1 00:00:03,375 --> 00:00:06,875 Tonight, an ancient mechanical device 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:10,250 found on a 2,000-year-old shipwreck. 3 00:00:10,375 --> 00:00:13,000 It's so complex that even the world's top scientists 4 00:00:13,167 --> 00:00:14,417 can't figure it out. 5 00:00:14,542 --> 00:00:19,083 It's like finding a jet plane in the tomb of King Tut. 6 00:00:19,208 --> 00:00:21,083 But who actually made it? 7 00:00:21,208 --> 00:00:23,917 Known as the Antikythera mechanism, 8 00:00:24,042 --> 00:00:27,250 its origin and purpose are shrouded in secrecy. 9 00:00:27,375 --> 00:00:29,667 ANDREW NICHOLS: The entire façade of it is covered 10 00:00:29,750 --> 00:00:32,583 with writing that had never been seen previously. 11 00:00:32,708 --> 00:00:35,583 How is it possible that this thing was made 12 00:00:35,708 --> 00:00:38,250 over 2,000 years ago? 13 00:00:38,375 --> 00:00:40,167 Now, we'll explore the top theories 14 00:00:40,292 --> 00:00:42,958 surrounding this cryptic machine. 15 00:00:43,083 --> 00:00:44,833 MICHAEL DENNIN: This is essentially a device 16 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:46,458 tracking the motions of the heavens. 17 00:00:46,583 --> 00:00:48,542 What if it was made in the future, 18 00:00:48,708 --> 00:00:51,333 and traveled back to the past? 19 00:00:51,458 --> 00:00:53,125 Is there any evidence that aliens 20 00:00:53,250 --> 00:00:55,167 built the Antikythera mechanism? 21 00:00:55,250 --> 00:00:57,542 Can modern technology unlock its secrets? 22 00:00:57,708 --> 00:00:59,792 JONATHAN SAYRE: Suddenly, it's capable of making 23 00:00:59,875 --> 00:01:01,917 life and death decisions. 24 00:01:02,875 --> 00:01:05,333 This is one of the greatest mechanical inventions 25 00:01:05,458 --> 00:01:07,083 of all time. 26 00:01:07,208 --> 00:01:09,667 What is the Antikythera mechanism? 27 00:01:09,750 --> 00:01:11,500 Where did it come from? 28 00:01:11,625 --> 00:01:13,292 And how does it work? 29 00:01:13,417 --> 00:01:15,708 [music] 30 00:01:28,042 --> 00:01:31,167 The Greek Isles, 1900. 31 00:01:31,292 --> 00:01:33,833 A team of sponge divers are on their way home 32 00:01:33,917 --> 00:01:38,042 from their fishing grounds off the coast of North Africa 33 00:01:38,167 --> 00:01:40,750 when they're hit by a powerful storm. 34 00:01:40,875 --> 00:01:41,917 [thunder crashing] 35 00:01:42,042 --> 00:01:44,208 The sponge divers' boat swept into an area 36 00:01:44,375 --> 00:01:46,208 off the island of Antikythera, 37 00:01:46,375 --> 00:01:48,000 which is located north of Crete, 38 00:01:48,167 --> 00:01:50,208 and south of the Greek mainland. 39 00:01:50,333 --> 00:01:53,500 It is a rocky and barren island 40 00:01:53,667 --> 00:01:56,000 with swift currents right off of its coast. 41 00:01:56,083 --> 00:01:57,833 It's a very dangerous and treacherous area. 42 00:01:57,958 --> 00:02:00,042 So, the group is incredibly lucky 43 00:02:00,167 --> 00:02:02,000 that they don't wreck out there. 44 00:02:02,125 --> 00:02:04,000 And after the storm settles down, 45 00:02:04,125 --> 00:02:06,417 they decide to go back out and dive for sponges 46 00:02:06,542 --> 00:02:08,292 one more time. 47 00:02:08,417 --> 00:02:11,708 LAURENCE: Diver Elias Stadiatos goes first. 48 00:02:11,875 --> 00:02:13,792 SAMI: He's underwater for about a minute, 49 00:02:13,875 --> 00:02:16,333 and then he just jumps back into the boat terrified. 50 00:02:16,458 --> 00:02:20,833 He's mumbling about men, women, horses in the deep. 51 00:02:20,958 --> 00:02:22,458 LAURENCE: The team's captain, 52 00:02:22,542 --> 00:02:25,333 Master Diver Demetrios el Kondos, 53 00:02:25,458 --> 00:02:28,000 decides to go see for himself. 54 00:02:28,083 --> 00:02:29,833 JONATHAN: El Kondos descends into the water, 55 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:33,333 and when he comes back up, he has an arm in his hands-- 56 00:02:33,458 --> 00:02:35,542 a bronze arm from a statue. 57 00:02:35,667 --> 00:02:37,375 The quote-unquote "bodies" down there 58 00:02:37,542 --> 00:02:39,833 were actually corroded statues from a shipwreck. 59 00:02:39,958 --> 00:02:41,667 The team can't believe 60 00:02:41,750 --> 00:02:43,167 what they found. 61 00:02:43,292 --> 00:02:47,292 This ship is huge. It's 180 feet long, 62 00:02:47,375 --> 00:02:49,250 even though only parts of the cargo 63 00:02:49,375 --> 00:02:51,208 and the vessel still remain. 64 00:02:51,375 --> 00:02:53,417 It's clearly very old, 65 00:02:53,542 --> 00:02:56,417 and it lies at a depth of about 150 feet, 66 00:02:56,542 --> 00:02:58,917 just to the north of Antikythera Island. 67 00:02:59,042 --> 00:03:02,292 SAMI: It's an incredible find, but you have to remember, 68 00:03:02,375 --> 00:03:04,250 it is the year 1900, and scuba diving 69 00:03:04,375 --> 00:03:05,500 is in its infancy. 70 00:03:05,625 --> 00:03:08,833 By that, I mean the suits are made out of canvas, 71 00:03:08,917 --> 00:03:10,208 you've got copper helmets. 72 00:03:10,375 --> 00:03:12,792 Scuba tanks, not a thing yet. 73 00:03:12,917 --> 00:03:16,167 And many consider this to be the first major discovery 74 00:03:16,292 --> 00:03:18,167 in underwater archaeology. 75 00:03:18,292 --> 00:03:21,583 LAURENCE: Eventually, Greek authorities ask the divers 76 00:03:21,708 --> 00:03:24,583 to help salvage items from the shipwreck. 77 00:03:24,708 --> 00:03:27,292 AMORY: They start pulling out statuary, 78 00:03:27,417 --> 00:03:32,167 and pottery, and silver and bronze coins, and jewelry. 79 00:03:32,292 --> 00:03:35,000 It's an unimaginable bounty. 80 00:03:35,125 --> 00:03:36,667 LAURENCE: As the treasure haul grows, 81 00:03:36,792 --> 00:03:41,042 authorities begin to ask, what is this mysterious ship, 82 00:03:41,167 --> 00:03:43,833 and where did it come from? 83 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:47,083 The coins and pottery on board appear to be Ancient Greek 84 00:03:47,208 --> 00:03:50,667 and come from about anywhere from 80 to 50 B.C. 85 00:03:50,750 --> 00:03:53,208 ANDREW: Because it's such a huge ship 86 00:03:53,333 --> 00:03:56,500 and contains many high-end marvelous goods, 87 00:03:56,667 --> 00:03:59,000 it's believed the ship was on its way to Rome 88 00:03:59,125 --> 00:04:01,417 for a triumphal parade of Julius Caesar. 89 00:04:01,542 --> 00:04:04,417 It does fit the timeline, since Julius Caesar ruled 90 00:04:04,542 --> 00:04:07,333 until his death in 44 B.C. 91 00:04:07,458 --> 00:04:11,292 LAURENCE: But not everything appears to be valuable. 92 00:04:11,417 --> 00:04:13,500 JONATHAN: Amongst all these amazing artifacts, 93 00:04:13,667 --> 00:04:15,708 they find this squarish piece of, you know, 94 00:04:15,833 --> 00:04:18,667 corroded metal and dirt that looks like a rock. 95 00:04:18,792 --> 00:04:21,708 It's about seven inches wide, and they bring it up with them, 96 00:04:21,833 --> 00:04:24,542 but we're not really sure why they even looked twice at it. 97 00:04:24,667 --> 00:04:26,250 Frankly, I'm surprised they even bothered 98 00:04:26,375 --> 00:04:28,375 to bring it up from the sea floor. 99 00:04:28,542 --> 00:04:30,000 SAMI: It isn't until a year later 100 00:04:30,125 --> 00:04:31,917 that archaeologist Valerios Stais 101 00:04:32,042 --> 00:04:33,125 is going through this pile 102 00:04:33,250 --> 00:04:36,500 of some of the more unimportant artifacts that were found. 103 00:04:36,667 --> 00:04:39,083 And he comes across this piece of corroded metal, 104 00:04:39,208 --> 00:04:40,833 and at first doesn't think much of it, 105 00:04:40,958 --> 00:04:43,500 until he looks inside, and he comes across 106 00:04:43,625 --> 00:04:45,792 what appears to be a mechanical gear. 107 00:04:45,917 --> 00:04:48,625 And he is confused, he is puzzled by this. 108 00:04:48,708 --> 00:04:50,417 EVAGGELOS VALLIANATOS: Most scholars were convinced 109 00:04:50,542 --> 00:04:52,458 that the gear technology 110 00:04:52,583 --> 00:04:54,333 was invented primarily in Europe 111 00:04:54,500 --> 00:04:56,542 maybe during the Renaissance or later. 112 00:04:56,708 --> 00:04:59,750 So, we can imagine the astonishment and confusion 113 00:04:59,875 --> 00:05:01,500 of Mr. Stais. 114 00:05:01,583 --> 00:05:05,000 LAURENCE: The device is dubbed the Antikythera mechanism, 115 00:05:05,125 --> 00:05:07,542 named for where it was found. 116 00:05:07,708 --> 00:05:10,667 And it's much more complex than originally thought. 117 00:05:10,792 --> 00:05:11,708 SAMI: Turns out that they brought up 118 00:05:11,875 --> 00:05:15,583 about three main pieces of the mechanism, 119 00:05:15,708 --> 00:05:19,625 with 82 separate fragments, many of which also had gears. 120 00:05:19,708 --> 00:05:23,833 But it appears that this is only a small part of the machine. 121 00:05:23,958 --> 00:05:26,375 And Stais is looking at all of this 122 00:05:26,542 --> 00:05:28,833 and trying to figure out how it all goes together. 123 00:05:28,958 --> 00:05:30,875 The fragments are not in great shape. 