Amazing, X-Ray probe of Antikythera Mechanism (Video)

I just watched this on BBC iplayer. Great programme and interesting.

www.bbc.co.uk...

reply to post by EnigmaAgent


And that's the documentary we were all waiting on!

Cheers for posting EnigmaAgent

Nice find, even if the information is somewhat dated. Thanks for posting.

I have always wondered at our interpretation of the use of this device in ancient Greece. I mean, think about it. We are told that they used it to predict the dates of the Olympic games??!! That would be like us, today, making a breakthrough discovery (like quantum computing for example) and then using it only to determine next years NFL schedule. Just seems like a rediculous waste of a technology which should have given the Greeks a precision timepiece for use in navigation etc.

well this is not the only Greek item of mystery there is also Greek Fire. The thing that I wonder about is could this have been used for navigation somehow. If you know where the celestial bodies will be from your "home" port could you triangulate where you are from other parts of of earth?

the other question I have is how valuable was it to the Greeks, was it a "one of", could this have been a Alpha or Beta prototype thing, that was going to be copied but was lost? Seems to me that if I lost something like this I would expound great effort to get it back. Has anyone looked at the historical records of the time to see if this was something the Greeks wanted to hide from the Romans (et al)? Could this be one of the reasons the Greeks went on Odysseys?

Astonishing! Can you imagine how many other cases like this exist? We definitely know nothing about what happened before us.

As someone who spent his life working on designing and building things, I can attest that we are still unable to match the quality of the engineering that went on thousands of years ago.

Perhaps this is due to the fact that now, everything we build is done as quickly and as cheaply as possible.

Its just sort of mind boggling to think that so much time has passed and in some categories, such as over all general hygiene, materialistic personal tech gadgets, we have come very far, and yet we're lucky when we build a structure that lasts over a hundred years.

I just don't understand , how can they build a mechanical gear device, and only build one and the knowledge of making gears would not evolved , it just doesn't make sense.

Why it was never mention on their books? was it written on books tha where burn down? or los?

Originally posted by EnigmaAgent
I just watched this on BBC iplayer. Great programme and interesting.

www.bbc.co.uk...

edit on 11/5/12 by EnigmaAgent because: (no reason given)

dang, can't watch the BBC iplayer here in the states

anybody got a rip or another link?

reply to post by EnigmaAgent


why is no one staring your post?
i for one very much appreciate your post and i am going to enjoy the documentary right now

thanks again!

reply to post by TedHodgson


Very nice share.... I wonder if we will find that this is the mechanic version of the mayan calendar? Not sure why but that thought just struck me no for no reason, but I put it out here none the less.



S&F OP

Originally posted by SamYool83
I watched a program on this last night...breathtaking how complex this machine actually was! I believe the collective of experts who studied it worked out it was even used to work out when eclipses were to take place. It really does go to show how much we underestimate the capabilities of the ancients. One of the final comments on the program was something about how, before the Romans came along and took over everything, the Greeks were so close to the knowledge and understanding we have now...and that was what, 2000 years ago?! Makes you think!

It makes you think how True Greek Mythology is !

when you see the Antikythera Mechanism Device right before your Eyes

A Legend goes This is the Tinker God of Greek Mythology

Hephaestus
en.wikipedia.org...

he give skill to mortal artists, and, conjointly with her, he was believed to have taught men the arts which embellish and adorn life

it is said that Hephaestus Chained Prometheus to a Rock
after giving Knowledge of Usage of Fire ! to Mortal Man

within all in the Conspiracy World about Ancient Aliens

I see it could be Plausible Aliens aka Gods Teaching Mankind it First Technology ( Fire ) then Later Combining Other Elements of Usage ... Yeah Alien intervention either from some Distant planet or Dimension Here is a Question The Person or Group of People that made this Device where did they Learn about the Stars locations measurements TIME!!! Calender , Let ALONE!! The Gears how Many Teeth The Size How Many the Directional Physics ... Either Alien intervention or a Higher Developed Civilization
in higher Level then a Normal Person ...

