In 1900 a Greek sponge diver sheltering from a storm discovered an ancient ship wreck 40m below the surface off the coast of the Greek island of Antikythera. Recovered from the wreck were several artefacts including the most complex device ever recovered from the ancient world, the Antikythera Mechanism. Over the past decades many astronomical functions in the mechanism have been identified, however the primary purpose of the device which dates back to 80 BC has eluded scientists up to now. The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project (a joint UK and Greek endeavour) will host a 2 day conference in Athens at the end of this month and will reveal the results of a year long research project on the mechanism by a team which included Astrophysicists, Radio Astronomers, Mathematicians and Philologists. The team won’t comment before the conference but are confident that they have deciphered many of the mechanism’s mysteries.

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