124 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:32,000 I mean, they're really, 125 00:05:32,125 --> 00:05:32,875 really hard to get at. 126 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:35,000 They're covered in dirt, they're aged. 127 00:05:35,167 --> 00:05:36,958 SAMI: Imagine trying to put this thing together. 128 00:05:37,042 --> 00:05:39,667 It'd be like putting together a 3D puzzle 129 00:05:39,792 --> 00:05:42,083 and all of the pieces are the exact same color. 130 00:05:43,583 --> 00:05:46,167 Two-thirds of this thing are missing, 131 00:05:46,250 --> 00:05:49,667 and the parts that we do have are covered in sediment 132 00:05:49,750 --> 00:05:51,167 because they've been sitting at the bottom of the ocean 133 00:05:51,250 --> 00:05:52,875 for 2,000 years. 134 00:05:53,042 --> 00:05:54,958 LAURENCE: Faced with these challenges, 135 00:05:55,083 --> 00:05:57,625 Stais ultimately gives up, 136 00:05:57,708 --> 00:06:00,833 and no one attempts to decode the machine for decades. 137 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:04,125 Then in 1951, a British physicist 138 00:06:04,208 --> 00:06:06,875 named Derek de Solla Price is studying the history 139 00:06:07,042 --> 00:06:09,625 of scientific instruments of the ancient world, 140 00:06:09,750 --> 00:06:13,208 and he becomes fascinated with the Antikythera mechanism. 141 00:06:13,333 --> 00:06:15,667 He goes to Greece to see it in person. 142 00:06:15,833 --> 00:06:19,833 He examines what he thinks are inscriptions on the device. 143 00:06:19,917 --> 00:06:21,958 Now, that in and of itself is remarkable, 144 00:06:22,042 --> 00:06:25,375 because it's pretty uncommon to see Greek writing 145 00:06:25,542 --> 00:06:27,667 inscribed in metal. 146 00:06:27,792 --> 00:06:29,500 SAMI: Many of the letters are rubbed off 147 00:06:29,625 --> 00:06:31,583 or corroded beyond recognition. 148 00:06:31,708 --> 00:06:34,792 But they do manage to translate one word, 149 00:06:34,917 --> 00:06:36,500 which translates to "ray of the sun" 150 00:06:36,625 --> 00:06:37,833 in Ancient Greek. 151 00:06:37,958 --> 00:06:39,000 And then, there are other letters 152 00:06:39,083 --> 00:06:42,083 which might be part of the word "Aphrodite." 153 00:06:43,083 --> 00:06:45,583 LAURENCE: As Price manages to translate more of the text, 154 00:06:45,708 --> 00:06:48,000 he develops a theory. 155 00:06:48,125 --> 00:06:50,417 Most of the words that you could read 156 00:06:50,542 --> 00:06:52,000 had to do something with the sky. 157 00:06:52,125 --> 00:06:55,792 So, because of the gearing and the inscriptions, 158 00:06:55,875 --> 00:06:58,500 this is what convinced Derek de Solla Price 159 00:06:58,667 --> 00:07:01,167 that he was dealing with an astronomical computer. 160 00:07:03,250 --> 00:07:06,208 Think about that, and really let it sink in. 161 00:07:06,375 --> 00:07:08,000 This makes it a computer 162 00:07:08,083 --> 00:07:10,667 that was built more than 2,000 years ago. 163 00:07:10,792 --> 00:07:14,000 SAMI: Price sketches out a rendering of what he thinks 164 00:07:14,125 --> 00:07:16,000 the original mechanism must have looked like. 165 00:07:16,083 --> 00:07:18,667 We're talking about a box with dials on the outside. 166 00:07:18,750 --> 00:07:20,958 You've got a hand-turned crank, and on the inside, 167 00:07:21,042 --> 00:07:23,625 you've got a series of very complex gears 168 00:07:23,750 --> 00:07:25,667 interlocking and interweaving with each other. 169 00:07:25,792 --> 00:07:28,292 Price believes that this device actually calculates 170 00:07:28,375 --> 00:07:30,708 the movement of the sun, of the moon, 171 00:07:30,833 --> 00:07:32,667 and possibly the planets. 172 00:07:32,792 --> 00:07:34,375 What the user would have to do, is they'd have to input, 173 00:07:34,542 --> 00:07:36,625 for example, a date, 174 00:07:36,750 --> 00:07:38,917 and then it would spit back out the information for you 175 00:07:39,042 --> 00:07:41,333 as to where the sun, or the moon, 176 00:07:41,458 --> 00:07:44,625 or potentially a planet was in the sky at that time. 177 00:07:44,708 --> 00:07:46,500 That is just one definition of a computer, right? 178 00:07:46,667 --> 00:07:48,500 You input information, 179 00:07:48,583 --> 00:07:51,500 and then it will output data right back to you. 180 00:07:51,583 --> 00:07:53,333 JONATHAN: The entire concept of that 181 00:07:53,458 --> 00:07:58,417 is so far ahead of its time, like over 1,000 years ahead. 182 00:07:58,542 --> 00:08:00,583 Having the math, the astronomy, 183 00:08:00,708 --> 00:08:02,500 the technological prowess to create it, 184 00:08:02,667 --> 00:08:04,667 it's just completely baffling. 185 00:08:04,750 --> 00:08:07,125 LAURENCE: The discovery challenges everything 186 00:08:07,208 --> 00:08:10,250 scientists thought they knew about the ancient world. 187 00:08:10,375 --> 00:08:12,083 AMORY: There weren't astronomical 188 00:08:12,208 --> 00:08:14,333 calendrical computers in Ancient Greece. 189 00:08:14,458 --> 00:08:15,667 There were sundials. 190 00:08:15,833 --> 00:08:18,542 That's what we thought was the height of their technology. 191 00:08:18,708 --> 00:08:20,500 SAMI: The Ancient Greeks get a lot of credit 192 00:08:20,667 --> 00:08:22,625 for being very advanced in the realms of places 193 00:08:22,750 --> 00:08:24,667 like arts, philosophy, architecture. 194 00:08:24,833 --> 00:08:26,958 But building a computer, 195 00:08:27,042 --> 00:08:29,792 that's out of the realm of possibility. 196 00:08:29,917 --> 00:08:33,667 This device should not have existed in 80 B.C. 197 00:08:33,792 --> 00:08:35,667 MICHAEL: For this level of technology, 198 00:08:35,792 --> 00:08:37,875 it's really when we start making mechanical clocks 199 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:40,667 in the 1300s that you finally get gears like this 200 00:08:40,833 --> 00:08:42,000 on a regular basis. 201 00:08:42,167 --> 00:08:43,875 And the first analog calculators, 202 00:08:44,042 --> 00:08:45,917 we really don't see till the 1600s, 203 00:08:46,042 --> 00:08:48,625 so it's like at least 1,500, 1,600 years 204 00:08:48,750 --> 00:08:50,833 after this device was built. 205 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:54,083 SAMI: This is considered to be one of the greatest 206 00:08:54,208 --> 00:08:57,000 mechanical inventions of all time. 207 00:08:57,125 --> 00:08:59,000 And Price sums it up by saying that from all we know 208 00:08:59,083 --> 00:09:00,833 of Hellenistic math and science, 209 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:05,250 we would think that a device like this could not exist. 210 00:09:05,375 --> 00:09:07,750 LAURENCE: Price spends the next two decades 211 00:09:07,875 --> 00:09:11,042 trying to uncover more answers. 212 00:09:11,167 --> 00:09:13,083 Price becomes convinced in his study 213 00:09:13,208 --> 00:09:15,292 that it is a planetary computer, 214 00:09:15,417 --> 00:09:18,333 but he's never really able to figure out who built it, 215 00:09:18,458 --> 00:09:21,000 or how it could have been built in that time period. 216 00:09:21,125 --> 00:09:22,833 SAMI: So, Price works with what he has 217 00:09:22,958 --> 00:09:25,042 and with what he can see, but remember, 218 00:09:25,167 --> 00:09:27,250 there are still two-thirds of this device missing. 219 00:09:27,375 --> 00:09:30,083 So, what are those components, what might they do, 220 00:09:30,208 --> 00:09:32,333 and could they help to truly explain 221 00:09:32,458 --> 00:09:35,333 what the purpose is behind the Antikythera mechanism? 222 00:09:35,417 --> 00:09:38,583 Not only that, but the pieces that Price does have 223 00:09:38,708 --> 00:09:40,583 are all fused together. 224 00:09:40,708 --> 00:09:42,250 It's almost like a solid piece of stone. 225 00:09:42,375 --> 00:09:45,333 It's very hard to discern what's going on inside. 226 00:09:45,458 --> 00:09:47,042 LAURENCE: But it won't be for long. 227 00:09:51,667 --> 00:09:53,458 LAURENCE: The mysterious Antikythera mechanism 228 00:09:53,583 --> 00:09:57,333 stumps scientists for 10 decades. 229 00:09:57,458 --> 00:10:01,833 How could something this complex date to Ancient Greece? 230 00:10:01,958 --> 00:10:04,083 And what is its purpose? 231 00:10:04,208 --> 00:10:07,375 British physicist Derek de Solla Price 232 00:10:07,500 --> 00:10:09,083 thinks he knows. 233 00:10:10,625 --> 00:10:11,708 JONATHAN: He believes that the device 234 00:10:11,833 --> 00:10:13,708 is an astronomical computer 235 00:10:13,833 --> 00:10:15,542 that was able to track 236 00:10:15,667 --> 00:10:17,750 the heavenly bodies over time. 237 00:10:17,875 --> 00:10:19,417 AMORY: But the technology that he's using 238 00:10:19,542 --> 00:10:20,583 to study the mechanism 239 00:10:20,708 --> 00:10:23,333 just isn't very advanced. 240 00:10:23,417 --> 00:10:24,833 The best he can do 241 00:10:24,958 --> 00:10:27,750 is an X-ray machine in the 1970s. 242 00:10:27,875 --> 00:10:31,042 And those images are flattened. 243 00:10:31,208 --> 00:10:34,375 You can't see the detail of the gears inside. 244 00:10:34,542 --> 00:10:39,250 So, some of his conclusions are, by necessity, educated guesses. 