The Antikythera Mechanism Explained with Dr. Tony Freeth
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- čas přidán 31. 05. 2023
- Learn the secrets of the enigmatic Antikythera Mechanism, a remarkable ancient device with intricate gears and astonishing astronomical functions that have astounded researchers for centuries.
Dr. Tony Freeth is a founding member of the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project and an Honorary Senior Research Associate at University College, London. He holds degrees in Mathematics from Cambridge University (UK) and Bristol University (UK). His work on the Antikythera Mechanism has been published in Nature (Freeth et al, Nature 2006 and Freeth et al, Nature 2008) as well as other prominent journals.
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I love how John and crew just let their guest talk, for over half of the episode.
I am here for your amazing guests, their stories, and the good questions John asks.
Good show.
A rare trait in a largely narcissistic society...
I wonder how it would be if Neil DT was on, would John even get a sentence in? 😂
@@Njkk500 neil tyson is dipshit. He is to science, what kenneth coplan is to religion.
😊
😊
For anyone interested, the youtuber/clock maker Clickspring has an amazing series where he recreates a working model from scratch while also going into its history, recent discoveries, possible ways it was created at such precision at the time, and iirc made some discoveries himself that ended up in a peer reviewed study. Pretty fascinating stuff, and extremely satisfying videos! Great interview as ever, keep up the good work John!
Was gonna suggest this and i am glad I was beat to it. I tip my hat to you... and Clickspring
Clickspring did a beautiful job.
It slightly boggles my mind there wasn't more fanfare of him making the device with experimental methods trying to be historically accurate and a large chunk entirely by hand.
I would have expected it to go on tour around the world and be shown in exhibitions, but as far as I can tell it's just quietly gone away and just sits as a collection off CZcams video's.
Came here to shout out click spring
I was wondering if this has been accurately reproduced and if I could convince them to produce a permanent magnet pendulum clock and permanent magnet motor clock..
I could listen to this man talk about this for days. Really fascinating subject and a really wonderful orator. Thanks for letting the man speak, John, you really are a top, top notch interviewer.
I'm busy writing a novel with this as one of the MacGuffins. Apparently Indiana Jones 5 took an interest in it too, the difference is that I've done my research and made a story that's rather close to the truth and close to what people would expect from an Indiana Jones type story.... Disney..... yeah from what I heard, they pretty much fucked up with it, modern tinseltown style. Such a pity, coz there is a really fascinating story to tell, I know, coz I've written it. Just need to polish some dialogue and certain scenes, but the overall story is finished, think I'm on draft 7 now, with continuous improvements on it.
@@stijnvdv2 screw Hollywood, if you've got a great story to tell, then tell it. Good writing will stand on its own regardless of what other people do. Best of luck in your endeavors.
@@BriarLeaf00 it’s all total bogus. None of these things have every been proven scientifically. The truth is that Christ sacrificed himself for your sins & was sent to earth to cleanse mankind of all sin & evil, all that’s required is you repent to Christ & accept as Lord & savior
@@macysondheim right.... 🙄 the psychology of ideologies and cults is no doubt fascinating, just as with the (in my opinion mentally ill) woke people. But that's not the topic of conversation here.
@@macysondheim Lololol
The guest's voice is absolutely fantastic! It's like listening to a wise grandfather telling you an ancient epic! 😁
Or a very well read Pirate. I’d buy the audio book of Treasure Island if this man read it.
That’s why I listened to the whole thing ❤️
@@a.j.infowars7582 If listening to a wise grandfather telling you an ancient epic is your thing, I have two words: Irving Finkel...
(Are you an Infowars staffer or just a fan? I used to work with AJ back in the Sacred Cow/ACTV days...)
@@kenlieck7756 thanks cool man, I love AJ & Infowars. I’m just a fan.
Only SOUNDS like he smokes THREE packs a day!!!
