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

Comments

[pmcray]

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).

[undyingking]

And why did they not have a greater impact on history?

That'd be those time travellers / aliens again.

[zengineer]

My guess is that it is similar in complexity to watchmaking. In medieval times this could be handled in a workshop with a master, a few journeymen and a handful of aprentices. Only hand tools and measuring equipment are necessary. They clearly used journal bearings but my key question would be were lathes used?

[pmcray]

It's a pity that we don't have more examples of ancient devices of these kinds - just one. No-one was, it seems, burying them in hordes in the way they do with coins. I suppose they were easily transportable and might not have seemed valuable to your average Saxon raider, but, of course, these are specialised pieces of kit and there presumably weren't that many astrologer-astronomers were needed them - or could afford them.

I do think there is a novel in all this.

[fractalgeek]

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

[undyingking]

Sounds plausible.

[ar_gemlad]

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...)

[undyingking]

You see, you shoud be posting about these things, not leaving it to ignorami like me ;-)

[ar_gemlad]

Ah, but as a librarian, I can only respond to these things. My brain has no original thought ;)

[verlaine]

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

[undyingking]

That's what They want you to think.