World's oldest shipwreck found off coast of Turkey
Archaeologists say the wreck is up to 4,700 years old, dating to the Early Bronze Age.
Key points
- Archaeologists say a shipwreck off Kekova Island, Turkey, is 4,400 to 4,700 years old.
- The wooden hull is gone, but three stone anchors and over 30 ceramic pots were found.
- Some pots still contain residue, and the finds will go to a new Antalya museum.
Archaeologists say they have found the world's oldest shipwreck off the coast of Kekova Island in Antalya, Turkey. They dated it to between 4,400 and 4,700 years old, placing it in the Early Bronze Age, around the time the Great Pyramid was built.
The ship's wooden structure did not survive, but its cargo did. The team found three large stone anchors and more than 30 ceramic storage pots, called amphorae, scattered on an underwater slope about 30m below the surface. The archaeologists say the vessel was roughly 10m long and was a trade ship carrying cargo across the Mediterranean Sea.
How the age was determined
Because no wood remained, radiocarbon dating could not be used. Instead, the archaeologists analysed the shape of the amphorae, since pottery styles are linked to particular periods. The Kekova ceramics have two handles, a middle ridge and a flat base.
Prof Hakan Öniz, from Akdeniz University in Turkey, who led the Mediterranean Archaeology Association expedition, said this design matched amphorae found in Egypt and the Middle East known to be 4,400-4,700 years old. He said the team could say the wreck is Early Bronze Age with certainty.
The shipwreck is a time capsule at the bottom of the sea
— Prof Hakan Öniz
Cargo and trade route
Divers brought the pots to the surface, where they are being conserved. Dr Karin Sowada, an archaeologist from Macquarie University in Australia, examined them after recovery and was surprised to find some still held a viscous, glossy residue. The team is now working to identify what the jars carried, with possibilities including olive oil, wine or tree resins.
The archaeologists believe the ship began its voyage somewhere along the eastern Mediterranean coast and was carrying goods to either the ancient city of Troy, in what is now north-western Turkey, or to the Minoan people in Crete. The wreck is owned by the Turkish Ministry of Culture, and its minister, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, said the recovered artefacts would go on display at the new Mediterranean Underwater Archaeology Museum in Antalya when it opens in the coming months.
