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Imaging the Antikythera Mechanism

Conference ·
OSTI ID:1043271
In 1900, a party of sponge divers chanced on the wreck of a Roman merchant vessel between Crete and mainland Greece. It was found to contain numerous ancient Greek treasures, among them a mysterious lump of clay that split open to reveal ‘mathematical gears’ as it dried out. This object is now known as the Antikythera Mechanism, one of the most enlightening artifacts in terms of revealing the advanced nature of ancient Greek science and technology. In 2005 we travelled to the National Archeological Museum in Athens to apply our Reflectance Imaging methods to the mechanism in the hopes of revealing ancient writing on the device. We were successful, and along with the results of Microfocus CT imaging, epigraphers were able to decipher 3000 characters.
Research Organization:
PPPL (Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States))
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
OSTI ID:
1043271
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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