We Modern Humans been on this Planet at Least 250 Thousand Years

yet we see only Technology of Construction 5,000 to 10,000 Years
Art ( Paintings of Animals ) 30,000 Years in French Caves of Lions Hyenas Rhinos etc
that are basically from Africa as those People were from Africa
Speaking of Lion

a Sculpture Statuette of a Man lion WereCat as I would Call it
30 to 40 Thousand years ago something like a reversed Sphinx Standing up

Lion man of the Hohlenstein Stadel

The figurine was determined to be about 32,000 years old[1][2] by carbon dating material from the same layer in which the sculpture was found. It is associated with the archaeological Aurignacian culture.[3] The sculpture is 29.6 cm (11.7 inches) in height, 5.6 cm wide, and 5.9 cm thick. It was carved out of mammoth ivory using a flint stone knife. There are seven parallel, transverse, carved gouges on the left arm. It is now in the museum in Ulm, Germany.

en.wikipedia.org...

From this Lion man Statuette to the Antikythera Mechanism in a 30 thousand years time ..
what the Hell was Modern Man doing in 220,000 years ??

Slaves in a Mine keeping away from Technology and Art

Well American Slaves we kept away from reading and Writing before the Civil War ...

reply to post by bobs_uruncle


i am not questioning your representation of the Hopi beliefs, the 4rd sun but i wonder if there is information out there that supports that these worlds were as advanced as we are supposed to be? Can"t it be that they simply say there were 4 suns before ?i would be grateful if you could elaborate,

Saw questions from members that could be answered by a documentary I remember watching. This one recounts how they found it, what else was on board, and how it lay dormant until discovered again in a museum. Further theory on who might have made it and what other inventions exist from the past. Good bit on Achimedes Sorry if already brought here.

reply to post by TedHodgson


WOW! Amazing, simply amazing!
I'd always hoped they'd figure out more about this, but those x-rays are insane. God only knows what
past humans were really capable of.

Originally posted by AlonzoTyper
As someone who spent his life working on designing and building things, I can attest that we are still unable to match the quality of the engineering that went on thousands of years ago.

Perhaps this is due to the fact that now, everything we build is done as quickly and as cheaply as possible.

Its just sort of mind boggling to think that so much time has passed and in some categories, such as over all general hygiene, materialistic personal tech gadgets, we have come very far, and yet we're lucky when we build a structure that lasts over a hundred years.

I note what you say, especially when a link I looked at says quite clearly that the gogs were hand made. And also for another poster, it also says that the research speculates on more than one of these, (astronomical) things being made. I fail to see also why there should not have been a day clock mechanism made by the same people concurrently, it's all about time and /or sequence is it not?

reply to post by Wolfenz


Most of the animals mentioned would have been in Europe as well. The out-of-Africa for human species, is full of confusion in ideas, that's not to say it's ultimately correct, just that cave drawings are not a good indicator because they are too young, add that to what we describe as man, with all the unknowns in that area.

reply to post by TedHodgson


This post _shocked_ me to the ground...thanks!

Speculation:
If you cosider the time it took "us" to get from geared systems like that (1700s?),
to the current state of technology,, it makes me think what happened?
Did they destroy themselves and restart and we are the result?
Limbo

If this is the same documentary I saw on the BBC a few years ago they play down the full potential of the mechanism, especialy the guy who builds a model. Its capable of much more than he would have you believe. If I can find the MUCH better documentary that I watched I'll be back to post it.

The earth has changed a million ways in billions of years. Who it to say a civilization just like our could not have existed a billion years ago. Drop a nail in a Coke in a few weeks it will be gone. If tomorrow an astroid the size of Kansas hit what would life look like 200-million years from now? We are dust on the sun.

That's kind of cool.

I knew it had some fairly advanced gearing but...

I notice the cut-away animation of the 3D X-rays seems to show not just fastening by hammered rivets or pins, but it also looks like there are a few threaded fasteners inside the device as well. I thought screws and bolts weren't too common until the beginning of the industrial era. They also appear to be machine screws of fairly close tolerances too, which seems more modern than the suggested age of the device. (Other old examples of threaded fasteners like thumbscrews on stuff from the medieval era are crude in comparison.)

Maybe that's the "new and exciting" thing the researchers are talking about in this re-examination?