ANCIENT TECHNOLOGY – THE ANTIKYTHERA

After two thousand years resting on the sea floor, an ancient shipwreck was discovered by sponge divers in 1900.  Found in the Mediterranean Sea, near Crete, near the island of Antikythera, the shipwreck’s cargo included marble and bronze statues, jewelry and luxury goods, and an analog-geared device that is known now as the Antikythera Mechanism, often referenced as the world's first computer. 

Found as one lump, the device is now divided into 82 separate fragments after conservation works. Four of these fragments contain gears, while inscriptions are found on many others. The largest gear is approximately 140 millimeters (5.5 in) in diameter and originally had 223 teeth.

It is a complex mechanism composed of at least 30 meshing bronze gears. Detailed imaging of the mechanism suggests that it had 37 gear wheels enabling it to follow the movements of the moon and the sun through the zodiac, to predict eclipses and even to model the irregular orbit of the moon.

A visit to the National Archaeology Museum in Athens is a must in order to see this sophisticated machine.  We visited and Andrea was especially interested after attending a Getty-organized lecture with invited speaker, maritime archaeologist Brendan Foley of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.  Since 2001, he and his team (partnering with the Greek Ministry of Culture) have been excavating the famous shipwreck, one of about a million in the Mediterranean Sea.  Research includes applying advanced technologies to archaeology, using advanced submersible robotics, technical diving methods, the latest laboratory analyses, including a technique to extract trace DNA from empty transport jars on shipwrecks.

It was truly a spectacular object to see in person.