245 00:10:39,375 --> 00:10:43,333 LAURENCE: Then in 2002, the British Science Museum's 246 00:10:43,417 --> 00:10:46,667 curator of mechanical engineering, Michael Wright, 247 00:10:46,792 --> 00:10:49,042 applies new technology to the device. 248 00:10:49,167 --> 00:10:50,500 Wright and his research partner 249 00:10:50,625 --> 00:10:51,958 take radiographs of the machine 250 00:10:52,083 --> 00:10:53,833 to fill in more of its functionality. 251 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:57,083 As opposed to just a flat two-dimensional scan, 252 00:10:57,208 --> 00:11:00,208 these scans can focus on one plane at a time, 253 00:11:00,333 --> 00:11:02,375 which allows for a more precise location 254 00:11:02,500 --> 00:11:04,292 for each of these gears inside the machine. 255 00:11:04,375 --> 00:11:06,125 After analyzing his scans, 256 00:11:06,208 --> 00:11:08,292 Wright believed that this machine 257 00:11:08,417 --> 00:11:11,417 was far more complex than what Price had originally asserted, 258 00:11:11,542 --> 00:11:14,000 and additionally, there was a turntable on the inside of it 259 00:11:14,125 --> 00:11:16,333 that rotated for each planet. 260 00:11:16,458 --> 00:11:18,792 MICHAEL: One of the other cool things Wright finds 261 00:11:18,917 --> 00:11:21,000 is a half-white, half-black marble 262 00:11:21,125 --> 00:11:22,833 that he postulates can be used 263 00:11:22,958 --> 00:11:24,208 to predict the phases of the moon. 264 00:11:24,333 --> 00:11:26,542 This is confirmation of Price's theory 265 00:11:26,708 --> 00:11:28,542 that this is essentially a device 266 00:11:28,667 --> 00:11:30,417 tracking the motions of the heavens. 267 00:11:30,542 --> 00:11:32,250 But now, we know more specifically 268 00:11:32,375 --> 00:11:35,125 what it's tracking-- the moon, the sun, 269 00:11:35,208 --> 00:11:38,000 and the several planets the Greeks were aware of. 270 00:11:38,167 --> 00:11:41,917 LAURENCE: The question is, why was it used? 271 00:11:43,208 --> 00:11:46,833 In 2013, a team at Cardiff University 272 00:11:46,958 --> 00:11:50,000 performs even more advanced scans. 273 00:11:50,083 --> 00:11:51,833 Led by astrophysicist Mike Edmunds 274 00:11:51,958 --> 00:11:54,167 and mathematician Tony Freeth, 275 00:11:54,292 --> 00:11:56,542 the approach that they take is two-pronged. 276 00:11:56,667 --> 00:11:58,792 They use high-resolution surface scanning 277 00:11:58,875 --> 00:12:01,000 to make their way through all of the corrosion 278 00:12:01,167 --> 00:12:03,125 and the sediment that had built up on the device. 279 00:12:03,208 --> 00:12:06,000 And they also use a computed X-ray tomography 280 00:12:06,125 --> 00:12:08,125 to get closer looks on the inside. 281 00:12:08,250 --> 00:12:09,500 What this will help them to do 282 00:12:09,583 --> 00:12:13,292 is to create a highly detailed 3D image of the mechanism 283 00:12:13,375 --> 00:12:14,958 for the very first time. 284 00:12:15,042 --> 00:12:18,000 LAURENCE: The approach yields yet another breakthrough. 285 00:12:18,083 --> 00:12:20,833 After they were able to finish their thousands of scans 286 00:12:20,958 --> 00:12:24,667 of the 82 pieces, something truly amazing emerges, 287 00:12:24,792 --> 00:12:26,417 and that is, they find writing. 288 00:12:26,542 --> 00:12:28,750 EVAGGELOS: It's extremely difficult to read something 289 00:12:28,875 --> 00:12:30,667 that is corroded. 290 00:12:30,792 --> 00:12:32,958 But because they had more advanced technology 291 00:12:33,042 --> 00:12:35,458 in their scanning of the device, 292 00:12:35,542 --> 00:12:37,333 now you have hundreds, 293 00:12:37,458 --> 00:12:38,500 hundreds of letters. 294 00:12:38,667 --> 00:12:41,917 ANDREW: The entire façade of it is covered with writing 295 00:12:42,042 --> 00:12:44,333 that had never been seen previously. 296 00:12:44,458 --> 00:12:46,292 SAMI: Now, keep in mind that a lot of the parts 297 00:12:46,417 --> 00:12:47,833 of the machine are still missing. 298 00:12:47,958 --> 00:12:49,625 But the pieces that they're looking at 299 00:12:49,708 --> 00:12:51,875 have about 3,400 pieces of text 300 00:12:52,042 --> 00:12:53,167 that are written in Ancient Greek. 301 00:12:53,292 --> 00:12:55,208 So, what they're really looking at 302 00:12:55,375 --> 00:12:59,125 is a partial user's manual for the machine. 303 00:12:59,250 --> 00:13:02,208 LAURENCE: The manual confirms the mechanism can track stars 304 00:13:02,333 --> 00:13:06,833 and planets, but it also reveals something new. 305 00:13:06,958 --> 00:13:09,333 There's a lower dial on the back of the device 306 00:13:09,458 --> 00:13:11,583 that no one has been able to figure out yet. 307 00:13:11,708 --> 00:13:15,042 But Freeth and his team, they think they have the answer, 308 00:13:15,167 --> 00:13:18,042 because there are glyphs etched onto the segment 309 00:13:18,167 --> 00:13:21,583 in the intervals of one, five, and six months. 310 00:13:21,708 --> 00:13:23,208 And Freeth thinks that this is used 311 00:13:23,333 --> 00:13:25,833 to predict the timing of eclipses. 312 00:13:25,917 --> 00:13:27,000 Now, why is this important? 313 00:13:27,125 --> 00:13:28,833 Because to the Ancient Greek, 314 00:13:28,958 --> 00:13:32,042 predicting eclipses is predicting the future. 315 00:13:34,708 --> 00:13:37,000 In the machine's instructions, there are references 316 00:13:37,125 --> 00:13:40,542 to the size, and even to the colors of the eclipse. 317 00:13:40,667 --> 00:13:42,958 And that's what keys Freeth in, 318 00:13:43,042 --> 00:13:45,375 because eclipses don't have colors in nature. 319 00:13:45,500 --> 00:13:47,917 But what's interesting here is that the colors 320 00:13:48,042 --> 00:13:49,375 are what the Greeks used 321 00:13:49,500 --> 00:13:52,167 for what they called astral divination. 322 00:13:52,250 --> 00:13:55,375 LAURENCE: In Ancient Greece, astral divination, 323 00:13:55,500 --> 00:13:59,875 or the reading of the stars, is a vital part of daily life. 324 00:14:00,042 --> 00:14:02,000 The Greeks used this large-scale astrology 325 00:14:02,125 --> 00:14:04,333 to determine the fortunes of entire countries 326 00:14:04,417 --> 00:14:06,375 and civilizations. 327 00:14:06,500 --> 00:14:09,167 Eclipses were omens, and the colors 328 00:14:09,250 --> 00:14:12,333 determined whether they were good or bad omens. 329 00:14:12,458 --> 00:14:15,000 They inherited this belief system from the Babylonians 330 00:14:15,125 --> 00:14:18,833 who used to obsess over the sky and everything in it. 331 00:14:18,958 --> 00:14:20,750 They would record whatever they saw 332 00:14:20,875 --> 00:14:24,250 and the effects that it may have had on their lives. 333 00:14:24,375 --> 00:14:27,000 For instance, on the day they set sail on a voyage, 334 00:14:27,083 --> 00:14:29,333 any particular planet is in the sky 335 00:14:29,417 --> 00:14:32,542 and the ship wrecks, the next time that planet 336 00:14:32,667 --> 00:14:35,375 happens to appear, they won't send a ship out. 337 00:14:35,542 --> 00:14:37,875 Now, we might call that superstition, 338 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:41,167 but to them that is very, very real. 339 00:14:41,292 --> 00:14:43,167 SAMI: Now, imagine the value of being able 340 00:14:43,250 --> 00:14:45,292 to have this information in advance. 341 00:14:45,417 --> 00:14:47,208 Before the Antikythera mechanism, 342 00:14:47,333 --> 00:14:49,167 if they had planted a bunch of crops, 343 00:14:49,292 --> 00:14:51,417 and then an eclipse came and it was a bad omen, 344 00:14:51,542 --> 00:14:54,292 and the crops die out, bad luck, right? 345 00:14:54,375 --> 00:14:57,375 But with this device, they can now plan in advance, 346 00:14:57,500 --> 00:14:59,958 because they know when the eclipses are coming. 347 00:15:00,083 --> 00:15:03,500 ANDREW: This would allow them to plan far up ahead 348 00:15:03,625 --> 00:15:06,875 when the best time to make offerings to the gods, 349 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:09,333 when to plan for big events, 350 00:15:09,458 --> 00:15:12,750 and especially when to embark on campaigns 351 00:15:12,875 --> 00:15:16,333 and to invade and launch wars. 352 00:15:16,458 --> 00:15:18,625 LAURENCE: If this theory is correct, 353 00:15:18,708 --> 00:15:22,167 the Antikythera mechanism is much more significant. 354 00:15:22,250 --> 00:15:23,875 JONATHAN: Suddenly, it's capable of making 355 00:15:24,042 --> 00:15:26,458 life and death decisions. 356 00:15:26,542 --> 00:15:29,417 It's quite possible the device could operate the government 357 00:15:29,542 --> 00:15:31,792 and make decisions about state craft. 358 00:15:31,875 --> 00:15:35,042 LAURENCE: And as some historians are quick to point out, 359 00:15:35,167 --> 00:15:38,167 they've only recovered a third of the machine. 360 00:15:38,250 --> 00:15:40,792 Just imagine what the mechanism may have been tracking 361 00:15:40,875 --> 00:15:43,000 or predicting in its full form. 362 00:15:43,125 --> 00:15:45,667 Perhaps the weather, perhaps natural disasters. 363 00:15:45,792 --> 00:15:48,500 Maybe even the rise and fall of entire dynasties 364 00:15:48,583 --> 00:15:51,292 and civilizations, all laid out like clockwork. 