In 1900, a crew of sponge divers discovered the wreck of a Roman-Greco vessel that had sunk off the coast of the Greek island Antikythera around 60 BC. Numerous artifacts, such as bronze and marble statues, amphorae, pottery, glassware, jewelry and coins, were retrieved in 1901. One of the objects was an unspectacular lump of corroded bronze that proved to be the remains of the world's first known analog computer built in Ancient Greece. The so-called Antikythera Mechanism was a hand-powered model of the solar system used to calculate astronomical cycles and to predict eclipses.

The Antikythera Mechanism project is a challenge entry for the 10th Swiss Open Cultural Data Hackathon taking place on Sept 6/7 in Lucerne. The project aims at providing a scientifically and mechanically accurate and freely accessible VR model for education and study porposes, which will be downloadable in a standard 3D model format (Public Domain).

Join us at GLAMhack 2024 and help us to make new creative explorations of these and similar open culture resources.