Archaeology & History

Antikythera Mechanism is older than believed

By T.K. Randall
November 28, 2014

Image: Antikythera Mechanism - National Archaeological Museum, Athens
Credit: Joyofmuseums / CC BY-SA 4.0 (adapted) The world's oldest known computer, the Antikythera Mechanism, is a geared astronomical calculator that was discovered in the wreck of a ship that sunk near an island between Greece and Crete.

Up until now the device was believed to date back to 50 BC, but thanks to a new study this figure has since been pushed back a further 150 years on the basis that the mechanism itself appeared to have been an antique even at the time that the ship sunk. Archaeologists now believe that it dates back to around 200 BC.One of the most telling new finds that lead to this conclusion was the discovery that the mechanism seemed to cover an event that took place on May 12, 205 BC.

This also dates the device to just seven years after the death of genius inventor Archimedes whose mathematical discoveries may have heavily influenced the device's design and construction.

Source: News.com.au

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