365 00:15:55,875 --> 00:15:58,625 LAURENCE: A map of the stars, or a way to predict the future? 366 00:15:58,708 --> 00:16:01,042 Whatever its purpose, 367 00:16:01,167 --> 00:16:02,792 the ancient Antikythera mechanism 368 00:16:02,875 --> 00:16:04,875 is a technical marvel. 369 00:16:05,042 --> 00:16:06,167 Scientists have been studying this device 370 00:16:06,333 --> 00:16:07,500 for over 100 years now, 371 00:16:07,667 --> 00:16:08,958 ever since it was first discovered 372 00:16:09,083 --> 00:16:10,625 on that shipwreck in 1900. 373 00:16:10,708 --> 00:16:12,333 And again, with something so enigmatic, 374 00:16:12,458 --> 00:16:14,625 by all rights, something that should not exist, 375 00:16:14,708 --> 00:16:17,667 you are dying to know, what was its original purpose? 376 00:16:17,833 --> 00:16:19,000 What is it meant to do? 377 00:16:19,167 --> 00:16:20,833 JONATHAN: But perhaps even more, 378 00:16:20,958 --> 00:16:22,167 you want to know where it comes from, 379 00:16:22,333 --> 00:16:24,000 what brilliant civilization 380 00:16:24,125 --> 00:16:25,667 built this. 381 00:16:25,833 --> 00:16:28,042 MICHAEL When we think about whoever created this device, 382 00:16:28,167 --> 00:16:29,500 and compare 'em to other 383 00:16:29,667 --> 00:16:31,250 creative geniuses, 384 00:16:31,375 --> 00:16:34,083 like Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison, 385 00:16:34,208 --> 00:16:36,083 Albert Einstein, 386 00:16:36,208 --> 00:16:38,875 clearly, this person is in the same class, 387 00:16:39,042 --> 00:16:41,167 if not somewhat above them 388 00:16:41,250 --> 00:16:43,583 because of the nature of the time they were in. 389 00:16:43,708 --> 00:16:47,000 AMORY: Da Vinci conceived of a helicopter 390 00:16:47,125 --> 00:16:50,083 400 years before a working one was built. 391 00:16:50,208 --> 00:16:53,083 And then you have this society in 80 B.C. 392 00:16:53,208 --> 00:16:56,542 that imagines this complex mechanical device, 393 00:16:56,667 --> 00:16:59,917 the likes of which weren't seen for another 1,500 years. 394 00:17:00,042 --> 00:17:01,583 And not only did they imagine it, 395 00:17:01,708 --> 00:17:02,917 they built the thing. 396 00:17:03,042 --> 00:17:04,417 So, that might have Leonardo beat. 397 00:17:04,542 --> 00:17:07,000 SAMI: But who actually made it? 398 00:17:07,083 --> 00:17:08,875 Was it really the Ancient Greeks? 399 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:10,292 I mean, the writing inscribed on it 400 00:17:10,375 --> 00:17:12,042 would suggest that it comes from there, 401 00:17:12,208 --> 00:17:14,167 but what workshop in Ancient Greece 402 00:17:14,292 --> 00:17:17,292 has the skillset to actually build something like this? 403 00:17:17,417 --> 00:17:20,208 And we know the great minds of Ancient Greece, 404 00:17:20,333 --> 00:17:22,792 and it seems that almost nobody fits that bill. 405 00:17:24,125 --> 00:17:25,625 Almost. 406 00:17:25,708 --> 00:17:27,875 AMORY: Probably the only person in Ancient Greece 407 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:30,667 who comes to mind as maybe possessing 408 00:17:30,792 --> 00:17:33,292 the constellation of skills needed to build 409 00:17:33,375 --> 00:17:35,625 something like this is Archimedes. 410 00:17:38,375 --> 00:17:40,792 ANDREW: Archimedes is an inventor, 411 00:17:40,875 --> 00:17:42,625 a scientist, an engineer, 412 00:17:42,750 --> 00:17:44,167 whose fame grew 413 00:17:44,292 --> 00:17:45,875 and whose legend grew amongst those 414 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:47,667 who lived even soon after him. 415 00:17:47,792 --> 00:17:51,083 AMORY: Around 50 B.C. the Roman statesman Cicero 416 00:17:51,208 --> 00:17:54,917 actually writes about Archimedes owning a sphere 417 00:17:55,042 --> 00:17:58,167 quote, "binding the disparate motions 418 00:17:58,292 --> 00:18:00,750 of the seven heavenly bodies." 419 00:18:00,875 --> 00:18:03,750 Could that have been the Antikythera mechanism? 420 00:18:03,875 --> 00:18:06,500 LAURENCE: If Archimedes' workshop is the source, 421 00:18:06,625 --> 00:18:10,208 the device would be even older than anticipated. 422 00:18:10,333 --> 00:18:13,042 MICHAEL: Archimedes dies around 212 B.C. 423 00:18:13,167 --> 00:18:15,125 and archaeologists and experts 424 00:18:15,250 --> 00:18:17,708 thinks the device was made about 20 years 425 00:18:17,875 --> 00:18:20,667 before the ship sank, which would have been 80 B.C. 426 00:18:20,750 --> 00:18:24,208 That's almost 130 years after Archimedes died. 427 00:18:24,333 --> 00:18:27,333 Does this rule out Archimedes? Not necessarily. 428 00:18:27,458 --> 00:18:29,750 Maybe the device was already quite old 429 00:18:29,875 --> 00:18:32,625 when it set out on this fateful journey. 430 00:18:32,750 --> 00:18:36,792 LAURENCE: Recent evidence proves this could be possible. 431 00:18:36,875 --> 00:18:38,917 Thanks to those 2013 scans, 432 00:18:39,042 --> 00:18:42,708 we were able to calculate a day zero for the machine, 433 00:18:42,833 --> 00:18:45,833 or the first date that it was calibrated, 434 00:18:45,958 --> 00:18:48,750 when it started doing these really complex calculations 435 00:18:48,875 --> 00:18:50,500 of astral positions. 436 00:18:50,625 --> 00:18:54,083 And this date is way before 80 B.C. 437 00:18:54,208 --> 00:18:57,458 Their best guess is about 204 B.C., 438 00:18:57,542 --> 00:19:00,208 which is around Archimedes' time. 439 00:19:00,333 --> 00:19:02,250 So, maybe he started the device 440 00:19:02,375 --> 00:19:04,417 and his workshop finished it off. 441 00:19:05,750 --> 00:19:07,083 LAURENCE: The device's inscriptions 442 00:19:07,208 --> 00:19:08,875 also may support this theory. 443 00:19:09,042 --> 00:19:11,667 Many of these inscriptions have to do with datings 444 00:19:11,792 --> 00:19:13,542 and calendars, which really helps us 445 00:19:13,667 --> 00:19:15,750 narrow things down, because the Greeks 446 00:19:15,875 --> 00:19:18,250 did not have a simple universal dating system. 447 00:19:18,375 --> 00:19:20,667 JONATHAN: In 2008, researchers 448 00:19:20,750 --> 00:19:23,500 at the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project 449 00:19:23,625 --> 00:19:25,833 discovered that the names of the months on the device 450 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:28,542 are the same ones used for the Corinth colonies-- 451 00:19:28,708 --> 00:19:31,375 one of those colonies being Syracuse, 452 00:19:31,542 --> 00:19:33,542 the home of Archimedes. 453 00:19:33,667 --> 00:19:35,833 LAURENCE: But this theory is disputed 454 00:19:35,958 --> 00:19:41,708 by NYU professor Alexander Jones in a 2017 book. 455 00:19:41,833 --> 00:19:44,792 Jones considers the possibility of Archimedes' workshop, 456 00:19:44,917 --> 00:19:48,333 but ultimately rejects it, because it doesn't line up 457 00:19:48,458 --> 00:19:50,333 with where the mechanism was found, 458 00:19:50,417 --> 00:19:52,375 which was on a voyage that was heading between Crete 459 00:19:52,500 --> 00:19:53,917 and the Peloponnese. 460 00:19:54,042 --> 00:19:56,083 Because we know for a fact that the ship was headed 461 00:19:56,208 --> 00:19:58,583 out of the Aegean and into the Ionian Sea, 462 00:19:58,708 --> 00:20:01,417 and Corinth and its colonies are nowhere on that path, 463 00:20:01,542 --> 00:20:04,833 so the cargo couldn't have come from there. 464 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:09,583 LAURENCE: Around the same time, astrophysicist Mike Edmunds 465 00:20:09,708 --> 00:20:13,000 also challenges the idea that Archimedes 466 00:20:13,125 --> 00:20:15,833 or his team created the mechanism. 467 00:20:15,958 --> 00:20:19,625 Edmunds heads the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project, 468 00:20:19,750 --> 00:20:22,542 and he has something that a lot of the other researchers don't, 469 00:20:22,667 --> 00:20:24,792 because he is an astrophysicist, 470 00:20:24,917 --> 00:20:27,458 and he understands the mathematics 471 00:20:27,542 --> 00:20:29,750 that the mechanism was built to calculate. 472 00:20:29,875 --> 00:20:31,667 JONATHAN: The thing is, the mechanism 473 00:20:31,750 --> 00:20:34,750 is extremely precise when it comes to position tracking 474 00:20:34,875 --> 00:20:36,250 of heavenly bodies, 475 00:20:36,375 --> 00:20:38,667 but only if you're standing in the right spot. 476 00:20:38,833 --> 00:20:40,833 There are some limits, though, to the genius 477 00:20:40,917 --> 00:20:43,167 of whoever built the Antikythera mechanism, 478 00:20:43,250 --> 00:20:45,500 because it was designed around the belief 479 00:20:45,583 --> 00:20:47,208 that Earth is at the center of the universe 480 00:20:47,375 --> 00:20:48,750 and everything goes around us. 481 00:20:48,875 --> 00:20:51,583 Now, of course, we know that's not true, 482 00:20:51,708 --> 00:20:54,208 and we can calculate the position of a celestial body 483 00:20:54,375 --> 00:20:57,167 no matter what vantage point we're coming from. 484 00:20:57,292 --> 00:21:00,083 But back then, with the math that they had. 485 00:21:00,208 --> 00:21:01,833 it's all relative. 