Computers are a modern invention, right? Well, not exactly. In 1901 a device called the Antikythera Mechanism was found in a shipwreck, and after extensive study, it was determined that it was an analog computer that was at least 2000 years old. This is a remarkable claim that has had people wondering about what we know about the history of human technology for years now.

The device, which is believed to have been an astronomical calculator that could track the movements of celestial bodies is one of the most thought provoking artifacts ever found. According to a new study that was published (but not yet peer reviewed) and available on arXiv, however, the mechanism may have never actually worked.

Now, to be clear, whether the device actually worked or not doesn’t have a lot of impact on what it means historically. It is clear that the mechanics of the device were intended to perform calculations and serve as a very primitive computer, which is incredible whether it worked properly or not.

The study, however, took scans of the Antikythera Mechanism and attempted to digitally ‘fix’ the broken teeth in the gears, the corrosion, and other issues that it has today after sitting underwater for millennia. The study authors used two previous papers to come up with their analysis. The first was by Mike Edmunds, which took CT scans of the gears in  the device to identify manufacturing errors including things like irregular spacing or uneven distribution of the teeth. The second was from Alan Thorndike, which looked at the triangular shape of the teeth used in the device and how they would have performed, specially causing non-uniform motion.

The authors of the new study explained:

“Under our assumptions, the errors identified by Edmunds exceed the tolerable limits required to prevent failures, while the triangular shape of the teeth alone produces negligible errors, manufacturing inaccuracies significantly increase the likelihood of gear jamming or disengagement.”

These design or manufacturing issues, the authors speculate, would have caused problems with its actual functioning. The paper suggests that the solar pointer portion of the device would have gotten jammed before it got through even one-third of a full rotation. This is a major issue, because as the authors say:

“Since the Antikythera Mechanism has a single input of motion and all gears are interconnected, the jamming of any gear pair would bring the entire mechanism to a halt. As a result, two possibilities arise: either the mechanism never functioned, or its errors were smaller than those found by Edmunds.”

Those who think that the mechanism did indeed function would argue that it is impossible to accurately determine the exact shape and quality of the device after nearly 2000 years of sitting underwater. In addition, it is not known how long the device would have been used before it sunk with the ship that it was on. It is entirely possible that the mechanism was used for a long period of time and was simply at the end of its useful life anyway.

The authors of the paper would not likely dispute these facts as they agree that any paper, including their own, that theorizes on whether or not the device functioned need to be interpreted with caution since there are so many factors that could influence the device in the time since it was made.

Were people 2000 years ago actually using simple computers?

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