World's oldest shipwreck found off coast of Turkey

Figure caption,

Artefacts from the ship were found just off the coast of Kekova Island

ByAlison Francis, Rebecca Morelle and Kevin Church

BBC News Science

The world's oldest shipwreck has been discovered off the coast of Turkey, archaeologists say.

They have dated it to between 4,400 and 4,700 years old, which is the Early Bronze Age, and is around the same time that the Great Pyramid was being built.

The ship's wooden structure has not survived, but the ceramic storage pots it was carrying were lying on the sea floor and, remarkably, some still contain traces of what they held inside.

The archaeologists who found the ship say it was about 10m in length and was a trade vessel carrying cargo across the Mediterranean Sea.

"The shipwreck is a time capsule at the bottom of the sea," said Prof Hakan Öniz, from Akdeniz University in Turkey, who led the Mediterranean Archaeology Association expedition.

The picture is taken underwater and has a deep blue green colour. In the centre is a large shield-shaped rock with two holes a little way apart at one end and another one at the other. It is about 1m across. This is one of three ship's anchors found at the site. A piece of paper is stuck to the anchor with "KET 26 - 44" written on it. An archaeologist's red and white measuring stick is lying on the seabed at the end with the 2 holes. To the right of the stone anchor, and slightly above, where the sea floor slopes away, a diver is looking at the anchor with what looks like an underwater torch. To the left are some flat rocks partially covered with sand. — Image caption,
The divers found three stone anchors, as ships carried spares on long voyages

The wreck is close to the shore of Kekova Island in Antalya, Turkey. The artefacts lie scattered across an underwater slope, just 30m beneath the waves.

Three large stone anchors were found, as well as more than 30 ceramic storage pots, called amphorae.

The fact that none of the ship's wood remained meant techniques like radiocarbon dating - which measures a form of carbon in organic materials - could not be used to determine its age.

Instead, archaeologists analysed the shape of the amphorae. Because pottery styles have changed over time, differerent styles are linked to particular periods.

The Kekova ceramics are distinctive, with two handles, a ridge in the middle and a flat base.

Öniz said this design matched other amphorae unearthed in Egypt and the Middle East that were known to be 4,400-4,700 years old.

"Comparing the decoration techniques… we can definitely say our wreck is Early Bronze Age. This is 100%."

Two people in lab coats and wearing blue gloves and masks are examining some of the amphorae that have been brought to the surface. They are sitting at a table at the back of a dive boat and are in the shade under the boat's roof. The person on the left has her hair tied up and is looking at an intact amphora. She is gently and carefully scraping the surface close to the neck with a scalpel. There are 4 other partial amphorae on the table. Another person who sits slightly behind and to the left, is looking at one of the other pieces of pot. In the background, on the deck of the boat are 6 plastic crates that contain more pieces of pottery brought up from the sea floor. The rocks of the coastline can be seen just behind the stern of the boat and part of a red flag that is attached to a pole on the boat is hanging down in the top right hand corner. — Image caption,
The amphorae were recovered and taken on board the research ship

A close up view of an amphora in the laboratory on the ship. The handle on the side of the pot is poking out to the left. A woman with long brown hair, wearing a white lab coat and a face mask, is working on the surface of the amphora with a small electric tool. It's white and is about 10cm long with a light on the end, she is holding it in her right hand and supporting the amphora with her left. The area that she has carefully cleaned is a brown/orange colour and there are some black patterns that are just starting to become visible. The rest of the surface of the pot has a white deposit covering it. The archaeologist is looking through a magnifying glass on the end of a mechanical arm because the work she is doing is so precise. In the background is a black computer screen. — Image caption,
After thousands of years underwater, the fragile artefacts are now being carefully conserved

Divers from the expedition brought the pots up to the surface, where they are now being carefully conserved after so many thousands of years underwater.

Dr Karin Sowada, an archaeologist from Macquarie University, Australia, examined the amphorae after they were recovered. Some were intact and she was surprised to see they still contained a viscous, glossy residue.

"I looked inside and nearly fainted. I could not believe how much [residue] was visible. It wasn't just like spots…. a lot of this material was still remaining," she said.

The team is now working to find out exactly what was being carried in the amphorae.

"It could be olive oil, it could be wine, it could be tree resins," Sowada said.

"It's possible that [the residue] could actually be the result of reuse of the jars. I mean, these jars are huge - they're not things that you just ship away and then never see again. People would have emptied these jars on arrival and potentially used them for many, many, many years."

Map graphic showing Europe, Middle East and Africa. The start of the voyage is labelled on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, Kekova Island is labelled - it is on the south coast of Turkey, Troy is labelled, which is in northwest Turkey and Crete in southern Greece. The indicates a possible route the ship took from the Mediterranean coast to Kekova Island, and then its possible destinations of either Troy or Crete.

The wreck and its cargo are also shedding light on trade in the ancient world.

The archaeologists say the ship started its voyage from somewhere along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean.

They believe is it was taking goods to either the ancient city of Troy, in what is now north-western Turkey, or to the Minoan people in Crete.

A diver on the top left hand side of the picture is working underwater to uncover an amphora. They are wearing a black wet suit with some white writing on it and a yellow stripe. They have black goggles. A long tube, like the sort you find on a vacuum cleaner, is being used to remove the sand that has been covering the ship's cargo. In the foreground and slightly to the right is an amphora. It is mostly covered in a sort of multicoloured rocky crust and it is sitting on a small ledge but some patches of the reddish clay are visible. There is a piece of paper with some numbers and letters written on it attached to the pot. To the right and behind is a small ridge of rocks. — Image caption,
The divers worked underwater to carefully excavate the artefacts

Travelling by sea was fraught with danger, particularly around Kekova Island, where the strong currents and winds have claimed many ships.

There are hundreds of wrecks in the area, and the Mediterranean Archaelogy Association specialises in finding and studying them.

Öniz says that when he is diving on the wreck his first thoughts are about the lives of the people who were connected to this vessel.

"We are the first humans who [have] touched these objects after 5,000 years.

"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."

The picture is taken underwater and is very blue. It shows five divers starting to swim down to the wreck. Some are closer to the camera than others. One, on the left of the photo, is quite close to the camera and you can see the trail of bubbles going up to the surface from his air tank. The shadow of the end of the dive boat can be seen in the centre and at the very top of the photo. To the left are a group of 4 divers who are on their way back up to the surface from the wreck. They are holding onto a ring as they wait at this depth for a specific period of time, breathing pure oxygen, to make sure they do not get sick with the bends when they come out of the water. — Image caption,
The depth meant the divers could only spend 30 minutes at a time exploring it

The Kekova discovery now tops the list of the world's oldest shipwrecks.

Previously, the record holder was a wreck off the coast of Dokos, an island in southern Greece, which dates to about 4,200 years ago.

The oldest known shipwreck where some of the wood is still preserved was found in the Black Sea off the coast of Bulgaria. It dates to about 2,400 years ago.