Ancient Skeleton Discovered Near World’s Oldest Computer, Antikythera Mechanism

Some of you might be knowing that the world’s oldest computer, Antikythera Mechanism, is more than 2,000 years old . Found in a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera, Antikythera Mechanism is a badly corroded analog computer that was used to calculate planetary movements. There are some other strange theories that speculate the possibility that Antikythera mechanism was of extraterrestrial origin.

Now, as a result of an ongoing excavation of the shipwreck, an international research team has discovered a human skeleton. This could provide us insights into the lives of the people from Antikythera era.

The research team, led by experts from the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), recovered a human skull with jaw and teeth, ribs, bones of arms and legs, etc. The rest part of the skeleton is embedded in the seafloor and it’ll be excavated in the next phase.

“With the Antikythera Shipwreck, we can now connect directly with this person who sailed and died aboard the Antikythera ship.” said Brendan Goley, a marine archaeologist with WHOI.

The bones of the probable crew member appear to be that of a young person. The archaeologists are hoping to find more about the ship and its origin using DNA findings.

The Antikythera Shipwreck is one of the largest shipwreck discovered from the ancient times. It’s thought to be a grain carrier that was first discovered in 1900 by Greek sponge divers. Apart from the Antikythera Mechanism, numerous marble statues and antiquities were found along with the shipwreck.

“Against all odds, the bones survived over 2,000 years at the bottom of the sea and they appear to be in fairly good condition, which is incredible,” said Dr. Hannes Schroeder, a DNA expert from the Natural History Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen.

Source: WHOI

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Also Read: History of Computer: From First Generation Of Computer To Third Generation