Amazing! So, I have a few questions and thoughts:
1. How the beep did they "machine" or fashion the gears?
2. How did they write letters that were 1.6 to 2 mm high?
3. Did they have magnifying devices to see these letters while writing?
4. How did they read them? much better eyesight than mine or - again, magnifying devices?
5. There was a mention of a 1 mm offset between centers of spindles to get to the last cycle of the moon as described in the video. How do you manage such critical tolerances in a manufacturing process that predates current robust mechanical/automated manufacturing?
6. So, you manufactured one of the sixty odd gears (I hope my memory serves me right) - how did they verify that the gear was to spec?
7. Specification! How did they specify and draw out the device for the manufacturing team to follow - let alone design it!
8. How many discards did they have before they got a correctly working piece?
9. So, who did the QA on the device and when? One of the cycles was 19 years! So did they wait for that period (or an average of 9.5 years) to test that functionality?
One can go on... So many questions and thoughts.
Thank you for this detailed description.
Some answers (These answers are my own view). . .
1) Simple tools fashioned to be filing kits. They then would cut out perfect circles from 1/8 inch thick bronze plate. As for where to cut, Clickspring does a good explainer on his second channel I believe.
2) Solder. Most glyphs and characters of the mechanism (+3,000 characters - 2019 Tony Freeth) were sculpted out of the plating, however the few above characters above the plating, were made from solder.
3) The Greeks made small bottles by winding threads of molten glass onto a core of clay mixed with manure. Blacksmiths and craftsmen alike would manufacture glass designed to magnify.
4) Eye sight - Unless you were a Roman, than you might need a translator from Greek to Latin.
5) I don't know the right answer to this. My own view is too cut precise and lightly sand until tolerance is achieved.
6) The gear is the right 'spec' when the gear has the right Module (Gear Tooth Count / Gear Diameter). Again, Clickspring's second channel goes through how they could have found this. The total number of gears: depends who you ask: Freeth, Wright, Price, C. Carman. By my count: 54 (2 Lunar Gears as per Freeth - Private Communication - Sorry :( C.Carman).
7) The Ancient Greek crafts were very Very competitive. Greek neighbours wanted to own the better version of whatever their neighbour owned. Ancient Greek crafters would obtain a version of the Mechanism, and replicate it with improvements. They'd then pass on these improvements to their apprentice, and the cycle repeats.
8) It's hard to say how much discard there was when the mechanism was in its initial construction. However, they used Bronze plating which there was an no shortage of. In it's refinement and cleaner manufacturing process, the discard would be to the minimal.
9) This question does make me smile. No, short answer. The craftsmen would set the dial to the beginning of the 19 year cycle, and wind it forward to the current date and would see if everything lined up.
I've been researching the mechanism for several months for my own reconstruction for a Fully 3D printable Mechanism that anyone could print. I also know why Freeth didn't mention Clickspring but you didn't ask that question 0.0
@@sottyify thanks
VERY SHARP tools!
@traybern yes, also the hardness of the cutting tool would have to be high. This means having a good experience with metallurgy.
written by someone who has never made anything with their hands @@sottyify
Antikythera Mechanism I think is one of the greatest discoveries in archeology maybe ever. Only certain events could be higher, like the discovery of Tutankhamen tomb or finding the burial complex of the 1st Emperor of China or the ancient structure of Göbekli Tepe. But for me this Mechanism blows me away.. just the questions it brings up intrigue me too no end.
Who made it? How many were around in ancient times. How old is this device really, could it be a design 100's or even 1000 years older than its determined age. Was this some one off Genius creation by some master craftsman or was this a ancient design passed on through the ages. This level of technology is 1000's of years ahead of established understanding.. I wish it was talked about more. Some experts seem to dismiss it, cause we never found any other devices like it or even similar kinds of evidence. The fact it's only one of it's kind ever found is absolutely insane.
It generates so many questions in my mind, it basically rewrites how we envision people of those ancient times. How many other inventions of that time have we never seen?
Check 27:50 for possible construction dates.
