavens..."

It is unlikely that any one of these machines was the Antikythera mechanism found in the shipwreck, because both the devices fabricated by Archimedes and mentioned by Cicero were located in Rome at least 30 years later than the estimated date of the shipwreck, and the third one was almost certainly in the hands of Posidonius by that date. So we know of at least four such devices. The modern scientists who have reconstructed the Antikythera mechanism also agree that it was too sophisticated to have been a unique device.

Link