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Antikythera Mechanism a century older


Ozfactor

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And some still belive carbon dating is accurate....

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And some still belive carbon dating is accurate....

You mean somebody carbon dated a piece of Bronze?

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It's the donkey wheel from LOST. The smoke monster is just around the corner..

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Wow!

You do prattle on, don't you? :yes:

Prattle ? Let me guess , retired and all the time in the world to prattle ! ..
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And some still belive carbon dating is accurate....

It helps to read the article which tells you that they are basing the new date on '

"eclipse calculator tells us its at least a century older".

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Anything else to say?

Yes , I don't think the Antikythera Mechanism was unique . That degree of precision and fine tuning takes decades , generations to evolve . It would not have just suddenly appeared overnight , it would have had a series of prototypes and designs before and after . It is beautiful and it is mysterious , who did it belong to , where did it come from , who was the creator ? . I would love to see it , seeing something in real life is always a much more profound experience then seeing it in a photo , but then again, sometimes it can be disappointing .

All up , the Antikythera Mechanism is a fascinating and thought provoking object and has a well deserved place in history , even the mention of Archimedes influence is staggering ,considering so little is known of him ..

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Yes , I don't think the Antikythera Mechanism was unique . That degree of precision and fine tuning takes decades , generations to evolve . It would not have just suddenly appeared overnight , it would have had a series of prototypes and designs before and after . It is beautiful and it is mysterious , who did it belong to , where did it come from , who was the creator ? . I would love to see it , seeing something in real life is always a much more profound experience then seeing it in a photo , but then again, sometimes it can be disappointing .

All up , the Antikythera Mechanism is a fascinating and thought provoking object and has a well deserved place in history , even the mention of Archimedes influence is staggering ,considering so little is known of him ..

I did get a chance to see it, and it is much larger than the photos would suggest. Unlike the Mona Lisa, which is so tiny compared to the size you would expect it to be.

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Yes , I don't think the Antikythera Mechanism was unique . That degree of precision and fine tuning takes decades , generations to evolve . It would not have just suddenly appeared overnight , it would have had a series of prototypes and designs before and after . It is beautiful and it is mysterious , who did it belong to , where did it come from , who was the creator ? . I would love to see it , seeing something in real life is always a much more profound experience then seeing it in a photo , but then again, sometimes it can be disappointing .

All up , the Antikythera Mechanism is a fascinating and thought provoking object and has a well deserved place in history , even the mention of Archimedes influence is staggering ,considering so little is known of him ..

I disagree. the Antikythera Machine is unique, there's been nothing found like it to date.

I put this machine in the same category as many other ancient accomplishments that scientists have not been able to satisfactorily explain.

I'm reluctant to bring up the age old question "Have we been here before?" but some things simply cannot be otherwise explained.

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The knowledge was there at that time , the Antikythera Mechanism only shows the heavenly bodies known to that age . The mention of Archimedes really opened up another avenue of research , he was known to have created devices that moved with gears , showing how the planets moved . It was believed he died before the Antikythera Mechanism was constructed but the age of the Antikythera Mechanism changes , now it looks like it was created before he was born ! . If it was created after he died, it could have been a direct influence from Achimedes and his prototypes of a moving planetary system and if it was created before he was born , the Antikythera Mechanism could have influenced Achimedes own work . The Antikythera Mechanism is undoubtedly beautiful and for its time it would have been a wonder , as it is now . It is unique , in that it survived , was an obvious luxury and was the result of generations upon generations of star gazers :)

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I did get a chance to see it, and it is much larger than the photos would suggest. Unlike the Mona Lisa, which is so tiny compared to the size you would expect it to be.

That must have been wonderful ! .. I was prepared for Mona Lisa , but was still surprised , such a small painting for such a large personality !! .. Where did you see the Antikythera Mechanism and what year ? Was it an effort to see it ,did you have to travel far ? Edited by Ozfactor
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The knowledge was there at that time , the Antikythera Mechanism only shows the heavenly bodies known to that age . The mention of Archimedes really opened up another avenue of research , he was known to have created devices that moved with gears , showing how the planets moved . It was believed he died before the Antikythera Mechanism was constructed but the age of the Antikythera Mechanism changes , now it looks like it was created before he was born ! .

On what basis do you say that? The article says the device includes a reference to an event which occurred seven years after he died.

Now while this suggests the device is at least that old, I'm not so sure. An alternative explanation I'd like to throw out is that perhaps that date is some sort of calibration - as long as the operator knew about the 205BC eclipse that would form a baseline from which future events would be dated (I'm completely guessing here as I have no idea how the device worked) - sort of like how in the SAP payroll program the default start date for anything is 1 January 1800 even though no employee was born back then.

If it was created after he died, it could have been a direct influence from Achimedes and his prototypes of a moving planetary system and if it was created before he was born , the Antikythera Mechanism could have influenced Achimedes own work .

Agreed.

The Antikythera Mechanism is undoubtedly beautiful and for its time it would have been a wonder , as it is now . It is unique , in that it survived , was an obvious luxury and was the result of generations upon generations of star gazers :)

Absolutely. I understand Toyomotor's point that the device as we know it is unique. But that doesn't mean it actually was unique.

We know that from around the start of the 4th century BC a series of remarkable engineering advances came out of Syracuse, starting with things like the crossbow and catapult. These sorts of devices increased in size, complexity and efficiency over the centuries, so I think it's reasonable to say that Greek engineers were able to improve the quality of their metallurgy to make such devices possible. We also know that various locations in the Hellenistic Greek world (that is, in the centuries after the death of Alexander the Great) there were plenty of skilful mathematicians and engineers - Archimedes himself, Hero of Alexandria, Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, Aristarchus and Euclid - coming up with all sorts of mathematical proofs and intriguing engines (Hero's steam engine, for example).

So while the technology these people developed never became widely used (because labour was still very cheap, thanks to slavery) there's no doubt in my mind that a narrow thread of high technology passed down through this society, eventually to be taken over by the Romans as they conquered various parts of the Hellenistic world, and then preserved by the Byzantine Empire, perhaps as late as the time of the Fourth Crusade in 1204. There are reports up to about the end of the 10th century, for example, that the throne of the Byzantine Emperor was mounted on some sort of device which allowed it to be quickly raised, and that the throne room contained a metal object in the shape of a tree with birds which used water power to blow whistles which imitated the birds' songs. Some of this technology also seems to have been picked up by the Arabs following their conquest of Syria and Egypt, as a similar narrow thread of high technology can be detected in the Abbasid Caliphate as well.

All this comes across as being little more than playthings for the extremely rich and not particularly practical as labour-efficiency multipliers, but it shows that plenty of people in the Hellenistic world had the intelligence to conceive and the skills to create objects such as the Antikythera Device.

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That must have been wonderful ! .. I was prepared for Mona Lisa , but was still surprised , such a small painting for such a large personality !! .. Where did you see the Antikythera Mechanism and what year ? Was it an effort to see it ,did you have to travel far ?

It is housed at the National Archeological Museum in Athens Greece along with many other artifacts discovered in the wreckage. I was able to visit Athens this past May, I highly recommend it.

Edited by Razer
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Looks like that exhibit was temporary, I can't seem to find where it it is now.

It could be on loan

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And some still belive carbon dating is accurate....

What carbon dating has got to do with it ? Its for dating organic remnants

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