After decades of research, a seemingly innocuous find retrieved from a Roman shipwreck was revealed as a sensational scientific discovery, proving that the ancient Greeks were capable of making mechanical models of the cosmos with hitherto unimagined precision. The ‘Antikythera Mechanism’ is an analogue ‘calendar computer’.
Never underestimate the power of obsession. I would not be the least bit surprised to learn that right now, as I write this, there is someone out there making their 4327th attempt to engrave “The Lord’s Prayer” into a watermelon seed using a handheld sewing needle. And it’s probably in an illuminated Gothic script.