The Antikythera mechanism — an ancient shoebox-sized device that was used to track the motions of the sun, moon and planets — followed the Greek lunar calendar, not the solar one used by the Egyptians, as was previously thought, new research reveals.
The Antikythera mechanism, found by sponge divers off the Greek island of Antikythera in 1901, was created around 2,200 years ago. The device, which contains bronze gears, has sometimes been called the world’s oldest computer.
One piece 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 about for some time, it’s only partially preserved, so it’s unclear how many days it was meant to track.
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