The Mystery of the Antikythera Mechanism

This is an intriguing story I first heard a few weeks ago, when my boss Steve, a keen amateur astronomer and general all-round geek in his own right, suggested that the Antikythera Mechanism would make a good subject for a blog posting.  I have kept the story in reserve since then, until a couple of nights ago, when BBC 4 broadcast a documentary programme about it, The Two-thousand-Year-Old Computer, which reawakened my interest. Researching a little further,  I found that some pretty exotic and exaggerated claims have been made about the Antikythera Mechanism, including

• It is the oldest known analogue computer
• It was made by aliens
• It can predict the future
• It proves the existence of time travel

Heady stuff indeed, and much too fascinating to be left on the back-burner any longer, so here it is.

The Antikythera Wreck Site

The story began in the Mediterranean back in 1901, when a sudden and violent storm forced sponge divers to make an unscheduled stop near the island of Antikythera, on the edge of the Aegean between mainland Greece and Crete.  Whilst stranded there they decided they may as well try a dive, and discovered not sponges, but a 2000 year-old Roman shipwreck.  The first impression was of human corpses and dead horses scattered across the sea-bed.  Closer inspection revealed them to be the remains of a cargo of priceless antiquities including some rare and exquisite bronze statures, most of which are now housed in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.

A Fragment of the Antikythera Device

Among the hoard of beautiful art works, which included such treasures as The Philosopher’s Head, and  full-size statues of Hercules, The Ephebe, a discus thrower, a marble bull and a bronze lyre, another, less prepossessing  artefact was found.  Broken into 82 pieces and badly corroded by its long sojourn at the bottom of the sea, the Antikythera Mechanism looked like a piece of old junk.  It clearly was some kind of antique machine, however, and an initial archaeological study carried out in 1902 revealed a gear wheel embedded inside.  This led historians to believe the object to be an astrolabe or astronomical clock:  its true purpose and significance was not discovered for another hundred years.

The main problem for scholars has always been the sheer depth and inaccessibility of the wreck site.  The sponge divers who discovered the wreck back in 1901 were only able to venture down so far thanks to their heavy diving suits, with their bulky copper and brass helmets and weighted shoes.  Even with this equipment (which remained the standard diving kit from the late 19th Century through most of the 20th Century) one of the divers died trying to salvage the wreck, and two others were paralysed by the bends.

By the 1970s, the story had moved on and, after decades of careful conservation and cleaning and in-depth study, the mystery of the Antikythera Mechanism began to unravel. Modern techniques such as X-ray and gamma scanning allowed scholars to shed more light on its internal workings, revealing a more complex system of gearing than was previously recognised.

In 1974 Derek de Solla Price of Yale University published the results of years of intensive research, demonstrating that the device was constructed along mathematical principles for astronomical purposes.  For example, it would probably have been used to calculate the position of the Sun and Moon, the phases of the Moon, eclipse cycles, and the locations of the planets.

Professor de Solla and his Reproduction of the Device

Professor de Solla discovered that it was probably made as early as 87 BC, and although no other similar devices from that period have ever come to light, the sophistication of the design led him to believe that it cannot have been the first one of its type. Such is the complexity of the design that it is commonly referred to as the first analogue computer.  A reproduction of the mechanism created by Professor de Solla, along with other reconstructions  created by other scholars, is currently on display in the Athens Museum in a special exhibition about the Antikythera shipwreck.

By the 1970s deep-sea the design of deep sea diving equipment had also been modernised and improved, allowing famous TV personality and undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau to visit the Antikythera wreck.  A few more minor finds were brought up by Cousteau’s team, but, even with their sophisticated scuba equipment, they could only spend limited time on the sea bed.  For many years afterwards, nobody visited it at all, but in the last couple of years there has been fresh interest in studying the mechanism, and permission is being sought from the Greek government to send some new expeditions to the site.

So, the mystery of the Antikythera Mechanism continues to baffle and intrigue. Who knows, there may be other undiscovered fragments still down there. There may even be another mechanism down there!

Postscript

The Antikythera Mechanism was the inspiration for and a central plot device in a  2010 TV film called  Stonehenge Apocalypse, in which it saves the world from an impending catastrophe.