Our history is an estimate @ best we forget more than we remember, HUMANS ARE DESIGNED TO FORGET WHAT THEY CANNOT UNDERSTAND. Understanding
The advanced technology was lost during a cataclysmic event.
It's all in the mathematics... But without knowing the cycles then the formula could not be created.. There wasone point mentioned which give a clue to the date.. The accuracy calculated is not as precise as today.. What calculations amd how inaccurate? This will should be able to be picked up via Pi.
@@a.j.infowars7582 "The advanced technology was lost during a cataclysmic event."
No it wasn't.
Some time in the 1990s I was on holiday near Athens. I went to visit the NAM in Athens and find the Mechanism before the Mechanism had been decoded. I think IBM had taken a look at it and done some X-Rays but it was displayed in a corner surrounded by many vases which seemed to be presented as more important than something with gears in it.. I am glad I have seen it for real.
I watched the full Stanford presentation on this device and it was absolutely incredible. Very technical and difficult to understand, but still very much worth the watch. CZcams does a good job of recommending the video so you should be able to find it.
The Scientists and Engineers that built this device 2200 years ago were incredible, and they don't get enough respect.
Well, they made a few mistakes. For instance, there's no user manual, and no customer support. They don't even have a Web site with a faq! The main problem with giving them credit, though, is that they forgot to sign the bloody piece. There isn't even a company logo!
I'm not entirely joking. Respect needs an object; something to be respected. We can admire their work, and respect their skill, but we can't respect them, because we don't know who they are. They may have been OK with that, though. I'm getting a serious nerd vibe from this mechanism, so they might have preferred to shut themselves into their workshop and avoid attention.
They were black 😂😂😂😂
@@CharlieBrown-zr9wk They were Greek...
They had help
This is caused by the myopic tendency of some people to think technological and cultural advancement is somehow linear when history clearly shows that is quite far from the historical trend. The people who made such were absolute experts at their trades back then and you'd need to look hard to find modern engineers who could build similar complexity devices leveled to our current tech base. They exist for sure but it's likely a smaller share than we'd care to admit.
I saw it when even through the National Archeological Museum. I called my wife over and said "look it's the Antikythera mechanism!" She said, "Uh, Ok...." But to her credit, she pretended to be excited after she saw I was hyped up about seeing it.😂😂
*files for divorce*
@@ulfhedtyrsson She was an artist, and appreciates art much more than science and history. I've probably underappreciated great art at times.
Sorry it's just a joke
@@ulfhedtyrsson I know. My post makes it sound like she's a dummy. But I was just letting folks know that's not the case. It's that our interests are not 100% aligned
@@baarbacoa You might find this fact interesting: medicine, by the Ancient Greeks, was considered an "art" while MUSIC was considered a science! Their "ascending scale of Knowledge" was: Arithmetic, Geometry, Stereometry, Music, Astronomy. This is why ALL Greeks (including children and women) had to learn Music! They were also taught to love LIFE, conquer their fear of Death and do NOT expect life "after death" (unless they became heroes-serving Humanity-then Gods might grand them IMMORTALITY) and to always look at the stars at night, because "that's where the Greeks came from"!
Amazing! Incredible! Outstanding episode John!
As someone who used to believe a decade ago that ancient alien made this device and gave it to ancient humans, listening to an actual expert explain his discoveries about this Incredible HUMAN-MADE device almost brought tears to my eyes...
We humans are unbelievably clever given enough time and resources! We built our current global civilization on the shoulders of giants and we have to make sure we can be the next giants for our descendants to stand on!
I'm glad you're no longer so silly to think that aliens have contacted humans.
So how did they build such a precision device in that early time?
Your original deduction is more realistic.
Not made by humans...
with the level of technology required to create such a device it seems obvious this was not man made back then.
What other conclusion is there?
1mm precision back then???
