The Antikythera Mechanism
A seemingly unassuming lump of corroded bronze has confounded investigators for more than a century, ever since it proved to contain precision gearwheels that simply should not have existed in the ancient Greek world. A new study, using cutting-edge techniques, has now revealed what this machine could do, and how it did it, as Tony Freeth explains.
In spring 1900, a party of sponge divers took shelter from a violent Mediterranean storm. When the storm subsided, they dived for sponges in the local waters near the tiny island of Antikythera, between Crete and mainland Greece. By chance, they found a wreck full of ancient Greek treasures, triggering the first major underwater archaeology operation in history. Overseen by a gunboat from the Greek navy to deter looters, by early 1901 the divers had begun to recover a wonderful array of ancient Greek goods – beautiful bronze sculptures, superb glassware, jewellery, amphorae, furniture fittings, and tableware.
They also found an undistinguished lump, the size of a large dictionary, which was probably recovered because it looked green, suggesting bronze. It was not considered to be anything remarkable at the time. Now, though, it is recognised as by far the most important object of high technology ever recovered from the ancient world: an ancient Greek astronomical calculating machine, known as the Antikythera Mechanism.
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