The Antikythera Mechanism
It could be the title of the next Stephenson novel, but the Antikythera Mechanism has a story that is many, many pages longer than any of his tomes. Originally discovered by divers in 1901 off the shoreline of the Island Antikythera near Greece, the clump of metal was brought to the surface and given to a historical museum in Athens. By chance, the corroded metal broke apart, revealing 30 tiny, metal gears. Over many years, the inscriptions on the various parts could be deciphered and the mechanism reconstructed. The inscriptions provide an instructional manual for one of the oldest computers ever found. As with many modern computers, not all functions it provides are fully understood or known.
Basically, the Antikythera Mechanism models astronomical phenomena. So accurately, in fact, that the mechanism can be used with a fair degree of certainty to predict upcoming solar and lunar eclipses once certain settings have been made. Considering that this fact only came to light in 2006 shows how long scienctific hackers have been trying to figure out what the mechanism does and how it works. The mechanism also seems to provide evidence of a very complex calendar with 235 months based on cycles of the moon. Using this calendar, ancient Greeks were probably able to determine the duration of years and months. The origin of the mechanism could be Rhodos, though that is not conclusive. There are still many unanswered questions about the mechanism and its functions. See the official site for more details and the FAQ.
HP Labs have a number of detailed photographs available for download in PTM (Polynomial Texture Maps) format.
We were destined to always have computers around us 
Wonder when Antikythera Mechanism version 2.0 with HSDPA is coming…
