Posted on 10/04/2012 5:39:19 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
In 1900, Greek sponge divers stumbled across "a pile of dead, naked women" on the seabed near the tiny island of Antikythera. It turned out the figures were not corpses but bronze and marble statues, part of a cargo of stolen Greek treasure that was lost when the Roman ship carrying them sank two thousand years ago on the island's treacherous rocks.
It was the first marine wreck to be studied by archaeologists, and yielded the greatest haul of ancient treasure that had ever been found. Yet the salvage project â carried out in treacherous conditions with desperately crude equipment â was never completed. So this month, armed with the latest diving technology, scientists are going back.
Between 1900 and 1901, the sponge divers retrieved a string of stunning antiquities, including weapons, jewellery, furniture and some exquisite statues. But their most famous find was a battered lump that sat unnoticed for months in the courtyard of Athens' National Archaeological Museum, before it cracked open to reveal a bundle of cogwheels, dials and inscriptions.
It has taken scientists over a hundred years to decode the inner workings of those corroded fragments, with x-ray and CT scans finally revealing a sophisticated clockwork machine used to calculate the workings of the heavens (video).
Dubbed the Antikythera mechanism, it had pointers that displayed the positions of the sun, moon and planets in the sky, as well as a star calendar, eclipse prediction dial and a timetable of athletics events including the Olympics.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
It took more than 100 years to work out from its corroded remains how the Antikythera mechanism worked. Video: New Scientist
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Never, ever, ever subscribe to progressivist views on history. Mankind has been sophisticated for a long, long time.
wat methods were used to sate it?
it IS known to have been in the museum pretty much as a lump of rock for over 100 years until ‘modern’ (for 1952) X-Ray revealed that something was inside
So even it it is only 100 years old, it is pretty amazing technology
but... I would like to think someone thought of this and dated it
sate = date
sorry (fat fingers and poor eyesight)
Interesting!
Googled it and found this also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism#Similar_devices_in_ancient_literature
The odds of that happening would be astronomical.
Apparently it IS ancient: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2940389/posts?page=8#8
“It’s [said to be] a linear progression from stupid cavemen to smart old us with our hydrogen bombs and striped toothpaste.” — John Anthony West (who also happens to be a moonbat, but anyway)
Thanks again!
Oppenheimer answered: 'Yes, in modern times.'
He Believed our atomic program was not the first, that there were ancient nuclear wars of the distant past.
Oppenheimer was a student of the old books of India, such as the Mahabharata, Bhagavad Gita and the Kansur.
In the Hindu texts, they speak of flying vimanas. Vimanas were said to be the origin of the 'flying carpet.'
Great wars were described in these early texts. Weapons could literally level the land like a moving force field. In ancient India, their are words for certain measurements of length. One was the length of an atom. Oppenheimer believed only a society that possessed nuclear energy would have the need for such words.
When Oppenheimer said 'I am become the destroyer of worlds,' he was quoting from these ancient books. Believe it or not, the deserts on a number of continents today that some say are the result of (prehistoric) nuclear warfare.
On Malta, in the Mediterranean Sea, are tracks known as “wheel ruts”. These same tracks appear on the sea floor surrounding the island of Malta, but these marine “wheel ruts” have not experienced the same weathering as those on land.
These channels on the sea floor have a profile in cross-section that looks suspiciously like that of a laser cut.
Fifteen thousand years ago the sea level world-wide varied from 300 to 400 feet lower than today.
Airborne laser weapons, anyone?
I first read about the Antikythera mechanism when I was in high school in the 60s. It was in one of those Ripley’s Believe it or Not books.
Alexander the Great devised a method of time keeping for his troops. He would soak a piece of cloth in chemicals which would turn color as the day progressed.
It was called: Alexander’s Rag Time Band.
How do we know that the world we live in today reflects progress?
Perhaps it does, but perhaps we are just recovering from regress.
Can you give me the source of that Oppenheimer quotation?
Hope that helps, it is hard to find information on that without finding yourself in a UFO cult website.
I love coincidences — but this is fascinating to me.
I read Decoding the Heavens —Jo Marchand’s fine book on the discovery and the 100 years to figure out what it was over 2 years ago. Orderd a copy for a friend last week from Amazon. It arrived TODAY and then I go on FR and read this. I love it when those things happen. Great read.
Thanks for posting.
My husband worked at Berkeley’s Lawrence Radiation Lab when Oppenheimer was still there — although they were many levels apart, since my husband was just out of Engineering School. Edward Teller was the Director at the time. That was a really long time ago!
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