A remarkable archaeological discovery has been uncovered in the Aegean Sea, making it one of the most significant findings in recent years.
A lost part of the famous ancient computer of Antikythera was found in the Greek waters and shocked the whole mankind.
This is the first computer that may have been built by humans, and this fact has the world scientific community in an uproar.
It’s a complex, advanced analog “computer” that was found in a shipwreck many years ago.
Divers have discovered a highly technical device with the image of a bull, which they suspect is the missing part of the mechanism.
The Antikythera mechanism was discovered by Greek sponge divers in 1901.
Of course, at that time they themselves did not immediately understand what exactly it was. It took decades and the use of advanced X-ray technology for scientists to realize that it was the first human computer, a wonderfully advanced, sophisticated analog calculating machine made up of dozens of paired gears.
The device could calculate the movements of the sun and moon, predict solar eclipses and equinoxes, and simultaneously track the planets of the solar system, constellations, and more.
We never found out how many gears the original Antikythera mechanism had. Estimates are based on expert guesses and range from 37 to over 70. For comparison, the most modern Swiss watches have four gears.
The ship that carried the mechanism was huge and loaded with valuable cargo.
“In the 1970s, the famous explorer Jacques Cousteau and his team discovered some parts of the mechanism’s casing,” Dr. Brendan Foley of Lund College told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
In 2012, divers discovered hundreds of artifacts in the wreck, including two massive bronze spears, the bronze representation of an arm, other pieces of marble and bronze statues, a mosaic, pieces of furniture, blue game pieces, a sarcophagus lid, gold rings and silver coins.
What is the Antikythera mechanism?
Known as the first computer in history, the Antikythera Mechanism is a complex system of tools dating back to 60 BC and was used by the ancient Greeks to determine the position of the sun, moon and planets.
This 2,000-year-old astronomical computer may have had another function: predicting the future, researchers say.
When was it discovered?
The Antikythera Mechanism was discovered in a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera, between Kythera and Crete.
According to the shape of the Greek inscriptions it bears, it dates from between 150 BC and 100 BC, well before the date of the shipwreck, which may have occurred between 87 BC and 63 BC. It could have been built up to half a century before the wreck. The wreck was discovered in 1900 at a depth of 40 to 64 meters, and many treasures, statues and other objects, were recovered from Simi island sponge collectors and are now in the National Archeological Museum in Athens.
On May 17, 1902, Valerios Stais, archeologist and director of the Archeological Museum, noticed that one of the finds had a gear inscribed with astronomical terms.
The mechanism is the oldest preserved gear mechanism, and a very complex one. It is made of bronze and has a wooden frame. Since its discovery, it has puzzled and fascinated many historians of science and technology. The most accepted theory about its function is that it was both an analog and a digital computer used to calculate and display the movements of celestial bodies, solar and lunar eclipses, and the phases of the moon.
It could display solar and lunar eclipses based on the Babylonian cycle of Sarus. Its dials also featured at least two calendars, a Greek one based on the Metonic cycle, and an Egyptian one, which was also the common “scientific” calendar of the Hellenistic era, and which researchers believe even predicted the dates of the Olympic Games!
The first uses of this instrument presented (mainly before World War II) are: Astrolabe, Dromometer, Reference Clock, Planetarium, Astronomical Ship’s Clock or Ancient Navigator. All these uses are not mutually exclusive.
But in essence, it is a mechanism that has changed and continues to change modern technology, demonstrating at the same time the high technological level of the ancient Greeks.
