2,100 year-old Ancient astronomy Olympic Calculator Discovered

An ancient astronomy calculator appears to show the four-year cycle of the early Greek competitions that inspired today's Olympic Games.

Newly uncovered inscriptions on the 2,100 year-old device reveal names linked to the Olympiad cycle of games once celebrated among ancient Greek city-states.

It's possible that a descendant or student of Archimedes may have taken their cue from the master, Jones said. But he added that the Mechanism contains knowledge of astronomy that only existed after Archimedes died in 212 B.C., which means that the inventor did not directly build the mechanism.

Either way, the mechanism has yet to give up all its secrets. Scientists still puzzle over the eclipse prediction dial, which has glyphs arranged at five or six month intervals around it. The glyphs indicate whether the eclipse is lunar or solar and the time of day, but do not match up precisely with known eclipse times.