* Astronomy

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RE: Antikythera Mechanism

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Marine Archaeologists Excavate Greek Antikythera Shipwreck

Archaeologists excavating the famous ancient Greek shipwreck that yielded the Antikythera mechanism have recovered more than 50 items including a bronze armrest (possibly part of a throne), remains of a bone flute, fine glassware, luxury ceramics, a pawn from an ancient board game, and several elements of the ship itself.
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Antikythera wreck yields new treasures

An international expedition says it has made further, remarkable finds at the site of the Antikythera shipwreck.
The vessel, which dates from 70-60BC, was famously first identified by Greek sponge divers more than 100 years ago.
The new archaeological investigations have retrieved tableware, ship components, and a giant bronze spear.
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Title: Hanny's Voorwerp and the Antikythera Mechanism - similarities, differences and insights
Authors: Michael A. Garrett (ASTRON and Leiden)

I present some insights into Hanny's Voorwerp and the Antikythera mechanism - contrasting their similarities and differences. They are both excellent examples of serendipitous discoveries in which human curiosity and perseverance have played an important role. Both objects have captured the imagination of the general public, and their discovery was only made possible via the introduction of new technologies. One major difference is that there is only one Antikythera device but there are now many Voorwerpen or "voorwerpjes", as they are more commonly known. The study of a collection of objects, as is common in astronomy, greatly aids our understanding of cosmic phenomena. In the case of the voorwepjes, we now know that such systems are to be identified with obscured galaxies or Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) that appear to have recently and indeed rapidly turned off. Clearly, the discovery of more examples of devices similar to the Antikythera mechanism would have a significant affect in advancing our understanding of this object and the people that constructed it. Thus far, surveys of the site of the Antikythera wreck are incomplete and non-systematic. Like radio astronomy and other progressive fields, technological advances proceed exponentially in terms of capacity and capability. Recent advances in diving technology are no exception to this rule. It is almost 40 years ago that Jacques Cousteau led the last adhoc survey of the Antikythera wreck - the time has surely come to revisit the site and conduct a proper scientific and systematic survey. The deepest areas of the site are so far completely unexplored while it is known that some artefacts did fall into this area during the original excavation. During this workshop, I called for a return to the site using the most modern diving technologies.

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Probing the secrets of the Antikythera Mechanism

The secrets of one of the most remarkable technological finds from Ancient Greece have been probed for the first time using powerful X-ray imaging equipment, specially shipped to Athens.
BBC Four's The Two-Thousand Year Old Clock will be broadcast on Thursday 10 May 2012 at 2100 BST. Or watch afterwards on BBC iPlayer.
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The Antikythera mechanism was discovered by Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais on the 17th May, 1902
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The Antikythera Mechanism is the oldest known scientific computer, built in Greece at around 100 BCE. Lost for 2000 years, it was recovered from a shipwreck in 1901. But not until a century later was its purpose understood: an astronomical clock that determines the positions of celestial bodies with extraordinary precision.
In 2010, we built a fully-functional replica out of Lego. Sponsored by Digital Science a new division of Macmillan Publishers that provides technology solutions for researchers.
Available under a CC-BY-3.0-Unported license.

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Archimedes and the 2000-year-old computer

Marcellus and his men blockaded Syracuse, in Sicily, for two years. The Roman general expected to conquer the Greek city state easily, but the ingenious siege towers and catapults designed by Archimedes helped to keep his troops at bay.
Then, in 212 BC, the Syracusans neglected their defences during a festival to the goddess Artemis, and the Romans finally breached the city walls. Marcellus wanted Archimedes alive, but it wasn't to be. According to ancient historians, Archimedes was killed in the chaos; by one account a soldier ran him through with a sword as he was in the middle of a mathematical proof.
One of Archimedes's creations was saved, though. The general took back to Rome a mechanical bronze sphere that showed the motions of the sun, moon and planets as seen from Earth.
Source

2000-year-old computer recreated

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The Antikythera Mechanism - 3D.

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A little more than a century ago, in the year 1900, some Aegean sponge divers stopped on the barren Greek islet of Antikythera, between Crete and Greece, to seek shelter from a fierce storm.
After things had calmed, they continued diving in the relatively shallow waters nearby and happened upon an ancient Roman shipwreck that contained confiscated Greek treasures of bronze and marble statues, jewellery, glassware and even a bronze throne.
Also among the artefacts was what appeared to be a corroded lump of rock that, for some unknown reason, was dumped into a crate during the 10-month salvage recovery by the government of Greece.

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