Another stalwart of wackyology

[undyingking]

Having talked about the mysterious Voynich Manuscript recently, today along comes the Antikythera Device, also beloved of peculiar conspiracy theorists.

Not quite as mysterious, as we pretty much know what it was for -- astronomical calculations. But there is the puzzle of how it was possible, 2000 years ago, to manufacture such an intricate and precise mechanism. Time travel? Aliens? Very good craftsmanship? Make your own choice.

The new story is that some guy has built a functioning replica, and here's a New Scientist video of him explaining it. You do have to wonder how much "educated guesswork" he had to use to fill in the sizable gaps in what is firmly known about its workings and detailed purpose. But it's still pretty impressive.

Comments

[pmcray.livejournal.com]

What is particularly fascinating is that there must have been an industrial and technical infrastructure to support the design and manufacture of these kinds of devices - we do have mentions in the literature of other, similar devices - but there seems to be no obvious trace of that infrastructure - or the objects that it produced. What kinds of things did they make? And why did they not have a greater impact on history? Of course, this is a variation on the Needham Question (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/inourtime_20061019.shtml).

[fractalgeek.livejournal.com]

I've seen it explained away as "they were very good at making toys, but for real work, they had slaves".

[ar-gemlad.livejournal.com]

He has had to use a certain amount of educated guesswork, but a lot more is known about the mechanism since Derek J. Solla Price made his model in the 1970s. Price was the first person to do any real research on the device, using X-rays to distinguish the gears. Recently, more sophisticated imaging techniques have been used.

And you say "we pretty much know what is was for" - but if we do, it's only in the last couple of years that it's been figured out (and therefore there hasn't been time for anyone to seriously disagree!)

For further reading, I can recommend The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project and Jo Marchant's new book, "Decoding the Heavens".

(Strange bit of recursion there: doing work whilst skiving at work...)

[verlaine.livejournal.com]

Do they name these things to sound like artefacts from Call of Cthulhu campaigns on purpose?