NARRATOR: The Aegean
Sea, April 1900.
Just 230 feet off the
coast of the small island
of Antikythera, sponge divers
discover an ancient shipwreck
150 feet beneath the surface.
Over the next two
years, artifacts are
recovered from the wreckage.
And among them are the remains
of a coral-encrusted metal box
that dates back to
the 2nd century BC.
It is the oldest mechanical
computer ever found,
pre-dating artifacts of similar
complexity by 1,500 years.
 So you have this small
little box, with dozens
of cog wheels on the inside.
And it has been determined that
that analog computer was used
to predict astronomical events.
And so it was the
first computer that has
ever been created by mankind.
DAVID CHILDRESS: The
American scientists
who are studying the
Antikythera device actually
said that discovering
the Antikythera device
was like finding a jet plane
in the tomb of King Tut.
It was so amazing to them.
They had never, ever conceived
that the ancient Greeks at 200
BC would have had the
knowledge of mechanical devices
like this.
It's completely changed the way
we perceive ancient history.
NARRATOR: While excavation
teams have still not determined
for certain the origin of the
ship on which the Antikythera
mechanism was found,
the leading candidate
is the island of Rhodes.
According to some
contemporary accounts,
Rhodes was once home to
what, by today's standards,
would be considered
high technology.
In the 5th century
BC, the poet Pindar
wrote that Rhodes
was once adorned
with statues that came
to life, like living
and moving creatures.
GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: He wrote
that they, all of a sudden,
became alive.
And so the question then arises,
well, if you have a lifeless
object first, and then all of
a sudden, somebody breathes
life into something, could
it be that we have references
to some type of machines?
 Where did the
people of Rhodes get
the knowledge of how
to create these moving
statues 2,500 years ago?
I believe that it is
just what Pindar said.
Which is, they got
it from the gods.
Well, who are these gods?
The gods are real people.
They're extraterrestrials
who had this technology,
shared it with humanity.
And now, when we see the
Antikythera mechanism,
there's something you can
put your hands on that shows
that they had the
capability to do
advanced machine work that's
1,500 years too early,
at least.
The point is that
technology really exists.
And from a technology like
that, going to robotics
is not too much further.
And extraterrestrials would very
well have had that capability
for the time, if
you believe what
this legend says on face value.
