Produced by: Tarun Mishra Designed by: Manoj Kumar
New research on spacetime ripples reveals that the 2,000-year-old Antikythera mechanism, an ancient Greek device, followed the lunar calendar rather than the solar one.
The Antikythera mechanism, a hand-powered mechanical computer, was found in a sunken shipwreck near the Greek island of Antikythera in 1901, sparking over a century of research.
The device used gears and dials to track astronomical events, including solar eclipses and planetary movements, demonstrating advanced ancient Greek craftsmanship.
Researchers are using techniques from gravitational wave research, which studies spacetime ripples from cosmic events, to understand the mechanics of the Antikythera’s gears.
Previous research in 2021 used X-ray imaging to uncover details of the mechanism’s “calendar ring,” revealing regularly spaced holes and inscriptions describing astronomical motions.
The new study, published in the Horological Journal, suggests the calendar ring likely contained 354 holes, aligning with a lunar year of 354 days, a system used in ancient Egyptian and Islamic calendars.
The Antikythera mechanism combined Babylonian astronomy, Platonic mathematics, and Greek astronomical theories, showing a complex and interdisciplinary design.
Statistical models, including Bayesian statistics and methods from LIGO’s gravitational wave research, helped predict the number of holes in the calendar ring, supporting the lunar calendar theory and highlighting the use of modern techniques to understand ancient technology.