We stand on the shoulders of giants and the signal issue of our times is whether to allow our governments to sexually mutilate children. Thank goodness for videos like this.
oh well there's tonights video sorted... Just spent 2 hours listening to a breakdown of how they figured this out - this will be a great follow on, thank you GMD - been watching for years
A remarkable explanation of the history and function of what is probably the most important object we have from the ancient world. Dr. Freeth, who made many of the crucial discoveries about this object, gives simple, user-friendly explanations. I highly recommend his two papers in Nature, which are easy for non-scientists to understand, and which convey the intellectual excitement that surrounded this work. Best of all, Dr. Freeth credits the many contributions made by others in this amazing story. The best 53 minutes I've spent in a long time.
Really blows my mind that this channel doesn’t have several million subscribers. Love your content John!
A mechanism like that did not exist in isolation but was the result of a whole school of science and engineering. Just shows how partial our knowledge of history is
Yes its called astrology
@@miaj5118 Wrong: in Ancient Greece it was called ASTRONOMY. Huge difference!
@@miaj5118 lol those that know the least, know it the loudest
The Antikythera mechanism was WAY ahead of its time no matter how you look at it! Gears are generally thought to have been invented during the medieval period, but here we have a set of gears from Antiquity!
Yes and they been hiding things ever since about our true human history.
Before you make such claims check with the Chinese. More often than not they will have invented something first.
Before you make such claims check with the Chinese. More often than not they will have invented something first.
Not only a set of gears but an incredibly small and precise set some with teeth only 1.6mm long! Contrast this with the crude gearings of medieval times!
@@view1st I believe the process goes thus
Mediterranean: hey check out this cool idea
India: um actually we invented it first
China: ayyy lmao
It really feels as though the tendecy for man to disassemble and recycle metals like the copper alloys has caused lots of old world tech to vanish.
I mean they took the pyramid cap stones off to build a city. People are too lazy to cut the stone, mine the metal themselves so we are recyclers. I feel like a lot of humans are good at reconstituting objects to achieve a goal, maybe it's because we have been doing it so long.
Aliens, space tech, dinosaurs and ancient humanity ....this podcast reads my fantasies. Cheers John. Awesome.
All of the above ❤
I see dinosaurs as aliens in a way.
I love these videos to watch before sleep. I'm thinking about what's being said until my brain slowly switching to dream, and those dreams are trippy as hell. And I basically must watch one video 3-4 times until I get to the end of it 😄
Literally me!! This channel and Isaac Arthur are about the only way I get to sleep! Anton Petrov is great too but his videos usually aren't long enough.
So you put it on and fall asleep to it? I do that with The Why Files. I’ll start with this channel too. Thanks
@@PatPauloMMA Always!
Great show.
Absolutely fascinating.
This was another incredible episode. I learned so much, having known very little about this topic before. I am in awe of the craftsmanship, design work and attention to scientific detail that the Greeks put into this mechanism. I don't need people telling me that aliens built the pyramids etc - our ancestors were capable of incredible feats of engineering all on their own by putting in a lot of thought and hard, skilled work. Dr Freeth spoke very well and is obviously passionate about his subject.
Love. This. Topic. Can't wait to watch later!
Thanks for topics and guests I hope to hear ! Thanks John & co
There has been so much nonsense when discussing this device. Fun though it is to speculate, it's nice to hear some real discussion about it!
Great interview/discussion on an amazing artefact that still holds immense fascination, and unanswered questions still.
This was great "new" information. Absolutely enjoyed this! Thank you both!
I love this channel so much. Every time a new video drops it's such a good feeling.
Thank you!
Î am fascinated by this and the fact that the ancient Greeks built such a machine. It only proves that my old obsession with ancient Greece is not that crazy.
Outstanding interview.
Thank you.
Incredibly interesting, thanks for another great interview and video, John. ♥️👍
Love the podcast. I really look forward to seeing all of these. Thank you so much.
The 2016 Stanford lecture was just as engaging! Thank you all for the new review!
Thank you very much for this incredible podcast!
