The Antikythera mechanism was an ancient computer of sorts, designed and built 2,000 years ago, during the height of the ancient Library of Alexandria. The device was first discovered by divers searching for sponges in the Aegean Sea in the year 1900.
Marine archaeologists are donning Exosuits, metal swimsuits with a range of robotic functions, in order to find fragments left over from the device. These outfits weigh 530 pounds and allow divers to sink to 1,000 feet without fear of decompression sickness, popularly known as the bends. Aquatic field workers are able to stay at these depths for hours at a time, significantly increasing the amount of time available for exploration of the wreck. The spacesuit-like water gear was designed and manufactured by Nuytco Research, located in Vacouver, in Canada.
"It's likely that sediment will hold the kind of stuff we can't even imagine. Our eyes light up thinking about it. It's the kind of thing that wakes you up in the middle of the night. These are artifacts that have never been seen since the time of Caesar," Brendan Foley, a maritime archaeologist from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI), and co-director of the 2014 Antikythera mission, said.
The Antikythera mechanism is able to determine future moon phases and planetary positions, as well as predict eclipses.
When divers discovered the mechanism 114 years ago, the shipwreck from which it was recovered also contained gold jewelry and marbles. During the 1950s and 1970s, famed diver Jacques Cousteau visited the wreck, where he found human remains, as well as additional artifacts. His mission to the wreck in 1976 was the last time the archaeological site was visited by researchers.
The shipwreck is located 400 feet underwater and perched dangerously close to deep precipice. During the first dive to the site at the turn of the 20th century, the ship nearly fell over the underwater cliff.
A pair of robotic explorers will soon conduct a survey of the site, creating a 3D model of the ancient wreck. This will be followed by human divers, carrying metal detectors and plastic flags. They will plant a flag next to any area where the detectors record the presence of metal deposits. The robotic explorers will then map the locations of each flag.
"All we really want to know is roughly where things are, where concentrations of things are, then we can start the excavation," Foley told the press.
Pieces of the Antikythera mechanism could still be hidden in the wreck at 400 feet, as divers in 1900 could only reach 150 feet underwater, staying there for just a few minutes at a time.
