The oldest shipwreck found near Türkiye, as old as the Great Pyramid

Listen to the article. The audio text is automated, generated by an automated system

Archaeologists recently announced the discovery of the world's oldest known shipwreck off the coast of Turkey, dating back to between 4,400 and 4,700 years ago, roughly to the Early Bronze Age in which the Great Pyramid was built, after analyzing pottery jars scattered on the seabed near Kekova Island in Antalya.

The researchers explained that the length of the ship was about 10 meters, and that it was a commercial ship transporting goods across the Mediterranean Sea. Its wooden structure did not survive thousands of years underwater, while its large pottery jars known as amphorae (a large pottery vessel used to store liquids, grains, etc.) remained scattered on a slope under the sea surface, at a depth of only 30 meters, along with three large stone anchors and more than 30 storage jars, according to what was reported by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

While Professor Hakan Oeniz from Akdeniz University in Türkiye, who led the Mediterranean Archaeological Society mission, said that the wreck is like a time capsule at the bottom of the sea.

Since there was nothing left of the wood, techniques such as radiocarbon dating, which measures a form of carbon in organic materials, could not be used. Instead, archaeologists resorted to analyzing the shape of the amphorae, because pottery styles changed over time and each of them is linked to a specific period.

Kekova pottery features two handles, a bump in the middle, and a flat base. Owens pointed out that this design matches other amphorae found in Egypt and the Middle East that are known to date back to between 4,400 and 4,700 years ago. He stressed that comparing decoration techniques allows us to confirm that the wreckage dates back to the Early Bronze Age with complete certainty.

The mission's divers recovered the jars to the surface, and they are currently undergoing careful restoration and care after remaining underwater for thousands of years. Dr. Karen Sawada, an archaeologist from Macquarie University in Australia, examined a number of amphorae after they were recovered, and was surprised that some of them were intact and contained shiny sticky residue. She stated that she almost fainted when she looked inside, because the visible amount was large and not just scattered spots.

Now, the team is working to determine precisely what the jars were carrying. Sawada believes that the content may be olive oil, wine, or tree resin, with the possibility that the remains result from reusing the jars, because they are huge and cannot be shipped and then forgotten, as people used to empty them upon arrival and use them for many years.

The wreck and its cargo shed light on trade in the ancient world. Archaeologists estimate that the ship set out from somewhere on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, and that it was transporting goods either to the city of Troy in what is today northwestern Turkey, or to the Minoans on the island of Crete.

Traveling by sea was fraught with danger, especially around Kekova Island, where strong currents and winds caused many ships to sink. The area contains hundreds of ruins, and the Mediterranean Archaeological Society specializes in finding and studying them. Owens says that the first thing that comes to mind when diving at the site is the lives of those associated with the ship, from the sailors, the amphorae makers, and those carrying them to the ship, all the way to the women who waited for their husbands and these people did not return to their homes. He added that his team was the first to touch these pieces in about 5,000 years.

With this discovery, the Kekova wreck tops the list of the oldest sunken ships in the world, after the record was recorded for a wreck off Dokos Island in southern Greece dating back about 4,200 years. As for the oldest known wreck, part of whose wood is still preserved, it was found in the Black Sea off the coast of Bulgaria and dates back to about 2,400 years ago.