Mystery of the ‘Dial of Destiny’ is SOLVED after 2,000 years: Scientists finally uncover the true use for the ancient device that inspired Indiana Jones

It served as the inspiration for the ‘Dial of Destiny’ in the final Indiana Jones movie. 

And now scientists believe they may have finally solved the mystery of the Antikythera Mechanism.

Dating back more than 2,000 years, the mysterious ancient Greek device is generally considered the oldest computer in history. 

Some scientists describe it as the most complex piece of engineering to have survived from the ancient world. 

Others say it was a hand-powered mechanical device used to predict the positions of the sun, moon and the planets.

Such is its level of sophistication that alien enthusiasts have even made wild suggestions that it could be evidence of extraterrestrials passing on knowledge to ancient human civilisations.  

But a new study suggests an alternative theory for the Antikythera Mechanism.

Researchers from the National University of Mar del Plata in Argentina now theorize that it was more of a toy than a working computer. 

A fragment of the 2,100-year-old Antikythera Mechanism, believed to be the earliest surviving mechanical computing device

The device was the inspiration for the Archimedes Dial in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, starring Harrison Ford and Fleabag star Phoebe Waller-Bridge. This fictionalised version of the Antikythera Mechanism predicts the location of naturally occurring fissures in time, allowing the travelers to travel back in time 

In 1901, divers looking for sponges off the coast of the Greek island, Antikythera, discovered a mechanical device among the ruins of a sunken ship. 

The mysterious object made of bronze was dated to the late second or early first century BC, and from that time on there has been much debate in the scientific community regarding its purpose. 

Unfortunately, the shoebox-sized device had broken into fragments and eroded, contributing to uncertainties and farfetched theories surrounding its original purpose. 

Since only one of this type has ever been found, some have suggested it had an otherworldly origin – a gift from a faraway planet. 

But the common assumption, based on decades of research and analysis, is that the so-called Antikythera Mechanism functioned as a kind of hand-operated mechanical computer. 

Consisting of up to 40 bronze cogs and gears, it allowed the ancient Greeks to predict the movement of the stars and planets with stunning accuracy.

A user would turn a small hand crank – now lost – which would drive a system of about 40 or more interior cogs and gears. 

On the front, pointers showed where the sun and moon were in the sky, and there was a display of the phase of the moon. 

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A 3D image showing how the back gears of the Antikythera Mechanism would have looked like

Fragments of the Antikythera Mechanism, an ancient Greek analog computer that is believed to be used to help teach Greeks about our place in the cosmos

What was the Antikythera Mechanism?

Antikythera Mechanism is an ancient Greek artefact found in a shipwreck at the start of the 20th century.  

The mechanical device was used to calculate and display information about astronomical phenomena, experts say.

It had several interlinked indicators, driven by a system of gears, which displayed the positions of the moon and the Sun (and likely the planets) within the zodiac, the date according to the Egyptian calendar, and a Greek lunisolar calendar, as well as details of upcoming solar and lunar eclipses.

For this new study, scientists at National University of Mar del Plata created a computer simulation of the artefact. 

In particular, they looked at the gears’ triangular interlocking ‘teeth’, said to be integral to the mechanism’s operation. 

They found that manufacturing inaccuracies would have caused the device to jam so often it would have been unusable. 

Such jamming, caused by the turning of the crank handle, would have made the device impractical for scientific use. 

Based on what we know of its shape, ‘manufacturing inaccuracies significantly increase the likelihood of gear jamming or disengagement’, the team point out.

Meanwhile the triangular shape of the teeth ‘results in non-uniform motion, causing acceleration and deceleration as each tooth engages’. 

The research pair conclude by suggesting that if the device jammed all the time, it might not have been anything more than a clever toy, made for a child.

However, they point out how much time and effort must have gone into making the device, and the craftsmanship that was involved. 

In particular, they looked at the gears’ triangular interlocking ‘teeth’, said to be integral to the mechanism’s operation

‘It seems unlikely that someone would build such a complex yet non-functional device,’ the team add. 

It’s worth noting that only about a third of the Antikythera Mechanism has survived, so some crucial parts of the device are likely lost. 

Therefore. the device must have been more reliably made than their simulation shows (they stress their ‘results must be interpreted with caution’). 

Either way, the team call for ‘more refined techniques to better understand the true accuracy and functionality of the Antikythera Mechanism’. 

Previously, British astrophysicist Mike Edmunds concluded that the primary purpose of the Antikythera Mechanism was more of an educational display than a tool for making practical and precise astronomical predictions. 

The team agree: ‘Under our assumptions, the errors identified by Edmunds exceed the tolerable limits required to prevent failures.’ 

The study has been published on the preprint server arXiv, meaning it’s yet to be peer reviewed.  

What is the Antikythera Mechanism?

The Mechanism was recovered in 1900 from the Antikythera wreck – a Roman cargo shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera.

It was discovered in a wooden box measuring 13 inchesx7 inchesx3.5 inches (340×180×90mm) and consists of bronze dials, gears and cogs.

A further 81 fragments have since been found containing a total of 40 hand-cut bronze gears. 

The mechanism is said to have been created in around 100BC, and is believed to be the world’s oldest calculator.

Previous studies have shown that it was used to chart the movement of planets and the passing of days and years.

Scans of the mechanism in 2008 found that it may also have been used to predict eclipses, and record important events in the Greek calendar, such as the Olympic Games.

Astronomer Professor Mike Edmunds of Cardiff University said at the time: ‘It is more complex than any other known device for the next 1,000 years.’

The scans also revealed the mechanism was originally housed in a rectangular wooden frame with two doors, covered in instructions for its use.

At the front was a single dial showing the Greek zodiac and an Egyptian calendar.

On the back were two further dials displaying information about lunar cycles and eclipses.

The calculator would have been driven by a hand crank.

The mechanism recorded several important astronomical cycles known to the Babylonians hundreds of years before that help predict eclipses.

These include the Saros cycle – a period of around 18 years separating the return of the moon, Earth and sun to the same relative positions. 

The device could track the movements of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn – the only planets known at the time, the position of the sun, and the location and phases of the moon.

The researchers have been able to read all the month names on a 19-year calendar on the back of the mechanism.

The month names are Corinthian – suggest that it may have been built in the Corinthian colonies in north-western Greece or Syracuse in Sicily.

The device was created at a time when the Romans had gained control of much of Greece.

The Mechanism is on display at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. 

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