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The Antikythera Mechanism

Exploring the most sophisticated scientific instrument known from the ancient world.

2,000+
years between the Mechanism and its modern investigation

A unique window into ancient science

The Antikythera Mechanism is the most sophisticated scientific instrument known from the ancient world. Recovered from a shipwreck near the Greek island of Antikythera, it used an extraordinary system of bronze gears to model astronomical cycles and display celestial phenomena.

Since the early 2000s, the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project has brought together historians of science, archaeologists, astronomers, physicists, engineers and imaging specialists to investigate its structure, inscriptions and functions.

This website brings together the results of that research: publications, data, images, models, historical documents and resources concerning the Mechanism and its study. Research continues today through new analyses, reconstructions and the wider archaeological investigation of the Antikythera shipwreck.

Highlights from the project