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Scientist tackles mystery of ancient astronomical device
Phys.org, Science X network ^ | January 6, 2015 | Sandi Doughton, The Seattle Times

Posted on 01/11/2015 1:41:07 AM PST by SunkenCiv

"The amazing thing is the mechanical engineering aspect," says James Evans, a physicist and science historian at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash. He is part of an international group working to crack the puzzle of the device's origins and purpose. Evans recently added a new twist with an analysis that suggests it dates to 205 B.C. -- as much as a century earlier than previously believed.

If he's right, it is more likely that the Antikythera Mechanism was inspired by the work of the legendary Greek mathematician Archimedes. It would also mean the device was built at time when scientific traditions from multiple cultures were coming together to create a new view of the cosmos...

Greek sponge divers stumbled across the wreck of the Roman galley in 1900, after being blown off course and taking shelter in the lee of the tiny island north of Crete. During underwater excavations the next year, they hauled up one of the richest bounties of Greek artifacts ever uncovered -- but one diver died and two others were crippled from working at depths of up to 200 feet.

French explorer Jacques Cousteau visited the site in the 1950s and 1970s, using an underwater vacuum to suck up sediment and reveal buried objects.

Scientists think the ship was a merchant vessel that foundered around 60 B.C.

Archaeologists eventually identified more than 80 corroded fragments believed to be part of the Antikythera Mechanism, including the shoebox-size piece with dials and gears clearly visible on the surface.

The real breakthrough in understanding came in 2005, when a team of scientists used X-ray tomography to peer through the encrusted metal and reveal the layers of gears inside. Digital techniques yielded the first sharp images of the inscriptions on the dials and casings.

(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: aegean; antikythera; antikytheramechanism; archimedes; godsgravesglyphs; greece; jacquescousteau; romanempire; salvage
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To: Art Bell; Pride in the USA

ping


41 posted on 01/11/2015 9:20:54 AM PST by lonevoice (Life is short. Make fun of it.)
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To: pepsionice
"Somewhere out there....two and three thousand years ago....we had brilliant men...generations ahead of Einstein. And what they knew....was lost."

Not lost. They're still here...IQ levels haven't changed appreciably in 10k years.

42 posted on 01/11/2015 10:30:26 AM PST by blam (Jeff Sessions For President)
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To: DonaldC
"LOL, just look at how long it is taking to reinvent Apollo technology."

If not for the space-program, we may still be trying to figure out how to build a memory chip.
The space program bought the early 'very expensive' chips that kept the effort alive and spawned the chip-making industry we know today.

It would have eventually come...just later.
(BTW, I was already making chips when Intel started-up in 1968)

43 posted on 01/11/2015 10:45:45 AM PST by blam (Jeff Sessions For President)
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To: preacher
Thanks preacher!
The Antikythera Mechanism - 2D [non-embedded]

The Antikythera Mechanism - 2D

44 posted on 01/11/2015 10:52:22 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: catfish1957

It isn’t. The scale of that is tiny, and close-in, and there’s remnants of the medium used to lube the drill, as well as tailings.

The alternative is, other than pareidolia and the stufff sent from Earth, the only traces of intelligent activity on the nearly airless Mars are some tiny little tooling marks that just by coincidence match those left by the Earthlings’ rovers.


45 posted on 01/11/2015 10:56:14 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: lonevoice

Okay, that is really remarkable.


46 posted on 01/11/2015 10:56:15 AM PST by Pride in the USA
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To: CptnObvious

The problem with that is, the Greeks were known for building gizmos and doodads of all kinds, as well as fine work found all over Europe from that time, and into Roman times (some of Julius Caesar’s opponents among the Gauls and Germans even used Greek-style phalanx tactics and weapons). Whatever skills were in Babylon seem to have been Greeks (because they were well-distributed across the Persian Empire even in Alexander’s time) or Jews (renowned for working with silver and gold).


47 posted on 01/11/2015 11:01:27 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Holly_P

I’m sure I reposted that later, but can’t seem to turn it up. Found yours later [blush].


48 posted on 01/11/2015 11:03:35 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: BroJoeK

It worked well enough to collect a paycheck, and be long gone after enough years passed to show the error. So, kudos to that ancient engineer! :’)


49 posted on 01/11/2015 11:05:16 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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The newly updated Lionel Casson keyword:
50 posted on 01/11/2015 11:23:34 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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Travel in the Ancient World
by Lionel Casson
A gifted faker name Alexander founded an oracle in a backwater on the south shore of the Black Sea. Here, for stiff prices, a talking serpent he had rigged up answered questions for the local hayseeds... (p 135)

51 posted on 01/11/2015 11:29:16 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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Thanks SES1066.
Antikythera mechanism working model

The Antikythera Mechanism - 2D

52 posted on 01/11/2015 11:42:51 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: skinkinthegrass

No, the Tardis. ;’)


53 posted on 01/11/2015 11:43:50 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: minnesota_bound

Graphic no load.


54 posted on 01/11/2015 11:57:42 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: blam

One of the things that people miss is the inability of people to pass information over a wide range before the printing press.

You could have invented Quantum Mechanics in Ur and no one outside of a small group in a small area would have ever known.


55 posted on 01/11/2015 12:09:03 PM PST by Little Bill (EVICT Queen Jean)
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To: SunkenCiv

and to think all of this and a wheelbarrow wheel as well....


56 posted on 01/11/2015 12:12:54 PM PST by Cvengr ( Adversity in life & death is inevitable; Stress is optional through faith in Christ.)
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To: SunkenCiv

http://www.eeggs.com/images/items/3328.full.jpg

It showed up then since disappeared leaving an outline of itself. I’m telling you it’s aliens.


57 posted on 01/11/2015 12:47:10 PM PST by minnesota_bound
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To: Little Bill
"You could have invented Quantum Mechanics in Ur and no one outside of a small group in a small area would have ever known."

Excellent point.

I've read that the reason the American Indians know/knew so little of their history was that all the knowledge was kept and passed-down by the memory of the elders. The European diseases preceeded the advancement of western civilization by decades and these diseases usually killed the oldest and youngest first.
When the westerners arrived asking who built such and such...no-one knew. The elders had all died and the knowledge was lost.

58 posted on 01/11/2015 3:39:19 PM PST by blam (Jeff Sessions For President)
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To: catfish1957

Is that the main valve that turns on/off the water for the canals?


59 posted on 01/11/2015 6:18:17 PM PST by ApplegateRanch (Love me, love my guns!©)
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To: SunkenCiv

In the absence of C-clips, D-rings, and countersunk Phillips head machine screws, what held this thing together?

In the absence of modern machine tools, those have to be hand cut gears; or the wax blanks were, if they were cast. That many (~120-150 on that main one in the photo) fine teeth, on so many small gears, which have to mesh precisely, all made by hand, seems an incredible feat. IF it’s 128, then multiple bisections could be used to lay it out; otherwise how was it laid out? Brown & Sharpe weren’t born yet.

So, considering its complexity, relative accuracy, etc., it should be obvious that this was far from a first attempt.


60 posted on 01/11/2015 7:47:29 PM PST by ApplegateRanch (Love me, love my guns!©)
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