New analysis supports Antikythera Mechanism calendar results. (Patreon)

Hey Folks,

Many thanks for your patience on the next Antikythera video. As is often the case it's taking much longer to complete the work than I would prefer.

As I continue to work on it, I thought you might like an update on the status of the Front Dial Calendar Ring, and how your Patron support has generated new and interesting progress in the research.

You will recall that during the initial investigations for the mechanism build, I noticed the 365-holes assumption for the calendar ring did not match what can be seen in the wreckage: https://youtu.be/MkKgdq57uOo. Pulling on this thread, and with the help of coauthors (who are patrons and volunteered their help) we set off on a two-year investigation to source original CT data and then analyze and publish the results in a peer-reviewed journal. We presented evidence that the long-presumed concensus view of a 365-day solar calendar is statistically unlikely to be correct. Further, that the more likely interpretation is that the calendar ring of the Antikythera Mechanism is a 354-day lunar calendar: https://bhi.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/BHI-Antikythera-Mechanism-Evidence-of-a-Lunar-Calendar.pdf

Now, two independant research groups have found even stronger support for that discovery.

Both Woan & Bayley [ https://arxiv.org/pdf/2403.00040 ], and separately, Malin & Dickens [ https://bhi.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/04-HJApril24-AOTM.pdf ] have found with high certainty that the Antikythera Mechanism Calendar Ring is most likely a 354-day calendar. Using the original data from our paper, each of these new papers take different approaches to the analysis and replicate our results with similar or higher precision.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but neither the initial publication of this discovery nor its (twice) independent replication would have occurred without your Patron support. To me, this is citizen science at its very best, and I very much want you to take pride in helping to make it happen.

The finding triggers an interesting cascade of consequences for the existing research. It requires a re-think of much of what has previously been published, and also introduces a new perspective on the nature of the device, and perhaps the people who built it. All of which we will examine together, as the project continues.

Thank you again,

Chris.

An improved calendar ring hole-count for the Antikythera mechanism

Graham Woan, Joseph Bayley

Published on 29 Feb 2024

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2403.00040

How Many Days in an Egyptian Year?

Evidence from the Antikythera Mechanism

Stuart Malin, R. J. Dickens

Published April 2024

https://bhi.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/04-HJApril24-AOTM.pdf