486 00:21:01,917 --> 00:21:04,333 LAURENCE: Based on Edmunds' calculations, 487 00:21:04,417 --> 00:21:06,458 the Antikythera mechanism was built 488 00:21:06,583 --> 00:21:08,833 at 35 degrees north latitude. 489 00:21:08,958 --> 00:21:11,625 This is where the machine works perfectly. 490 00:21:11,708 --> 00:21:15,000 Now, Archimedes lived up at about 37 degrees, 491 00:21:15,125 --> 00:21:17,833 and up there, the machine would have worked okay, 492 00:21:17,917 --> 00:21:20,833 but it would have drifted towards inaccuracy, 493 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:24,750 because it's about 150 miles too far north. 494 00:21:24,875 --> 00:21:28,167 LAURENCE: And that finding opens up a new possibility. 495 00:21:28,292 --> 00:21:30,167 AMORY: When you look at that line 496 00:21:30,250 --> 00:21:32,667 that runs through 35 degrees latitude, 497 00:21:32,750 --> 00:21:35,250 through the Eastern Mediterranean, 498 00:21:35,375 --> 00:21:37,875 you realize there's not a whole lot there. 499 00:21:38,042 --> 00:21:41,958 There's Crete, there's Cyprus, and that's about it. 500 00:21:42,042 --> 00:21:44,708 And neither of those were hubs of technology, really. 501 00:21:46,042 --> 00:21:48,583 LAURENCE: This leads some theorists to suggest 502 00:21:48,708 --> 00:21:52,083 that the location the device was built vanished. 503 00:21:53,958 --> 00:21:57,500 In 1996, author David Hatcher Childress 504 00:21:57,625 --> 00:22:00,000 proposes the lost city of Atlantis 505 00:22:00,083 --> 00:22:03,792 as the Antikythera mechanism's place of origin. 506 00:22:05,042 --> 00:22:07,333 In a way, there is no more fitting home 507 00:22:07,417 --> 00:22:09,708 for the mechanism than Atlantis. 508 00:22:09,833 --> 00:22:11,500 Greek philosopher Plato describes it 509 00:22:11,625 --> 00:22:13,542 as a powerful, advanced, 510 00:22:13,667 --> 00:22:16,333 mechanically superior civilization 511 00:22:16,458 --> 00:22:18,500 that was on a large island 512 00:22:18,583 --> 00:22:20,750 and succumbed to natural disasters. 513 00:22:20,875 --> 00:22:23,542 LAURENCE: For centuries, researchers have looked 514 00:22:23,667 --> 00:22:26,667 for the remains of that lost city. 515 00:22:26,750 --> 00:22:28,458 MICHAEL: When you start thinking about Atlantis, 516 00:22:28,542 --> 00:22:30,667 if it existed-- and that's a big if-- 517 00:22:30,792 --> 00:22:33,042 there are a couple of top candidates 518 00:22:33,167 --> 00:22:34,458 for where it might have been, 519 00:22:34,542 --> 00:22:37,750 and one is off Santorini. 520 00:22:37,875 --> 00:22:39,625 EVAGGELOS: What the modern Greece call Santorini, 521 00:22:39,708 --> 00:22:41,833 the real name is Thera. 522 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:43,458 They had a volcano. 523 00:22:43,583 --> 00:22:46,208 In 1650 B.C.E. it blew up 524 00:22:46,333 --> 00:22:47,917 and destroyed two-thirds of the island. 525 00:22:48,042 --> 00:22:50,500 And it triggered off these enormous earthquakes 526 00:22:50,667 --> 00:22:53,750 and tsunamis that swallowed up a lot of Santorini 527 00:22:53,875 --> 00:22:57,333 and also impacted Crete, and possibly any other islands 528 00:22:57,417 --> 00:22:59,000 that sat in between the two. 529 00:22:59,125 --> 00:23:01,250 SAMI: Now, I know most people might think Atlantis, 530 00:23:01,375 --> 00:23:02,667 it's a place of fiction, right? 531 00:23:02,833 --> 00:23:05,500 But there actually was a real-life civilization 532 00:23:05,625 --> 00:23:07,958 that was submerged by water, 533 00:23:08,042 --> 00:23:09,750 and they were called the Minoans. 534 00:23:09,875 --> 00:23:12,250 And many historians think that the Minoan civilization 535 00:23:12,375 --> 00:23:15,667 actually inspired the story of Atlantis. 536 00:23:15,792 --> 00:23:18,667 And the location actually lines up with the origins 537 00:23:18,750 --> 00:23:20,542 of the Antikythera mechanism-- 538 00:23:20,708 --> 00:23:22,583 a now-missing island just north of Crete 539 00:23:22,708 --> 00:23:25,417 that sits at 35 degrees latitude. 540 00:23:25,542 --> 00:23:27,958 LAURENCE: But not everyone is convinced. 541 00:23:28,083 --> 00:23:30,500 One of the challenges with the Atlantis theory, 542 00:23:30,667 --> 00:23:33,542 even if Atlantis existed, is the timing. 543 00:23:33,667 --> 00:23:36,167 It would have been long gone by 80 B.C. 544 00:23:36,292 --> 00:23:38,292 If this is a relic from Atlantis, 545 00:23:38,417 --> 00:23:39,667 it would have been quite old by the time 546 00:23:39,792 --> 00:23:41,333 you load it onto the ship. 547 00:23:41,500 --> 00:23:43,417 Now, it's not completely impossible, 548 00:23:43,542 --> 00:23:45,583 because after all, it's a partial thing 549 00:23:45,708 --> 00:23:48,333 that survived 2,000 years at the bottom of the sea. 550 00:23:48,458 --> 00:23:50,125 It might be even older than that. 551 00:23:50,250 --> 00:23:52,167 But this one's gonna be really difficult to prove. 552 00:23:57,875 --> 00:23:59,750 Scientists have worked for over a century to understand 553 00:23:59,875 --> 00:24:03,708 the Antikythera mechanism, yet one key question remains. 554 00:24:03,833 --> 00:24:06,208 How could this device from 80 B.C. 555 00:24:06,333 --> 00:24:08,667 be so far ahead of its time? 556 00:24:08,792 --> 00:24:13,792 In 1997, one author proposes a shocking idea. 557 00:24:13,875 --> 00:24:16,458 The machine may not be as old as we think. 558 00:24:17,375 --> 00:24:20,042 CAROLINE CORY: Pretty much everyone who has studied 559 00:24:20,167 --> 00:24:21,917 or even looked at or read 560 00:24:22,042 --> 00:24:24,667 about the mechanism would say, 561 00:24:24,792 --> 00:24:26,833 how is it possible that this thing 562 00:24:26,917 --> 00:24:29,667 was made over 2,000 years ago? 563 00:24:29,792 --> 00:24:32,458 JONATHAN: That is, until author J.H. Brennan 564 00:24:32,583 --> 00:24:35,250 presents a novel new approach to the problem. 565 00:24:35,375 --> 00:24:36,417 What if it wasn't made 566 00:24:36,542 --> 00:24:37,833 2,000 years ago? 567 00:24:37,917 --> 00:24:39,500 What if it was made in the future 568 00:24:39,667 --> 00:24:41,792 and traveled back to the past? 569 00:24:45,875 --> 00:24:48,625 AMORY: In his book "Time Travel: A New Perspective," 570 00:24:48,708 --> 00:24:51,708 Brennan asks, was the Antikythera mechanism 571 00:24:51,833 --> 00:24:55,167 carried to Ancient Crete from the future? 572 00:24:55,333 --> 00:24:57,583 It sounds preposterous, 573 00:24:57,708 --> 00:24:59,708 but does it sound any more preposterous 574 00:24:59,833 --> 00:25:01,667 than thinking that the Ancient Greeks 575 00:25:01,750 --> 00:25:05,083 made this device? Some would say no. 576 00:25:05,208 --> 00:25:07,208 JONATHAN: Its sophisticated understanding of astronomy, 577 00:25:07,375 --> 00:25:08,875 its mathematical prowess, 578 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:11,625 as well as its mechanical engineering genius-- 579 00:25:11,708 --> 00:25:14,167 we have no other evidence that this type of skill 580 00:25:14,333 --> 00:25:18,542 ever existed in 80 B.C. other than this device. 581 00:25:18,667 --> 00:25:20,500 We have no other device that has 582 00:25:20,583 --> 00:25:22,708 a similar level of technology. 583 00:25:22,875 --> 00:25:25,000 There's no evidence for anything else 584 00:25:25,083 --> 00:25:28,042 like this mechanism in 80 B.C. 585 00:25:28,167 --> 00:25:31,083 AMORY: Even pioneering researcher Derek de Solla Price 586 00:25:31,208 --> 00:25:34,208 says that finding this device on a Roman shipwreck 587 00:25:34,333 --> 00:25:38,708 is like finding a jet plane in the tomb of King Tut. 588 00:25:38,875 --> 00:25:40,708 Just the fact that it's a clockwork 589 00:25:40,875 --> 00:25:43,500 gear-based mechanism is something 590 00:25:43,583 --> 00:25:46,000 we didn't think existed in Ancient Greece. 591 00:25:46,125 --> 00:25:48,542 One of the gears on the Antikythera mechanism 592 00:25:48,667 --> 00:25:50,917 is what's called a differential gear. 593 00:25:51,042 --> 00:25:53,083 ANDREW: A differential gear is a gear 594 00:25:53,208 --> 00:25:55,625 in which the cogs are of different sizes. 595 00:25:55,750 --> 00:25:56,833 So, you have a large gear 596 00:25:56,958 --> 00:25:58,167 and a smaller gear. 597 00:25:58,292 --> 00:25:59,375 The large gear has to spin 598 00:25:59,542 --> 00:26:00,750 at a more rapid rate to keep up 599 00:26:00,875 --> 00:26:02,167 with the smaller gear. 600 00:26:02,292 --> 00:26:04,167 MICHAEL: So, a common differential gear 601 00:26:04,250 --> 00:26:06,833 exists in your car, because when you make a turn, 602 00:26:06,958 --> 00:26:10,000 the outer wheel has to spin faster than the inner wheel. 603 00:26:10,125 --> 00:26:12,875 SAMI: The differential gear in the Antikythera mechanism 604 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:16,000 is used to determine the angle between the sun, the moon, 605 00:26:16,083 --> 00:26:17,500 and the phases of the moon, 606 00:26:17,583 --> 00:26:20,208 and there it is, in 80 B.C., 607 00:26:20,375 --> 00:26:22,000 in this machine. 