Archaeologists have discovered what they believe is the world’s oldest known shipwreck off the coast of Turkey, dating back as far as 4,700 years to the Early Bronze Age, around the time the Great Pyramid of Giza was being built in Egypt.
The remains of the ancient trading vessel were found near Kekova Island in Turkey’s southern Antalya province, about 30 metres beneath the Mediterranean Sea.
Although the ship’s wooden structure has disappeared over the millennia, researchers discovered more than 30 ceramic storage vessels and three large stone anchors scattered across the seabed. Some of the pots still contain traces of their original contents, according to the BBC.
“The shipwreck is a time capsule at the bottom of the sea,” Prof Hakan Öniz of Turkey’s Akdeniz University, who led the Mediterranean Archaeology Association expedition, told the BBC.
Researchers believe the vessel was approximately 10 metres long and transported goods across the Mediterranean between ancient trading centres.
How archaeologists established its age
The discovery is particularly significant because the shipwreck is estimated to be between 4,400 and 4,700 years old, potentially making it several centuries older than the previously recognised record holder near the Greek island of Dokos.
That wreck, discovered in 1975, dates to approximately 2200 BC, or more than 4,200 years ago, according to Guinness World Records.
Because none of the Turkish vessel’s wooden structure survived, scientists could not use radiocarbon dating to establish its age.
Instead, they examined the shapes and decorative features of the ceramic containers, known as amphorae, and compared them with similar pottery discovered in Egypt and the Middle East.
The containers have distinctive features, including two handles, a ridge around the middle and a flat base.
“Comparing the decoration techniques… we can definitely say our wreck is Early Bronze Age. This is 100%,” Öniz told the BBC.
Clues to ancient Mediterranean trade
The discovery could provide valuable insights into the extensive trading networks that connected the eastern Mediterranean thousands of years ago.
Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said analysis of the clay used in the containers suggested they may have been manufactured in workshops in the Jordan Valley.
Similar pottery has been discovered near the Egyptian pyramids at Giza, Saqqara and Abusir, as well as at Troy and on the Greek island of Crete, according to Turkish media reports.
Researchers believe the ship may have sailed from a port on the Levantine coast towards Troy or Crete before sinking near Kekova.
The containers may have been used to transport commodities such as olive oil or wine, although their original contents have yet to be conclusively identified.
One recovered vessel, marked with nine symbols and featuring two holes, is also being examined for evidence that it may have been used in producing cheese or butter.
A dangerous voyage that ended 4,700 years ago
The waters around Kekova have long been hazardous for sailors because of strong winds and currents.
The ancient ship appears to have met its end along one of the Mediterranean’s trading routes, leaving behind cargo that remained on the seabed for thousands of years.
The recovered pottery is now undergoing conservation and scientific examination.
For Öniz, the discovery is also a reminder of the people who travelled and traded across the Mediterranean long before modern navigation.
“We are the first humans who [have] touched these objects after 5,000 years,” he told the BBC.
“We are always thinking of the sailors... the producers of the amphora and the person who carried the amphora on their shoulders to the ship, and the women who were waiting for their husbands, and they unfortunately couldn’t go back.”
Turkey’s Mediterranean coast has become an important centre for underwater archaeology. More than 430 shipwrecks have been documented along the coastline, according to Öniz, who spoke to Anadolu Agency earlier this month.
The latest discovery could help researchers better understand how ancient civilisations exchanged goods and developed maritime trade networks thousands of years before the modern era.