← The Clockwork Cosmos The Antikythera Shipwreck A searchable gallery of the finds

National Archaeological Museum, Athens · c. 60 BC

A cargo of bronze and marble, and the world's first computer

In the spring of 1900, sponge divers off Antikythera found a Roman-era merchantman loaded with Greek treasure. Every object below, from sculpture, jewellery and glassware to coins and the famous Mechanism, is catalogued with its museum inventory number, material, recovery campaign and official provenance record.

Browse the collection How this was compiled
—
catalogued entries
4
recovery campaigns
82
Mechanism fragments
36+
marble statues (1900–01)
Fragment A of the Antikythera Mechanism, showing its bronze gear trains
Fragment A of the Antikythera Mechanism, the largest of 82 surviving pieces. Photograph via Wikimedia Commons.

The expeditions

1900–01

The sponge divers

Captain Kontos's divers, working with the Hellenic Navy, raise bronze and marble statuary, glassware, jewellery and the Mechanism itself from about 45 m: the first major underwater archaeological excavation in history.

1976

The Cousteau expedition

Jacques-Yves Cousteau's Calypso team, with the Greek Ephorate, recovers further small finds (including Mechanism Fragment E) and films the site.

2012–14

Return to Antikythera

A new Greek–international project led by the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution maps the wreck with closed-circuit rebreathers and sonar, recovering ceramics, a bronze spear and hull elements.

2015–22

The full excavation

Systematic excavation seasons recover the ship's anchor, hull planking, luxury glassware, gold jewellery, a lead "dolphin" defensive weapon and human remains, including the marble head of Heracles, reunited with its body after 116 years.

Type
Material
Recovered

How this gallery was compiled

Sources. Every inventory number, dating and material description is drawn from official records: the National Archaeological Museum's 2012–14 exhibition The Shipwreck of Antikythera: The Ship, the Treasures, the Mechanism and its printed catalogue; the Hellenic Ministry of Culture's ODYSSEUS database; the Return to Antikythera project's official website; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution expedition releases. Images come from Wikimedia Commons (open licence) and the Return to Antikythera project's official photographs by K. Xenikakis.

What the fields mean. Catalogue numbers follow the museum's series: X for bronze and metal objects, Xρ (Χρυσοί) for gold, and plain numerals for marble, glass and ceramics. Where a number has not been published, chiefly for recent excavation seasons, the entry says so rather than guessing.

High-res image

An open-licence or official project photograph is available and linked.

Photo at source

A photograph exists on an official page, but no separate high-resolution file is published.

No image located

No official or open-licence photograph could be verified for this object.

n.a.

No catalogue number published, or the object is recorded only as a season's finds.

AI-generated images. For a small number of entries where no official or open-licence photograph could be verified, an AI-generated illustration stands in its place, based on photographs of the surviving object. These are marked with a small "AI" in the corner of the card image, and labelled "AI-generated" beneath the image in the object's full record. Decorative details in an illustration may differ from the artefact, and a link to any genuine photograph of the find is kept alongside it where one exists.

Caveats. Dates and attributions follow the museum's own labels; where sources conflict (for example, the Youth of Antikythera's dating), the discrepancy is noted on the entry. A 2025 reassessment argues the statuary was assembled from a single gymnasion and forcibly removed rather than bought for a Roman villa: a live scholarly argument, not settled fact. Objects described only in expedition reports since 2015 appear as season summaries pending formal publication.

Primary record sources