The Antikythera Mechanism – an ancient shoebox-sized device used to track the movements of the sun, moon and planets – followed the Greek lunar calendar, not the solar one used by the Egyptians as previously thought, a new study finds.
of The Antikythera Mechanism, found by sponge divers on the Greek island of Antikythera in 1901, was created about 2,200 years ago. The device, which contains bronze gears, has been called the world’s oldest computer ever.
One part of the mechanism, known as the “calendar ring”, was used to track the days of the year, with one hole per day. While the ring has been known for some time, it has only been partially preserved, so it is unclear how many days it was meant to be tracked.
In 2020, a team led by independent researcher Chris Budiselic used new X-ray images of the device, combined with measurements and mathematical analysis, to determine that the mechanism likely did not cover a full solar calendar year. but rather 354 days, as he would. to be used in a lunar calendar.
On Thursday (June 27), another paper in The Horological Journal found a similar result. A team from the University of Glasgow used statistical techniques developed for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory to detect gravitational waves – ripples in space-time produced by the collisions of massive celestial objects such as black holes. These statistical methods are sensitive enough to detect weak signals from a potentially very noisy background.
When the researchers trained powerful statistical techniques on the Antikythera Mechanism, they were able to use the positioning of the known holes, as well as the likely fit of the mechanism’s fragments, to deduce the number and placement of the missing holes. They eventually determined that the mechanism likely had 354 or 355 holes. This meant that it likely followed the 354-day lunar calendar used in Greece at the time, rather than the 365-day calendar used by the ancient egyptians.
It was thought that he could have used the 365 day Egyptian solar calendar as it is more accurate than the 354 day lunar calendar.
“The Glasgow team’s results provide new evidence that one of the components of the Antikythera mechanism was most likely used to track the Greek lunar year,” the researchers said in a STATEMENT from the university.
The team was impressed with the device makers’ attention to detail.
“The accuracy of positioning the holes would require very precise measuring techniques and an incredibly steady hand to hit them,” study co-author. Graham Woan, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Glasgow said in the statement. “It is a neat symmetry that we have adapted the techniques we use to study the universe today to understand more about a mechanism that helped people keep track of the heavens nearly two millennia ago.”
Andrew Thoeni, a co-author of the 2020 paper, praised the new research. “We are very happy that more researchers are accepting and validating our findings,” Thoeni told Live Science in an email.
Diomidis Spinellisa professor of software engineering at the Athens University of Economics and Business, who has researched the mechanism but was not involved in either of these papers, was also impressed with the new work.
“The Antikythera Mechanism is a gift that keeps on giving,” Spinellis told Live Science in an email. “Despite its severe corrosion and many missing elements, the application of increasingly sophisticated technologies and innovative interdisciplinary analyzes continue to provide impressive insights into this remarkable artifact.”