Antikythera mechanism is a piece of bráss found near the wreck of a 2,000-year-old vessel, off the Greek island Antikythera.
Sources suggest that it looks like something you might find in a junkyard or hanging on the wall of a maritime-themed dive bar. What remains of the mechanism is a set of rusted bráss gears sandwiched into a rotting wooden box.
If you look closely, you'll see an evidence of at least two dozen gears, laid neatly on top of one another, calibrated with the precision of a master-crafted Swiss watch.
After a careful study of the gears, Princeton science historian Derek J. de Solla Price deduced that the mechanism was used to predict the position of the planets and stars in the sky depending on the calendar month. A main gear would move to represent the calendar year, and would, in turn, move many separate smaller gears to represent the motions of the planets, sun, and moon.
Learn more about the Antikythera Mechanism by checking these 15 intriguing facts shared by Mentalfloss.com.