This was extra good, thank you!
keep in mind that ancient people took omens very seriously and the cosmos was a great source of omens... so if you're an emperor, or a general or a city-planner, or some high level decision-maker, a computer that can track major omens in the cosmos with a high degree of accuracy could potentially be a priceless asset. important to consider these things through what we know about people's worldview at the time.
Well...maybe. Much of what we know about ancient culture and the educated people of the time is just made up by archeologists to fit a convenient theory that shows history is completely linear and that we are the end all and be all and everything great about homo sapiens.
Much of history is just fantasy created to explain ancient cultures that doesn't upset the pet theories of the status quo. Archeology is not much of a science...its more of a philosophy created in the humanities.
I love seeing John branching out a little from the typical topics. This mechanism has always fascinated ne!
More to come!
@@EventHorizonShowcan't wait to watch and listen to it! Hope all is well with you and yours ✌️
Hopefully doing some different topics like these will bring you in some more viewers and subs. You definitely deserve way more than you have!
That was amazingly interesting, I've been interested in this for a long time and this was a well shared insight into the understanding of it.
Outstanding video! I’ve never been so enthralled!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Excellent coverage. Keep it coming. ❤
Great show. Great guest 👍
The discovery of devices like this just make one wonder what other great knowledge was lost and forgotten . Imagine if these sort of this were never lost
The Enigma machine, and the Antikythera mechanism Are two of my favorite devices, one from antiquity, and the other from recent history (I have apps for both on my iPhone). Thanks for this great interview.
it's amazing also that with everything we have, the decades of work etc... we still haven't completely figured it out yet or have a complete working model. so intriguing
I love the humility on this guy
Great to get this "from the horses mouth" so to speak! Such fascinating item.
Your guest is a.great fast thinking speaker. If you were to print out and read all of of his dialogue,it would be a perfect script for a documentary his study of the previous people studying the mechanism and the origin of the discovery are ingrained in his contiousness and the way he keeps me glued to this episode even though I have heard most of these facts previously after viewing every CZcams channel I could find on the subject. Personally I would like to see individual photos of everything found from the shipwreck
Shoot, i thought it was a documentary! Lol. Great voice too.
I subscribed yesterday! This is great content, thank you!
Looking forward to this one
Thank you for keeping the imagery on the device and not on talking heads. Well done.
Lovely as always
Astonishing! Thank you!
Such a fan of Tony Freeth! Michael Wright's working models are pretty incredible; he's the quintessential eccentric English, garden shed engineer/inventor. This was a fantastic listen! When was this interview recorded; close to 2 June 2023, or earlier?
There's a video here on youtube of someone recreating the Antikythera mechanism. Took him something like 18 months with modern machines. I can only imagine how many years this must have taken to make in Ancient Greece.
genius mechanism and lovely presentation
Utterly fascinating!
No love for Chris from Clickspring? I mean his reconstruction might be as flawed as others from a theoretical point of view but it's probably the most advanced from a manufacturing perspective and we _are_ on CZcams after all.
Wasn’t aware of it. Will look into it.
@@EventHorizonShow oh you're in for a treat!
Another big thing people are missing with this device is how they were able to strategically place so many gears into such a small device and have it operate smoothly without binding up.
Congrats, amazing podcast!
Thanks for listening
I'm loving these archeology episodes. I wonder if Eric Cline would be interested in doing an interview. 🤔
This is absolutely amazing. It very hard for us to understand this device because we don't really now how much the ancient people new. This device shows the knowledge of these people more than the written history does.
