Mystery Unraveled
It has taken 106 years and a lot of very major advances in technology, but a mystery appears to have been solved. The mystery, a heavily corroded, but extremely complex device found in an ancient shipwreck is a very complicated astronomical calculator. Many people have heard of the Antikythera Mechanism which was found by sponge divers in 1900 off the island of Antikythera in the Mediterranean.
Scientists have finally demystified the incredible workings of a 2,000-year-old astronomical calculator built by ancient Greeks.
A new analysis of the Antikythera Mechanism, a clock-like machine consisting of more than 30 precise, hand-cut bronze gears, show it to be more advanced than previously thought—so much so that nothing comparable was built for another thousand years.
"This device is just extraordinary, the only thing of its kind," said study leader Mike Edmunds of Cardiff University in the UK. "The design is beautiful, the astronomy is exactly right…In terms of historical and scarcity value, I have to regard this mechanism as being more valuable than the Mona Lisa."
The researchers used three-dimensional X-ray scanners to reconstruct the workings of the device's gears and high-resolution surface imaging to enhance faded inscriptions on its surface.
Precise astronomy
The new analysis reveals that the device's front dials had pointers for the sun and Moon—called the "golden little sphere" and "little sphere," respectively—and markings which coincided with the zodiac and solar calendars. The back dials, meanwhile, appear to have been used for predicting solar and lunar eclipses.
The researchers also show that the device could mechanically replicate the irregular motions of the Moon, caused by its elliptical orbit around the Earth, using a clever design involving two superimposed gear-wheels, one slightly off-center, that are connected by a pin-and-slot device.
The team was also able to pin down the device's construction date more precisely. Radiocarbon dating suggested it was built around 65 BC, but newly revealed lettering on the machine indicate a slightly older construction date of 150 to 100 BC. The team's reconstruction also involves 37 gear wheels, seven of which are hypothetical.
This kind of paints a little different picture of the ancient world, doesn't it? They could build a device so complex that it took many, many years to replicate. This is an image of the puzzle the scientists managed to put together. There are plans to produce a computer model of the device's operation. That will be very cool.
By Callimachus, Wednesday, 29 November , 2006 @ 10:19 pm
And still the ship sank, lol.
By Gaius, Wednesday, 29 November , 2006 @ 10:30 pm
Heh. Yes it did. So did the Titanic! Some things never change.