2000 Year Old Computer Discovered In Mediterranean

Science journalist and author Jo Marchant discussed the century-long quest to understand the origin and purpose of a Greek artifact known as the Antikythera mechanism. The object was initially recovered in 1900, when a group of sponge divers stumbled upon an ancient shipwreck in the Mediterranean. According to Marchant, the wreck proved to be a treasure trove of Greek antiquity but the Antikythera mechanism, corroded and encrusted in sea growth, was overlooked. About a year later, in 1901, the 
rock-like crust cracked open and historians realized they had something special, she said.

The 2000-year-old device was extremely sophisticated, Marchant explained, noting that it was covered with highly-detailed inscriptions and composed of dozens of gear wheels that could be operated by a single dial on the side. Besides the Antikythera, Marchant pointed out that there are no other artifacts with gear wheels from the ancient world. In fact, there is no technology as sophisticated and compact as this mechanism until around the 17th century, she added.

Researchers eventually concluded that the device was a ‘calendar computer,’ Marchant said, capable of accurately predicting the movement of the Sun, Moon, and the five planets known to ancient Greek astronomers. It also functioned as a 19-year calendar based on the lunar cycle, showed the location of the Greek games every four years, and had an eclipse indicator, Marchant noted. She suggested the Antikythera mechanism was likely built for a wealthy lay person and may have been used as a
philosophical/religious demonstration of the workings of the heavens. 

Biography:

Jo Marchant is a freelance journalist specializing in science and history. Her writing has appeared in publications including New Scientist, The Guardian and The Economist. 

Wikipedia
The Antikythera mechanism (play /ˌæntɨkɨˈθɪərə/ ANT-i-ki-THEER-ə or /ˌæntɨˈkɪθərə/ ANT-i-KITH-ə-rə) is an ancient analog computer designed to calculate astronomical positions. It was recovered in 1900–1901 from the Antikythera wreck, but its significance and complexity were not understood until a century later. Jacques-Yves Cousteau visited the wreck in 1978, but although he found new dating evidence he did not find any additional remains of the Antikythera mechanism. The construction has been dated to the early 1st century BC. Technological artifacts approaching its complexity and workmanship did not appear again until the 14th century AD, when mechanical 
astronomical clocks began to be built in Western Europe.

Professor Michael Edmunds of Cardiff University, who led a 2006 study of the mechanism, said: 

This device is just extraordinary, the only thing of its kind. The design is beautiful, the a
stronomy is exactly right. The way the mechanics are designed just makes your jaw drop. Whoever has done this has done it extremely carefully … in terms of historic and scarcity value, I have to regard this mechanism as being more valuable than the Mona Lisa. —30 November 2006

The Antikythera mechanism is displayed at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, accompanied by a reconstruction made and donated to the museum by Derek de Solla Price. Other reconstructions are on display at the American Computer Museum in Bozeman, Montana, the Children’s Museum of Manhattan in New York, in Kassel, Germany, and at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris.

The mechanism was housed in a wooden box approximately 340 × 180 × 90 mm in size and comprised of 30 bronze gears (although more could have been lost). The largest gear was approximately 140 mm in diameter and had 223 teeth and is clearly visible in fragment A. The mechanism’s remains were found as 82 separate fragments of which only seven contain any gears or significant inscriptions.