In 1900 diver Elias Stadiatis, clad in a copper and brass helmet and a heavy canvas suit, emerged from the sea shaking in fear and mumbling about a “heap of dead naked people.” He was among a group of Greek divers from the Eastern Mediterranean island of Symi who were searching for natural sponges. They had sheltered from a violent storm near the tiny island of Antikythera, between Crete and mainland Greece.
Ancient Astronomy We know the Greeks of that era were accomplished naked-eye astronomers. They viewed the night sky from a geocentric perspective—every night, as Earth turned on its axis, they saw the dome of stars rotating. The stars’ relative positions remained unchanged, so the Greeks called them the “fixed stars.” These early astronomers also saw bodies moving against the background of stars: the moon goes through a rotation against the stars every 27.3 days; the sun takes a year.
One of the central researchers in the early years of Antikythera research was German philologist Albert Rehm, the first person to understand the mechanism as a calculating machine. Between 1905 and 1906 he made crucial discoveries that he recorded in his unpublished research notes. He found, for instance, the number 19 inscribed on one of the surviving Antikythera fragments.
It seems that the device could be used to predict the positions of the sun, moon and planets on any specific day in the past or future. The maker of the machine would have had to calibrate it with the known positions of these bodies. A user could then simply turn a crank to the desired time frame to see astronomical predictions.
The new data surprised us. The first major breakthrough was my discovery that the mechanism predicted eclipses in addition to the motions of the astronomical bodies. This finding was connected to the inscription Rehm had found that mentioned the 223-month saros eclipse cycle. The new x-rays revealed a large, 223-tooth gear at the rear of the mechanism that turns a pointer around a dial that spirals out, making four turns in total that are divided into 223 sections, for 223 months.
The Front of the Mechanism The most prominent feature of the front of the largest fragment is the main drive wheel, which was designed to rotate once a year. It is not a flat disc like most of the other gears; this one has four spokes and is covered in puzzling features. The spokes show evidence that they held bearings: there are circular holes in them for turning axles.
Also this conversation, with great comments by archaeologist Matt Riggsby and student Spencer McDaniel (among others):
laurahelmuth ... the short lifespan and slavery programs Enki put into us to make us servants. It is a timely article... and relevant to the question of who but the extra-terrestials would understand genetics enough to make biological weapons to make us all weak, chaotic, and of low IQ?
laurahelmuth They were the ones who figured out the cycles. They were the ones who built the machine. Thoth was know for his achievements in engineering and medicine. Good personality too, compared to his brother Marduk... who screwed us up... almost as badly as the short lifespan and slavery
laurahelmuth The Sumerian culture was built by the extra-terrestials, as Sitchin tells it. Enki (Ptah) and his son Ningishzidda (Toth) spent about 36,000 of our years observing the stars and planets from the Moon. It was ten years of their time.
iosif_lazaridis I'd love to read it, but after the hatchet job they did on E.O. Wilson, I'll never go to that site again.
Great article about amazing work, but with a bad headline. Not befuddled, nor baffled. Experts know these existed.
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