Could this ancient shipwreck be the oldest ever found?
The wreck was found with relatively intact cargo on the seabed off the coast of Türkiye and is believed to be between 4,700 and 4,400 years old
By Adam Kovac edited by Claire Cameron
Divers explore a Bronze Age shipwreck off the coast of Türkiye.
Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Culture and Tourism
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They don’t make ’em like they used to. A shipwreck believed to date to the early Bronze Age has been discovered at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, where it has remained sitting, complete with intact cargo.
The small boat was first found in 2024 by scientists at Türkiye’s Akdeniz University. A blip on their sonar screen led them to the remains, which were surrounded by three stone anchors.
While old shipwrecks in the area aren’t uncommon, most have dated to roughly 2,000 to 1,500 years ago, during the Roman or Byzantine eras. This ship, however, is far older, likely dating to the early Bronze Age, when the Hattian civilization was beginning to form. The scientists believe the remains are between 4,700 and 4,400 years old. That would make this the oldest shipwreck ever found, surpassing the previous contender by centuries.
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Inside the ship, the archaeologists found around 18 remarkably intact, flat-bottomed containers called amphorae, which were commonly used to store and transport liquids such as olive oil and wine at the time. Some of the containers were marked with finely etched symbols, although what they mean is not yet clear.
The unfortunate crew of the doomed vessel were likely sailing to the west when disaster struck, the researchers wrote in a study about the wreck that was published earlier this year. The area where it was found has strong currents that can be treacherous when combined with wind, they noted.
Türkiye’s culture minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy posted a video of the underwater site on social media on Wednesday. In the post, Ersoy said the shipwreck sheds light “on the deep-rooted history of maritime trade along the Anatolian coasts.”
“We continue to illuminate Anatolia’s maritime history with new discoveries, preserving our underwater cultural heritage to pass it on to future generations,” he said.
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