节听考古课上一部分passage2 lecture 1vassage2.pdfVIP

Lecture1

Listentopartofalectureinanarchaeologyclass.

Professor:Iwastalkingtooneofmycolleaguesinthephysicsdepartmenttheotherday,andwe

endedupdiscussinghowonediscoverycanchangeeverything.Mycolleaguementionedhowthe

theoryofrelativitycompletelychangedthefieldofphysics.Atanyrates,thatconversationgot

methinkingaboutarchaeologicalfindsthatreallychangedourunderstandingofancient

civilizations.SoIwanttotalkaboutthediscoveryoftheAntikytheraMechanism.

TheAntikytheraMechanismwasfoundahundredyearsago,underwaterinanancientGreek

shipwreckintheMediterraneanSea.Itwasinextremelypoorconditionandinmanycorroded

pieces.Butoncewefiguredoutwhatitwasandreconstructedit.Well,Isimplydonthavethe

wordstoconveyhowextraordinarythisfindwas.

TheAntikytheraMechanismisarelativelysmalldevice,roughlythesizeofashoebox,madeof

gearsfittedinsideawoodencase.Initsoriginalstate,therewererotatingdialsandother

indicatorsonthetop,withlettersanddrawingsshowingtheSun,thephasesofthemoonand

differentconstellations.Insidethebox,bronzegearswouldhaverotatedthedisplays.The

displays,uh,theindicatorsoftheAntikytheraMechanism,wouldthenmovetoshowthemotion

oftheSunandmoonrelativetotheplanetsandstars.Thedevicecouldbeusedtotellthe

differentphasesofthemoonandmuchmore.

Well,scientistshaverecentlyanalyzedtheinscriptionsonthemechanismandre-examinethe

othercargointheshipwreck,andtheevidencemakesanabsolutecasethatthisdevicedates

backtoancientGreecesomewherebetween150and100B.C.E.Whatmakesthatsofascinating

isthatbeforewefoundtheAntikytheraMechanism,theearliestdevic