The Antikythera mechanism — the corroded bronze object that turned out to be a 2,000-year-old planetary computer — was recovered in 1900 from where?
Greek sponge divers under Dimitrios Kontos took shelter from a storm in the lee of Antikythera island in April 1900 and made a routine seabed inspection of the anchorage. One of them, Elias Stadiatis, brought up a single bronze arm. The first state recovery operation began in November 1900 and continued for ten months, eventually producing the mechanism, several substantial bronze and marble sculptures (the Antikythera Youth, the Antikythera Philosopher), substantial glassware, and thousands of ceramic amphorae. The wreck dates to approximately 60 BC. The mechanism was identified as something more than corroded bronze in 1902.
Read the full story →Sponge divers found a corroded lump of bronze in 1901. It took a hundred and twenty years to admit what it actually was.
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