Divers Return to Antikythera

By on October 8, 2012 in News 6

Picture: Marsyas (CC)

Almost every student of anomalous history will know the story of the Antikythera Mechanism, a mysterious, ancient “computer” of unknown origin discovered on the ocean floor off the island of Antikytherain in 1900. The machine has puzzled scientists since its discovery, but a new mission to the site where it was recovered may provide more information. Via The Guardian:

This week, the team begins a three-week survey using rebreather technology, which recycles unused oxygen from each breath and allows divers to stay deeper for longer. The aim is to survey the wreck site properly for the first time, to find out once and for all what has been left down there – and to check down the slope, to 70 metres depth or more, to see if those stories of runaway statues are true.

Any items found on the wreck site could provide further clues to the origin or ownership of the ship. And not all of the pieces of the Antikythera mechanism were ever found. It’s a long shot, but those missing bits could still be on the seabed.

This isn’t what gets Foley most excited about the project, however. His team will also dive around the entire island, a distance of about 17 nautical miles, using James Bond-style propellers to cover ground quickly. Foley hopes this could reveal a whole clutch of previously unknown wrecks.

Who what will come up next? What questions will the wreck pose to our understanding of history?

Read more at The Guardian.

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  • saint_al

    This was before Copernicus, Galileo, and Brahe? My BS detector is on red alert with this article.
    /familiar with the device and the hyped claims
    //still amazing & mysterious

  • saint_al

    This was before Copernicus, Galileo, and Brahe? My BS detector is on red alert with this article.
    /familiar with the device and the hyped claims
    //still amazing & mysterious

    • Matt Staggs

      It is thought to have been created around second century BC. Here’s a legit website about the device and its suggested purposes. The Antikythera Project is a joint effort of the University of Cardiff, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, National Archaeological Museum and National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation. Hardly a fringe organization: http://www.antikythera-mechanism.gr/

    • Matt Staggs

      It is thought to have been created around second century BC. Here’s a legit website about the device and its suggested purposes. The Antikythera Project is a joint effort of the University of Cardiff, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, National Archaeological Museum and National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation. Hardly a fringe organization: http://www.antikythera-mechanism.gr/

      • Monkey See Monkey Do

        Pretty. Fucking. Incredible.
        This is pasted from wiki. And the sources are legit science journals.

        “The Antikythera mechanism is an ancient analog computer[1][2] designed to calculate astronomical positions. It was recovered in 1900–1901 from the Antikythera wreck,[3] but its significance and complexity were not understood until a century later. Jacques-Yves Cousteau visited the wreck in 1978,[4] 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.[5]“

      • Monkey See Monkey Do

        Pretty. Fucking. Incredible.
        This is pasted from wiki. And the sources are legit science journals.

        “The Antikythera mechanism is an ancient analog computer[1][2] designed to calculate astronomical positions. It was recovered in 1900–1901 from the Antikythera wreck,[3] but its significance and complexity were not understood until a century later. Jacques-Yves Cousteau visited the wreck in 1978,[4] 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.[5]“