The core question missing from this conversation is motive. Within the cultural context of the ancient world why would the ability to predict future cycles and movements of the moon and planets, eclipses and other astronomical events matter enough to invest the considerable resources required to design and build a machine capable of calculating and making these astronomical forecasts with such precision? It seems to me that astrology, pantheistic religion, and the prevalent belief in mystical omens and prophesy was of very great importance to the ancients. The ability to predict when an eclipse will next happen or when the moon with it's seemingly variable pace of movement through the sky would next be in a particular house of the zodiac were of great importance to all sorts of administrative decisions, war strategy, and pretty much any other project planning that the ancients might want to undertake. If I'm right about this, then the Antikythera Mechanism is a remarkable artifact in so far as it employed very sophisticated mathematics, scientific observations, and technological skill in the service of what was ultimately a mystical end goal or purpose of assisting augury and oracular prophesy. The mechanism was probably a sacred object of the priests of some temple, something secretly consulted before they would pronounce an answer to a question put to their oracle. The shipwreck it was found on sounds like it was probably a treasure ship filled with looted spoils of war, and a sacred object capable of predicting the movements of the heavens would certainly be considered a great treasure in the ancient world.
Great journey you took us on,beautifully informative.
Tiny criticism- you don’t need the music - it distracts rather than adds to the sense of wonder
"Tiny criticism- you don’t need the music"
I thought it was fine and added to the sense of wonder of the spoken voice.
what a remarkable interview....time flew
Thank you for watching.
Love the show guys ❤
One of the most amazing objects we've ever seen on Earth
Fascinating video.
28:40 Just a minor correction, Cicero was Roman not Greek. Though he also had a Greek education, so no doubt that's what caused the mistake. But Doctor Freeth explained the device very simply and very well. One of the best explanations of something from the ancient wold that I have ever heard. If I had more Profs like him in college, I might have actually learned something there.😀
31:30 - It's so humbling looking back at our ancestors from more than two millennia, and knowing that they were just as ingenious and curious in understanding their world as we are, despite their lack of knowledge and technology.
On the topic of why they made the Antikythera Mechanism, but not simpler things like clocks: Just because they could make the Antikythera Mechanism doesn't mean a clock would be easy. Why go through the intense effort of manufacturing something that tells the time? The average pleb at the time probably just looked at where the sun was in the sky and said "yeah, it's about dusk." That was all the timekeeping they needed. If they really wanted something more accurate, even a sundial would be infinitely more easier and reasonable to make.
So why the Antikythera Mechanism? I think because it literally tracks the movement of The Heavens... Of the Gods... It basically calculated divine knowledge. Might as well make at least one of these both for it's potential practical purposes and as a tribute to The Gods it keeps track of.
The thing about clocks is that they had them. The Greco-Roman world had really elaborate water clocks, some even self-correcting to a degree, so the concept was there. It just appeared that they hadn't made the leap to the job of the water being done through a wound metal spring. They may not have had springs, but It might also just have been a matter that they did actually know to do that, but these mechanisms were so expensive to construct at the time that no one bit when the water clocks and sun dials were good enough.
As a Greek guy who has tried to read some of the transcribed text on the machine (and understands most of the words), it looks like a user's manual that was printed right on top of the device. Many words are missing of course, but in general I think it's trying to explain to the user what the outputs mean. That's probably the reason for the small text, they just had to fit all those words there. I just find that very interesting, because if that's true it means that the device was made for laymen, it wasn't a device that was shared between scientists in academies. Probably government officials or farmers or just rich people who wanted a cool gadget and didn't understand/weren't interested in learning how it works, they just wanted to be able to read it.
I think you’ve understood it exactly. A device that could be use to predict in advance when the gods would smile or frown could have led to success or failure of human enterprise under the polytheistic belief system of astronomical signs. Wealthy men and kings would pay a fortune to accurately ensure that fate smiled upon risky endeavors. Whoever could establish himself as a guarantor of heavenly signs would be a most trusted advisor, or a proven analog computing device might do so without the chance of subterfuge.
No disruption of space-time continuum required.
Thanks!
... the question remains "why did the ancients want to track eclipses?" ... how did it serve their purposes?
👍🏻 fascinating, enthralling.
Fascinating!
Having an interest in design, I personally think the most interesting part of this is the development phase that went into creating it. I mean how many steps of more simple mechanisms went before it? Was it possible to be a one off creation? I doubt it, was this a top line model of a more common device? We'll never know but I think its intriguing.
