Posted on 11/25/2010 2:11:38 AM PST by Palter
I’ve not been impressed over the years with the level of discussion about the Antikythera mechanism (not that anyone asked me of course), but there’s nothing in the working replica of it to indicate that it’s based on anything but a fairly short period of observations done more or less locally (Aegean), and given that it’s a maritime culture, probably wasn’t built for ceremonial purposes, but as an aid to figure out the tides.
There’s a topic on FR about recent finds on the thing, including Greek place names, and the claim that it was used to figure out when the Olympics were going to take place. I’m pretty sure though that the Greeks knew how to count to four, and wouldn’t need a machine to tell them when to hold the Olympics.
The problem with the thing is that it’s unique; the exact date of its construction has been debated over the years, but the range of years during which its mechanism would have been accurate shows when it was made (probably on the early end of that range).
“I often think about how smart and resourceful our ancestors must have been. These people figured out how to survive the Ice Age with only stone tools. I wonder how many people living today could figure out how do that?”
The dumb and unresourceful ones perished or were supported by the smart and resourceful. It obviously isn’t as if the entire tribe of man was smart and resourceful at the time....
Same events are happening today; how many people do you know that are almost incapable of surviving in today’s society unless they have someone around them almost literally holding their hand?
ping for later reading
I suspect during the centuries of the last Ice Age the human population level became very low, maybe only 5000 people at the end. I’m not sure the smart and resourceful people would have tolerated supporting too many dumb and unresourceful people. We may never know.
From http://sites.google.com/site/archaicaudio/archaicaudio/vintage-computers, where there are lots of wonderful mugshots of ancient (20th c) technological devices. :)
Recommended reading, Krupp’s “Echoes of the Ancient Skies.” Great survey of archaeoastronomy for those not so heavily addicted to the subject.
(For those who are....Hamlet’s Mill, hands down!)
EAS is more general and leans toward archaeological evidence in various cultures.
I trust that graphic is just a theoretical reconstruction, because it’s got Venus in opposition to the Sun and from a geocentric perspective, dat don’t happen! Just sayin. ;)
Since King Solomin was smelting copper a thousand years before the Antikythera mechanism (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2632982/posts)
it doesn’t seem at all unlikely that someone could make a brass mechanism a thousand years later.
A number of more modern craftmen produced fine results with simple tools and steady hands.
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