608 00:26:22,125 --> 00:26:24,958 The next time that we see a differential gear 609 00:26:25,042 --> 00:26:28,667 used in a device is in the year 1720 610 00:26:28,792 --> 00:26:31,208 in a clock made by Joseph Williamson. 611 00:26:31,333 --> 00:26:35,000 And it is not in common use until the early 1800s. 612 00:26:35,125 --> 00:26:37,917 CAROLINE: Maybe now Brennan's time travel idea 613 00:26:38,042 --> 00:26:39,833 isn't so far-fetched. 614 00:26:39,917 --> 00:26:42,500 If the mechanism features technology 615 00:26:42,625 --> 00:26:45,583 from 1,800 years into the future, 616 00:26:45,708 --> 00:26:47,125 how do you reconcile that? 617 00:26:47,208 --> 00:26:49,500 LAURENCE: Proponents of this theory 618 00:26:49,583 --> 00:26:53,542 also point to the fact that nothing else like it exists. 619 00:26:53,667 --> 00:26:55,125 Breakthroughs in the history of science 620 00:26:55,208 --> 00:26:57,292 are generally developed over time. 621 00:26:57,375 --> 00:26:58,958 When you look at the history of something 622 00:26:59,042 --> 00:27:01,167 like the printing press, or a telephone, 623 00:27:01,292 --> 00:27:03,458 or an automobile, there are precedents. 624 00:27:03,542 --> 00:27:06,500 There are partial steps in the development of the device 625 00:27:06,625 --> 00:27:08,250 that get it to where it is today. 626 00:27:08,375 --> 00:27:11,000 We didn't just suddenly have a Corvette. 627 00:27:11,167 --> 00:27:13,250 There were a lot of rudimentary attempts 628 00:27:13,375 --> 00:27:16,208 at a vehicle that got us to the Corvette. 629 00:27:16,333 --> 00:27:18,708 JONATHAN: But the mechanism has no precedents 630 00:27:18,875 --> 00:27:21,417 in ancient times. 631 00:27:21,542 --> 00:27:23,917 We have found nothing else like this, not even close. 632 00:27:24,042 --> 00:27:27,792 So, you have to ask, where are the other devices? 633 00:27:27,917 --> 00:27:30,167 Why haven't we found any other mechanisms 634 00:27:30,250 --> 00:27:33,125 that could do even a fraction of what this one does? 635 00:27:33,208 --> 00:27:35,250 MICHAEL: When we think about clockworks, 636 00:27:35,375 --> 00:27:36,833 and you wanna look at its development 637 00:27:36,958 --> 00:27:39,833 from rudimentary clockwork to more advanced, 638 00:27:39,958 --> 00:27:41,417 you're really gonna be looking at the period 639 00:27:41,542 --> 00:27:43,750 just before the Renaissance, that's when it started. 640 00:27:43,875 --> 00:27:46,000 You're not gonna be looking at Ancient Greece. 641 00:27:46,125 --> 00:27:48,167 AMORY: For all these reasons, the idea 642 00:27:48,250 --> 00:27:50,625 that the Antikythera mechanism traveled through time 643 00:27:50,750 --> 00:27:52,375 does have some supporters. 644 00:27:52,542 --> 00:27:53,833 But then there are other theorists 645 00:27:53,958 --> 00:27:55,667 who are even more out there, 646 00:27:55,792 --> 00:27:57,708 who say the Antikythera mechanism 647 00:27:57,875 --> 00:27:59,917 didn't just time travel, 648 00:28:00,042 --> 00:28:01,417 it is the time machine. 649 00:28:02,875 --> 00:28:04,292 MICHAEL: So, on the front of the device, 650 00:28:04,417 --> 00:28:06,667 you have the positions of various objects-- 651 00:28:06,792 --> 00:28:08,792 the sun, the moon, and the planets. 652 00:28:08,875 --> 00:28:10,500 You then have a crank that you use 653 00:28:10,625 --> 00:28:13,125 to rotate to a particular date 654 00:28:13,250 --> 00:28:15,167 that then puts everything in the position 655 00:28:15,292 --> 00:28:16,917 where they're gonna be in the sky. 656 00:28:17,042 --> 00:28:19,583 So, therefore you have a device that is calculating 657 00:28:19,708 --> 00:28:22,292 both space and time. 658 00:28:22,375 --> 00:28:25,125 SAMI: When physicists like Albert Einstein 659 00:28:25,208 --> 00:28:27,875 and Stephen Hawking talk about time travel, 660 00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:30,083 the question becomes whether or not space and time 661 00:28:30,208 --> 00:28:33,000 can fold in on itself to allow a person 662 00:28:33,125 --> 00:28:35,500 to jump in between time periods. 663 00:28:35,625 --> 00:28:38,208 So, those inputs on the Antikythera mechanism, 664 00:28:38,333 --> 00:28:40,875 could they be coordinates for a journey 665 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:42,458 through space-time? 666 00:28:42,583 --> 00:28:44,667 JONATHAN: The mechanism could literally be an atlas 667 00:28:44,792 --> 00:28:46,583 to the cosmos in four dimensions, 668 00:28:46,708 --> 00:28:48,167 including time. 669 00:28:48,292 --> 00:28:50,500 It's a map to get you to your destination. 670 00:28:50,625 --> 00:28:52,708 LAURENCE: But with only one-third 671 00:28:52,833 --> 00:28:55,417 of the Antikythera mechanism to examine, 672 00:28:55,542 --> 00:28:59,000 its additional functions or its possible purpose 673 00:28:59,083 --> 00:29:00,958 can't be fully determined. 674 00:29:01,083 --> 00:29:03,417 Nothing of what we currently have is a time machine, 675 00:29:03,542 --> 00:29:04,833 let's just be clear about that. 676 00:29:04,958 --> 00:29:07,125 But could the mechanism's missing parts 677 00:29:07,208 --> 00:29:09,667 help power a journey through time? 678 00:29:09,750 --> 00:29:11,375 It makes for a fun story. 679 00:29:11,542 --> 00:29:15,708 The very first time traveler finishes their prototype. 680 00:29:15,875 --> 00:29:18,333 They decide they want to encode the instructions 681 00:29:18,458 --> 00:29:21,250 in Ancient Greek, because they've long admired 682 00:29:21,375 --> 00:29:23,208 the society for its well-known wisdom, 683 00:29:23,375 --> 00:29:25,875 so much so, that that's actually where they wanna go 684 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:27,500 on their first destination, 685 00:29:27,667 --> 00:29:30,500 so they go back to Ancient Greek in the time machine. 686 00:29:30,583 --> 00:29:33,083 They're there, some tragedy befalls them-- 687 00:29:33,208 --> 00:29:35,667 the shipwreck-- and poof. 688 00:29:35,750 --> 00:29:39,875 The only Antikythera mechanism is now stuck in 80 B.C. 689 00:29:44,500 --> 00:29:47,750 LAURENCE: In 1968, one influential author 690 00:29:47,875 --> 00:29:52,042 suggests he knows the secret to the Antikythera mechanism. 691 00:29:52,167 --> 00:29:54,667 AMORY: In his 1968 book "Chariots of the Gods?", 692 00:29:54,792 --> 00:29:58,500 Erich Von Daniken questions numerous ancient technologies 693 00:29:58,625 --> 00:30:01,333 which he believes were too advanced to have been created 694 00:30:01,417 --> 00:30:03,792 by the humans in those respective eras. 695 00:30:03,875 --> 00:30:06,125 So, these are things like the pyramids, 696 00:30:06,208 --> 00:30:10,833 and Machu Picchu, Stonehenge, and the Antikythera mechanism. 697 00:30:10,958 --> 00:30:12,667 CAROLINE: According to von Daniken, 698 00:30:12,792 --> 00:30:14,167 the reason is clear. 699 00:30:14,250 --> 00:30:16,417 These things were not created 700 00:30:16,542 --> 00:30:18,333 by humans, they were made 701 00:30:18,417 --> 00:30:21,500 by highly intelligent extraterrestrials. 702 00:30:24,417 --> 00:30:26,042 JONATHAN: The theory is definitely out there, 703 00:30:26,167 --> 00:30:27,917 but it attracts a lot of believers. 704 00:30:28,042 --> 00:30:29,875 If this machine is beyond human knowledge, 705 00:30:30,042 --> 00:30:31,167 what other option do we have? 706 00:30:31,292 --> 00:30:34,583 AMORY: Von Daniken believes that in the distant past, 707 00:30:34,708 --> 00:30:38,000 extraterrestrials land on Earth, they make contact with humans. 708 00:30:38,167 --> 00:30:40,000 They share their knowledge and wanna help 709 00:30:40,083 --> 00:30:42,083 advance scientific progress. 710 00:30:42,208 --> 00:30:43,875 And in the places where this happens, 711 00:30:44,042 --> 00:30:46,583 we see these unexplainable advancements, 712 00:30:46,708 --> 00:30:50,375 like in Ancient Egypt, or in this case, Ancient Greece. 713 00:30:50,500 --> 00:30:53,625 MICHAEL: The theory is that this is extraterrestrial technology 714 00:30:53,708 --> 00:30:56,333 given to humans that's based on their understanding 715 00:30:56,458 --> 00:30:58,208 of tracking the stars and the planets 716 00:30:58,333 --> 00:31:00,083 so that they can help humans better understand 717 00:31:00,208 --> 00:31:01,708 the universe around them. 718 00:31:01,833 --> 00:31:03,292 According to von Daniken, the reason 719 00:31:03,375 --> 00:31:04,875 you have Ancient Greek language 720 00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:06,250 written on the device 721 00:31:06,375 --> 00:31:08,542 is that either the extraterrestrials 722 00:31:08,667 --> 00:31:11,250 built it for them and then translated the instructions 723 00:31:11,375 --> 00:31:14,333 into Ancient Greek, or taught them how to build the device, 724 00:31:14,458 --> 00:31:16,417 and the Greeks themselves put the instructions on it. 725 00:31:16,542 --> 00:31:20,333 LAURENCE: In 1999, von Daniken publishes 726 00:31:20,458 --> 00:31:23,667 "Odyssey of the Gods," in which he suggests 727 00:31:23,792 --> 00:31:28,000 that Ancient Greece was once a nexus of alien activity. 