A lump of corroded metal was pulled from the ocean floor in 1901, along with an extraordinary cache of monumental Greek art artifacts. Found near the Greek island of Antikythera, the crusty object was soon revealed to be nothing short of extraordinary.
Upon investigation, researchers determined it to be a piece of advanced ancient technology—they classified the object as an “analog computer” some 2,000 years old.
How Was It Discovered?
Diving for sponges was their goal, but the fishermen who explored the seafloor near Antikythera, an island between Crete and Laconia, over a century ago found more than they bargained for: they located the remains of an ancient Greek shipwreck. Amid its cargo, there were museum-caliber bronze and marble statues, vases, and other precious artifacts. The strange mechanism was spotted among them.