Superb...knowledge....knowledge.... knowledge .....the group that produced this could be flying 🛸 those discs we se .........fascinating ....music in background is very cool.....
One of the most fascinating archeological objects ever discovered
This us a great video on a facinating device. The questions it creates and some of answers are startling. I hope Xtech, not sure of the spelling, is doing well. They pursued an expensive project when most businesses would have been more concerned with existence.
Great video !
Fascinating
Love love love a Thursday, Event Horizon is a highlight of every week, greatness! 🙌❤💫
Seems like this would be invaluable for navigation in an open ocean when clouds obscure the sky.
Just….amazing…!
Yes! Good ol John Godier, I know it's gonna be good when he's the speaker.
The device is anchored upon this ratio, 1445 * (7007/12) / 365.2422
1445 : 2310
Venus Synodic Cycles : Earth Years
7007/12 = 583.917 days
Precisely 12 phases of Venus in 7007 days on Earth.
That explains the mechanism but how did it work in practice. How did they set it up, was it continuous or could the set up with reference to stars and moon. Sorry if discussed, at gym whilst watching and sometimes I have to focus on exercise. But what an excellent way to enjoy exercise by listening to one of my favourite podcast.
Technology like this must have taken generations upon generations to mature. Ignoring what they might have used this device for, there almost had to be various sorts of complex gear devices being used by relatively wealthy people.
Yes, you would certainly think so. They didn’t just suddenly create a device like this… without any predecessor. Even if those earlier examples of this technology are out there somewhere waiting to be discovered, the creator of this one had to be an absolute genius. It’s fascinating to think about.
That is certainly the suspicion of many historians but the lack of evidence prevents speculation. But I mean when one looks at the relative sophistication of the greco roman world, its almost unavoidable. Its like all the other books from antiquity mentioned only in passing. Happens all the time. A good example for the anglo world is like if Shakespeare whole saved body of work would be A Midsummer Night's Dream, but in passing by other peoples writing you hear there were other works like Hamlet or Macbeth. Probably masterpieces but who knows.
@@Atrahasis7 Yeah it has been noted however that because its bronze once any tool or other artifact is no longer needed/useful they generally remelted it down because bronze was very valuable. Thus the absence of such artifacts outside of things lost at sea or burial isn't that surprising either.
This is a subject I've been fascinated with for many years now (well over a decade, at least). It's honestly one of the most remarkable pieces of historical technology and, perhaps, one of the most poignant examples of (supposed) anachronism.
I can't help wondering whether there might be indications of the precession of the equinoxes built into this incredibly complex device?
The engraved text, thousands of digits, were less than 2mm tall, did they have magnifying glasses back then ?
They ate a LOT of carrots!
We've done this all before, risen up and driven down over and over again for probably millions upon millions of years.
Makes one wonder what’s been lost to time that we don’t know anything about.
A few years back I purchased as partially working full scale model of this device from a museum (Kotsanas Museum) in Greece for 550 Euros (2019). It is based on models predating 2005 (Freeth et al). This is a nice model but a bit pricey.
They do ‘em with 3D printers now. $14.99 at Walmart.
Look for ancient jewellery and religious icons that have over engineered parts that look like gears and you may find repurposed parts of a broken mechanism.
Quite an event this episode...a Greek horizon from centuries old... finally opens up by this research
Our history of evolution and humanity needs a greater looking at and re examining on all levels.
I wondering the checked the composition of the bronze alloy they used? Bronze can be identified by reigion and age by trace elements and specific amounts of those with specific copper tin ratios.
Would A.I. perhaps be able to figure out various versions of what a complete working model could have been?
Some try to say the technology (tooling, esp) to build this 1500 years ago had to come from "other worlds". Do we have any archeological evidence from that time period that provides any method or clue that would proport abilities of making extremely thin metals, tiny etchings, etc., such as what's found in this device?
Fascinating interview.
Wow, pretty cool
JMG!!! 😎👍