微信分享图

Futuristic “Exosuit” Helps Explore Ancient Computer Shipwreck

2014-09-19 09:10:52 未知

A revolutionary new deep sea diving suit is helping archaeologists to fully explore the ancient shipwreck where they have discovered the world’s oldest computer, the AFP reports.

The ancient computer device, called the Antikythera Mechanism—not to be confused with the world’s first “iPad” (see “Ancient ‘iPad’ Uncovered in Byzantine Shipwreck“)—is an astrological clock dating to the second century BCE. A highly complex device used to track the motion of the planets, it features at least 40 bronze cogs and gears and would not be matched by later Europeans for 1,500 years.

The technologically advanced analog computer was found along with a large bronze statue of a young man in a shipwreck discovered in 1900 off Antikythera, a remote Greek island in the Aegean Sea. The vessel is believed to have been a cargo ship bound  for Rome, and archaeologists are confident that the new diving technology will lead to further discoveries at the site.

“This was a ship bearing immense riches from Asia Minor,” team member Dimitris Kourkoumelis told AFP. He believes “there are dozens of items left” to find among the ruins. In particular, the exhibition will search for a second ship they suspect is sitting some 820 feet from the original site.

“We may find one or more monumental statues that were left behind in 1901, in the mistaken belief that they were rocks,” added Brendan Foley, a marine archaeologist from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution at Massachusetts, which has previously assisted on a dive to the Titanic wreck.

The team will benefit from the futuristic Exosuit, designed by Canada’sNuytco Research, which allows divers to descend 492 feet and still perform delicate tasks. Previously, archaeologists had been unable to work at a depth of more than 200 feet.

Other technological advances will also be at the team’s disposal. “We will have more bottom time than any previous human visitors to the site, because we dive with mixed gas rebreathers,” boasts the expedition’s website. “Each diver will have more than 30 minutes of bottom time per day, and will enjoy greater mental acuity and a larger safety margin than that of previous divers at Antikythera.”

(责任编辑:张天宇)

注:本站上发表的所有内容,均为原作者的观点,不代表雅昌艺术网的立场,也不代表雅昌艺术网的价值判断。

全部

全部评论 (0)

我来发布第一条评论

热门新闻

发表评论
0 0

发表评论

发表评论 发表回复
1 / 20

已安装 艺术头条客户端

   点击右上角

选择在浏览器中打开

最快最全的艺术热点资讯

实时海量的艺术信息

  让你全方位了解艺术市场动态

未安装 艺术头条客户端

去下载