The Archaeology Thread

[Anomalocaris]

UCL team solves Antikythera Mechanism mystery

The 2005 data revealed thousands of text characters hidden inside the fragments, unread for nearly 2000 years. Inscriptions on the back cover include a description of the cosmos display, with the planets moving on rings and indicated by marker beads. The team worked to reconstruct this display.

Two critical numbers in the X-rays of the front cover, of 462 years and 442 years, accurately represent cycles of Venus and Saturn respectively. When observed from Earth, the plants’ cycles sometimes reverse their motions against the stars. Experts must track these cycles over long time-periods to predict their positions.

PhD candidate and team member Aris Dacanalis explained that the classic astronomy of the first millennium BC originated in Babylon, but that nothing in the astronomy suggested how the ancient Greeks found the highly accurate cycles for Saturn and Venus.

Using an ancient Greek mathematical method described by the philosopher Parmenides, the team has reportedly discovered how the cycles were derived, as well as recovering the cycles of all other planets where evidence was missing.

“After considerable struggle, we managed to match the evidence in Fragments A and D to a mechanism for Venus, which exactly models its 462-year planetary period relation, with the 63-tooth gear playing a crucial role,” said PhD candidate and team member David Higgon.

Professor Freeth explained that the team then created mechanisms for all of the planets that would calculate the new advanced astronomical cycles and minimise the number of gears in the whole system, so that they would fit into the tight spaces available.

I am on a 2 year project to scratch building a working model of the antikythera device out of brass and styrene plastic.   The bearings are sliding brass tubes, most, hopefully all, gears will be cut from sheet styrene.  

For those who don’t want to take the trouble to research and make a working model of antikythera model from scratch, but like to hold one anyway, kotsanas museum sells a Working replica made from wood and brass, just like the original.  At 220 Euros it is a bargain.    When I started it was 600 euros.

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Lost large civilization in the Amazon .  Until recently it was largely unknown outside Brazilian archeological community, and still largely unknown to the general public.     In some ways, the lost civilization in the Amazon may be the closest humans have come to creating an alien civilization unlike any other earthly civilizations, because it is the only major settled civilization that probably wasn’t based on agriculture of one of the 10 major staple crops of the world.