Mediterranean Artifacts
Credit: NASA
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v444/n7119/extref/nature05357-s1.pdf
Mediterranean Mystery
In May 1902, divers off an island in Greece found an object in the cargo of a sunken ship. It was very thin and made of bronze. It was mounted in a wooden frame and had more than 2,000 characters inscribed all over it. X-rays of the device showed there are over 30 different gears in it.
What could it be?
Sources for Mediterranean Mystery
Edwards, Owen. Mediterranean Mystery Solved. Edutopia, July 2007. http://www.edutopia.org/antikythera-mechanism-ancient-greek-computer
What is the Antikythera Mechanism? http://www.antikythera-mechanism.com/
The Antikythera Mechanism Project
http://www.antikythera-mechanism.gr/
Nature Magazine article (November 2006) http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v444/n7119/abs/nature05357.html and supplemental materials http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v444/n7119/extref/nature05357-s1.pdf
Mediterranean Mystery – Solved?
After much study and research, several people have created actual models or simulations of how the Antikythera Mechanism might have worked. Based upon the latest research, it is thought that it was some sort of calendar device that calculated and displayed information from the stars and planets. However, because the inscriptions are incomplete, the complete story of the Antikythera Mechanism is yet to be told!!
How close were you to their ideas?
Front View Back View
Michael Wright's reconstruction of the Antikythera Mechanism.
http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/historyofscience/aboutthecentre/staff/mr%20michael%20wright/
T.Gray/E2CCB August, 2007