728 00:31:28,125 --> 00:31:30,750 Von Daniken sees evidence of this all around. 729 00:31:30,875 --> 00:31:35,208 The Antikythera mechanism, the advanced political structure 730 00:31:35,333 --> 00:31:37,458 and civilization that they build, 731 00:31:37,542 --> 00:31:39,917 even the stories that they tell about their gods. 732 00:31:40,042 --> 00:31:42,833 CAROLINE: Extraterrestrials capable of traveling 733 00:31:42,958 --> 00:31:45,375 distant galaxies would look like gods 734 00:31:45,500 --> 00:31:47,000 to ancient humans. 735 00:31:47,083 --> 00:31:49,125 Von Daniken believes these visitors 736 00:31:49,208 --> 00:31:52,208 are an inspiration for the Greek gods-- 737 00:31:52,333 --> 00:31:55,917 Zeus, Apollo, Aphrodite, 738 00:31:56,042 --> 00:31:58,417 and the other residents of Mount Olympus. 739 00:31:58,542 --> 00:31:59,833 JONATHAN: Another thing that comes up 740 00:31:59,958 --> 00:32:01,167 in Greek legends is flying. 741 00:32:01,250 --> 00:32:03,542 Gods fly, chariots fly. 742 00:32:03,667 --> 00:32:05,167 This is unusual in a society 743 00:32:05,250 --> 00:32:07,083 where they've never seen anything that flies 744 00:32:07,208 --> 00:32:09,042 other than birds and insects. 745 00:32:09,208 --> 00:32:11,708 As we know, there are no flying vehicles 746 00:32:11,833 --> 00:32:14,583 in Ancient Greece, but maybe some came to visit. 747 00:32:14,708 --> 00:32:16,833 AMORY: Is there any evidence that aliens 748 00:32:16,958 --> 00:32:18,458 visited these ancient cultures? 749 00:32:18,583 --> 00:32:21,500 Not exactly. But the Greeks and Romans 750 00:32:21,625 --> 00:32:25,500 observed and recorded some strange happenings in the sky, 751 00:32:25,583 --> 00:32:28,750 and some of those accounts are pretty curious. 752 00:32:28,875 --> 00:32:33,375 LAURENCE: In 2007, Goddard Institute astrophysicist 753 00:32:33,542 --> 00:32:36,500 Richard Stothers publishes a report 754 00:32:36,625 --> 00:32:40,458 on unexplained aerial phenomena in the ancient world. 755 00:32:40,542 --> 00:32:42,583 MICHAEL: Stothers analyzes these texts 756 00:32:42,708 --> 00:32:45,042 from Ancient Greece and Rome, and finds a ton 757 00:32:45,208 --> 00:32:48,333 of unusual phenomena in the skies at that time. 758 00:32:48,417 --> 00:32:51,333 Now, some of it can be explained as meteors and asteroids, 759 00:32:51,417 --> 00:32:53,375 but a lot of it remains unexplained. 760 00:32:53,500 --> 00:32:56,458 CAROLINE: In 65 A.D., historian Josephus 761 00:32:56,583 --> 00:33:00,583 in his "History of the Wars" records an event in Judea 762 00:33:00,708 --> 00:33:04,083 that can only be described as a battle in the sky, 763 00:33:04,208 --> 00:33:07,000 with chariots and troops of soldiers in armor 764 00:33:07,083 --> 00:33:09,000 shooting fire at each other. 765 00:33:09,083 --> 00:33:11,333 ANDREW: This event had many witnesses 766 00:33:11,417 --> 00:33:13,750 and has led some people to argue 767 00:33:13,875 --> 00:33:16,333 that this was an alien encounter. 768 00:33:16,458 --> 00:33:18,208 JONATHAN: Stothers compares these accounts 769 00:33:18,333 --> 00:33:21,500 to modern UFO reports, which as we know, 770 00:33:21,583 --> 00:33:24,500 our military has begun declassifying. 771 00:33:24,583 --> 00:33:27,167 AMORY: Other ancient records describe objects in the sky 772 00:33:27,292 --> 00:33:31,250 that are disc-shaped, and metallic in texture, 773 00:33:31,375 --> 00:33:34,375 and have soundless movement, and are able to hover. 774 00:33:34,542 --> 00:33:37,833 And this actually sounds a lot like modern UFO sightings. 775 00:33:37,958 --> 00:33:42,042 So, it doesn't prove that aliens visited Ancient Greeks, 776 00:33:42,167 --> 00:33:44,125 but it's interesting. 777 00:33:44,208 --> 00:33:47,083 LAURENCE: Could this origin hint at the true purpose 778 00:33:47,208 --> 00:33:49,583 of the Antikythera mechanism? 779 00:33:49,708 --> 00:33:51,667 AMORY: So, let's assume just for a minute 780 00:33:51,792 --> 00:33:54,292 that it is alien technology. 781 00:33:54,417 --> 00:33:56,500 Well, then what was it used for? 782 00:33:56,625 --> 00:33:59,917 I mean, why give the Greeks this machine? 783 00:34:00,042 --> 00:34:03,542 CAROLINE: Von Daniken suggests that due to its portable size, 784 00:34:03,667 --> 00:34:06,083 it was probably made as a navigation device. 785 00:34:06,208 --> 00:34:07,667 It would have been easily carried 786 00:34:07,833 --> 00:34:09,333 and mounted on a ship. 787 00:34:09,458 --> 00:34:11,792 JONATHAN: According to von Daniken, the aliens 788 00:34:11,917 --> 00:34:15,167 were hoping that the humans would advance from ships at sea 789 00:34:15,250 --> 00:34:18,417 to ships in the sky, or spaceships. 790 00:34:18,542 --> 00:34:20,625 This device was ultimately designed 791 00:34:20,708 --> 00:34:23,875 to navigate our solar system, not just the Mediterranean. 792 00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:26,167 LAURENCE: Some speculate the machine 793 00:34:26,292 --> 00:34:28,958 might be capable of even more. 794 00:34:29,083 --> 00:34:30,667 Don't forget all the missing parts. 795 00:34:30,750 --> 00:34:33,208 While the pieces we have help track the planets 796 00:34:33,375 --> 00:34:35,500 closest to Earth, alien theorists 797 00:34:35,625 --> 00:34:37,958 think that the full device might have been used 798 00:34:38,042 --> 00:34:39,750 to track aliens' home world, 799 00:34:39,875 --> 00:34:42,292 or other navigational aids that might have helped us 800 00:34:42,417 --> 00:34:45,292 get from here to there. 801 00:34:45,375 --> 00:34:47,500 JONATHAN: Alien theorists also speculate 802 00:34:47,583 --> 00:34:49,500 that there might be a communications component 803 00:34:49,583 --> 00:34:51,708 within the missing section. 804 00:34:51,833 --> 00:34:54,208 Maybe it doesn't just track the aliens' home, 805 00:34:54,333 --> 00:34:56,333 maybe it is a way of sending messages. 806 00:34:57,458 --> 00:34:58,708 SAMI: Let me be very clear. 807 00:34:58,833 --> 00:35:01,792 Was this incredibly precise machine 808 00:35:01,875 --> 00:35:04,917 made by highly intelligent extraterrestrials? 809 00:35:05,042 --> 00:35:07,708 No, probably not. 810 00:35:07,833 --> 00:35:10,417 I mean, probably not. 811 00:35:11,333 --> 00:35:13,000 JONATHAN: But I think it is absolutely amazing 812 00:35:13,083 --> 00:35:15,167 how the mechanism inspires wonderment 813 00:35:15,333 --> 00:35:17,333 in everyone who comes across it. 814 00:35:17,458 --> 00:35:19,042 How did it get here, where did it come from? 815 00:35:19,167 --> 00:35:20,167 The stories that people come up with 816 00:35:20,333 --> 00:35:22,583 for this thing are incredible. 817 00:35:22,708 --> 00:35:23,958 The possibilities are endless. 818 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:32,167 LAURENCE: In 2021, a team led by Dr. Tony Freeth 819 00:35:32,292 --> 00:35:34,417 completes a significant breakthrough-- 820 00:35:34,542 --> 00:35:37,875 a working model of the Antikythera mechanism. 821 00:35:38,042 --> 00:35:40,292 MICHAEL: Dating back to one of the original researchers, 822 00:35:40,417 --> 00:35:42,917 Derek de Solla Price, many people have tried 823 00:35:43,042 --> 00:35:44,333 to recreate the mechanism, 824 00:35:44,500 --> 00:35:45,708 or partial versions 825 00:35:45,875 --> 00:35:47,167 of the mechanism. 826 00:35:47,292 --> 00:35:48,250 JONATHAN: But this one is different. 827 00:35:48,375 --> 00:35:50,042 It includes every gear, every inscription, 828 00:35:50,208 --> 00:35:51,625 and every functionality. 829 00:35:51,708 --> 00:35:53,208 It even includes the wooden case. 830 00:35:53,375 --> 00:35:54,333 Everything we know, 831 00:35:54,458 --> 00:35:55,667 every piece we've found, 832 00:35:55,833 --> 00:35:56,833 all put together 833 00:35:56,958 --> 00:35:57,875 in working order. 834 00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:00,667 AMORY: It doesn't reveal any additional functions, 835 00:36:00,792 --> 00:36:02,958 but it's definitely a useful tool to have 836 00:36:03,083 --> 00:36:04,583 to see this all come together. 837 00:36:04,708 --> 00:36:06,708 And it could lead to future discoveries. 838 00:36:06,833 --> 00:36:08,625 ANDREW: Freeth building this model 839 00:36:08,750 --> 00:36:10,958 has an unintended consequence. 840 00:36:11,083 --> 00:36:12,750 It leads many people to argue 841 00:36:12,875 --> 00:36:13,958 that the mechanism 842 00:36:14,083 --> 00:36:14,958 never worked at all, 843 00:36:15,083 --> 00:36:17,792 and all the theories around its possible uses 844 00:36:17,917 --> 00:36:19,500 are in fact wrong. 845 00:36:19,667 --> 00:36:21,458 Over the years, many have questioned 846 00:36:21,583 --> 00:36:24,083 whether the Antikythera mechanism ever worked. 847 00:36:24,208 --> 00:36:26,625 In 1980, the American scientist 848 00:36:26,750 --> 00:36:29,708 and Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman goes to Greece, 849 00:36:29,875 --> 00:36:33,542 and he sees the Antikythera mechanism for himself in Athens. 850 00:36:33,667 --> 00:36:35,583 And he wonders whether it could have functioned. 851 00:36:35,708 --> 00:36:37,750 JONATHAN: Freeth's model works. 