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Archaeologists in Turkey have announced the discovery of what could be the world's oldest known shipwreck, a cargo vessel that sank in the early Bronze Age, up to 4,700 years ago. The find was announced on 14 October, and it offers a rare glimpse into seafaring and trade in the ancient Mediterranean.
The wreck lies on a rocky slope off Kekova Island, near Antalya on Turkey's southern coast, at a depth of about 30 metres. The wooden ship itself has long since disintegrated, but its cargo survived: more than 30 large ceramic storage jars, known as amphorae, and three stone anchors, scattered across the seabed. Divers could spend only 30 minutes at a time at that depth, which made the excavation slow and careful work.
The team, led by underwater archaeologist Hakan Öniz of Akdeniz University, dated the wreck by comparing the decoration and shape of the jars with similar vessels from Egypt and the Middle East that are known to be between 4,400 and 4,700 years old. A preliminary report on the site was published in the Journal of Maritime Archaeology in July 2026. The jars are thought to have carried olive oil or wine, and some still held a thick, glossy residue when they were opened in the laboratory.
One archaeologist on the project, Karin Sowada of Macquarie University in Australia, said she nearly fainted when she looked inside one of the jars and saw how much residue remained. She described the wreck as a time capsule, giving researchers a direct link to trade networks that stretched across the eastern Mediterranean at about the time Egypt's first pyramids were being built.
The age of the wreck is not yet settled. Outside archaeologists quoted in coverage of the find say the dating, which rests on the style of the jars rather than a laboratory measurement of the ship itself, is not yet proved. Even so, the discovery would move the oldest known shipwreck back by centuries, past the Dokos wreck off Greece, whose cargo dates back about 4,200 years. The finds will go on display in a new underwater archaeology museum in Antalya.
Source: Smithsonian Magazine