852 00:36:37,875 --> 00:36:40,083 However, we have no proof that the original mechanism 853 00:36:40,208 --> 00:36:41,625 ever actually did. 854 00:36:41,708 --> 00:36:43,583 And Freeth takes some liberties 855 00:36:43,708 --> 00:36:45,458 in assuming how certain gears fit 856 00:36:45,583 --> 00:36:47,292 and how they may have fit together. 857 00:36:47,417 --> 00:36:48,792 With the benefit of modern technology 858 00:36:48,917 --> 00:36:50,583 and the ability to work backwards, 859 00:36:50,708 --> 00:36:53,000 he can kind of guesstimate and put the thing together 860 00:36:53,083 --> 00:36:55,125 the way he feels it should work. 861 00:36:55,208 --> 00:36:58,208 MICHAEL: This does not mean it's accurate to the original, 862 00:36:58,333 --> 00:37:00,250 and Freeth makes no such claim. 863 00:37:00,375 --> 00:37:01,833 It's not meant to be taken 864 00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:05,500 as a literal reconstruction of the mechanism. 865 00:37:05,583 --> 00:37:08,167 He points out, however, that it does prove 866 00:37:08,292 --> 00:37:10,208 that something with this functionality 867 00:37:10,333 --> 00:37:12,875 could fit in a box that size. 868 00:37:13,042 --> 00:37:15,167 LAURENCE: But is there any evidence the device 869 00:37:15,250 --> 00:37:17,167 ever actually functioned? 870 00:37:17,292 --> 00:37:18,625 AMORY: Theorists quickly point to the fact 871 00:37:18,750 --> 00:37:21,333 that it took us more than 120 years 872 00:37:21,458 --> 00:37:24,250 since the object was found in 1900 873 00:37:24,375 --> 00:37:27,792 to build a replica that works the same way, 874 00:37:27,917 --> 00:37:30,417 and that's with hundreds of top scientists studying it 875 00:37:30,542 --> 00:37:33,000 and the benefit of modern technology. 876 00:37:33,125 --> 00:37:35,917 This just wouldn't have been possible in 80 B.C. 877 00:37:36,042 --> 00:37:37,917 ANDREW: People point out that Freeth's model 878 00:37:38,042 --> 00:37:40,042 does not look exactly like the mechanism, 879 00:37:40,208 --> 00:37:43,958 which is currently a mass lump with no moving parts. 880 00:37:44,083 --> 00:37:46,625 JONATHAN: The mechanism is a few hunks of metal and rock 881 00:37:46,750 --> 00:37:48,417 with a few gears sticking out of it, 882 00:37:48,542 --> 00:37:51,250 looking more like something from a Frankenstein movie 883 00:37:51,375 --> 00:37:54,208 or a class project than a computer. 884 00:37:54,375 --> 00:37:56,500 LAURENCE: It wouldn't be the first time 885 00:37:56,625 --> 00:37:58,750 experts were fooled. 886 00:37:58,875 --> 00:38:01,792 SAMI: In the 18th century, a man named Johann Kempelen de Pazmand 887 00:38:01,875 --> 00:38:04,167 creates a clockwork robotic chess player 888 00:38:04,292 --> 00:38:05,458 that becomes known 889 00:38:05,542 --> 00:38:06,750 as the Mechanical Turk. 890 00:38:06,875 --> 00:38:10,417 The machine has a life-size human head and torso 891 00:38:10,542 --> 00:38:12,833 with arms that are resting on a cabinet. 892 00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:15,708 And on the cabinet is a chess board, 893 00:38:15,833 --> 00:38:17,958 and human beings come up and play chess 894 00:38:18,083 --> 00:38:21,750 against this machine, and the machine wins. 895 00:38:21,875 --> 00:38:23,708 The Turk makes its official debut 896 00:38:23,833 --> 00:38:26,708 in 1770 in Schönbrunn Palace, 897 00:38:26,833 --> 00:38:29,208 which is the summer residence of Austrian rulers. 898 00:38:29,333 --> 00:38:32,625 Before it starts to play, the audience is invited 899 00:38:32,708 --> 00:38:36,917 to come up and check the machine to see that it is actually real, 900 00:38:37,042 --> 00:38:39,000 that there are no strings moving the arms, 901 00:38:39,125 --> 00:38:41,792 or no devices of any kind allowing it to move. 902 00:38:41,917 --> 00:38:43,708 But it all checks out, and people, 903 00:38:43,833 --> 00:38:45,292 when they're playing the Mechanical Turk, 904 00:38:45,417 --> 00:38:47,125 try to perform some illegal moves, 905 00:38:47,208 --> 00:38:50,625 but the machine will start to shake its head and say "No," 906 00:38:50,708 --> 00:38:52,542 as if it's recognizing that that move is not allowed. 907 00:38:52,667 --> 00:38:54,625 It's really incredible. 908 00:38:54,708 --> 00:38:57,917 LAURENCE: The Mechanical Turk becomes a sensation 909 00:38:58,042 --> 00:38:59,458 across Europe. 910 00:38:59,542 --> 00:39:02,583 AMORY: It tours European capitals in 1783, 911 00:39:02,708 --> 00:39:04,458 stopping at Versailles and playing 912 00:39:04,583 --> 00:39:06,208 all of the best chess players in the world. 913 00:39:06,333 --> 00:39:09,625 It plays Benjamin Franklin, Napoleon Bonaparte, 914 00:39:09,708 --> 00:39:12,000 the King of Prussia-- brilliant minds 915 00:39:12,125 --> 00:39:15,167 who all marvel at this chess-playing automaton. 916 00:39:16,708 --> 00:39:19,667 LAURENCE: But in 1834, a series of articles 917 00:39:19,833 --> 00:39:22,500 reveals the device to be fraudulent. 918 00:39:22,583 --> 00:39:24,917 MICHAEL: For 60 years it fools everyone, 919 00:39:25,042 --> 00:39:27,625 but it turns out that it's all an illusion 920 00:39:27,708 --> 00:39:30,750 with a human chess master inside the cabinet 921 00:39:30,875 --> 00:39:32,833 playing and manipulating the machine. 922 00:39:32,917 --> 00:39:34,750 JONATHAN: But even though the Turk doesn't work 923 00:39:34,875 --> 00:39:38,333 without a human operator, it is still a brilliant design. 924 00:39:38,458 --> 00:39:40,792 The device is put on display in Philadelphia in a museum 925 00:39:40,917 --> 00:39:43,542 until it burns down in 1854. 926 00:39:43,667 --> 00:39:46,167 People celebrate it as a cunning piece of clockwork, 927 00:39:46,333 --> 00:39:49,708 regardless of the fact it didn't automatically play chess. 928 00:39:49,833 --> 00:39:53,167 LAURENCE: Can the same be said of the Antikythera mechanism? 929 00:39:53,292 --> 00:39:54,667 AMORY: The parallels are clear. 930 00:39:54,792 --> 00:39:57,875 The Antikythera mechanism could be the original 931 00:39:58,042 --> 00:40:01,792 Mechanical Turk, and maybe it was a showpiece, 932 00:40:01,917 --> 00:40:05,000 a marvelous clockwork housed inside of a statue 933 00:40:05,167 --> 00:40:07,333 that appeared to track the heavens 934 00:40:07,458 --> 00:40:09,750 through time automatically, 935 00:40:09,875 --> 00:40:11,708 but it wasn't actually automatic. 936 00:40:11,875 --> 00:40:14,500 Inside the statue there was an operator 937 00:40:14,625 --> 00:40:15,958 making it all work. 938 00:40:16,042 --> 00:40:18,375 LAURENCE: Despite the questions it raises, 939 00:40:18,500 --> 00:40:20,833 most historians still believe 940 00:40:20,958 --> 00:40:24,750 the Antikythera mechanism is genuine. 941 00:40:24,875 --> 00:40:27,833 We know the Greeks were big fans of amusements and entertainment. 942 00:40:27,958 --> 00:40:30,042 But if that's the case for this device, 943 00:40:30,167 --> 00:40:33,417 why engrave it all over with the detailed instructions? 944 00:40:33,542 --> 00:40:35,583 What purpose does that serve an audience? 945 00:40:35,708 --> 00:40:37,667 I don't think it was meant to be gawked at 946 00:40:37,833 --> 00:40:40,542 and for entertainment, it was meant to be used. 947 00:40:40,708 --> 00:40:42,958 AMORY: And if it didn't work, why was it on a ship 948 00:40:43,042 --> 00:40:45,750 with all of these other marvelous treasures 949 00:40:45,875 --> 00:40:48,833 bound for someone potentially as important as Julius Caesar? 950 00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:51,875 I think they thought this was a really valuable object. 951 00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:56,000 SAMI: Dozens of academics have dedicated their lives 952 00:40:56,125 --> 00:40:58,250 to studying this thing, and it has rewritten 953 00:40:58,375 --> 00:41:02,500 the history books to show what mankind is capable of. 954 00:41:02,625 --> 00:41:05,833 Our species is incredible. 955 00:41:05,958 --> 00:41:08,917 We may not know what the Antikythera mechanism 956 00:41:09,042 --> 00:41:11,958 actually did, but we can take pride in the fact 957 00:41:12,083 --> 00:41:14,292 that somebody was brilliant enough 958 00:41:14,417 --> 00:41:18,000 to create this thing over two millennia ago. 959 00:41:18,167 --> 00:41:20,833 And hopefully someday soon, there will be somebody 960 00:41:20,958 --> 00:41:23,375 brilliant enough to solve its mysteries. 961 00:41:26,583 --> 00:41:28,625 Recovery efforts continue to this day 962 00:41:28,708 --> 00:41:31,500 at the site of the Antikythera shipwreck. 963 00:41:31,625 --> 00:41:34,917 In 2017, an additional gear was recovered. 964 00:41:35,042 --> 00:41:38,417 Scientists are now working to determine its function. 965 00:41:38,542 --> 00:41:41,833 Perhaps new discoveries will unlock the machine's secrets, 966 00:41:41,917 --> 00:41:46,167 or they may simply leave us with more unanswered questions. 967 00:41:46,250 --> 00:41:48,292 I'm Laurence Fishburne. 968 00:41:48,417 --> 00:41:52,333 Thank you for watching "History's Greatest Mysteries."