​The world’s oldest wreck discovered off the coast of Turkey, according to archaeologists: “Time capsule at the bottom of the sea”

Archaeologists have discovered the world’s oldest shipwreck off the coast of Turkey, dating back 4,400 to 4,700 years.

The ship’s structure did not survive nearly five millennia underwater, but its contents in clay jars have been surprisingly well preserved, with some still containing traces of what they carried more than 4,000 years ago.

Archaeologists who found the ship said it was a nearly 33-foot-long trading vessel carrying goods across the Mediterranean Sea and originating from somewhere on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean.

The wreck dates back to the same period as the construction of the Giza pyramids and “will offer insight into ancient trade relations and the daily lives of sailors”, according to Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy.

“The wreck is a time capsule on the sea floor,” Hakan Öniz, an associate professor at Turkey’s Akdeniz University who oversaw the expedition to discover the ship, told CBS News’ sister network BBC News.

In addition to the 30 ceramic storage jars in the wreck, called amphorae, three stone anchors were also discovered.

Öniz told CBS News that when his team first discovered the wreck four years ago, the amphorae appeared to be only a century or two old.

“However, we were excited later when we saw the same amphora shapes in a publication on Egyptian archeology and returned to the site,” Öniz said. “Indeed, they looked similar to those found in the pyramids of Giza in Egypt. We were incredibly excited.”

The design of these amphorae – with two handles, a flat base and a ridge in the middle – was distinctive of pottery from this period of history.

Karin Sowada, an archaeologist at Macquarie University in Australia, examined the pots after bringing them to the surface. She told the BBC there was still a slimy, shiny residue inside some amphorae.

“I looked inside and almost passed out. I couldn’t believe how visible (the residue) was. It wasn’t just stains… there was still a lot of that material left,” she said.

Analysis of the clay used to make the pots suggests that they were produced in workshops in the Jordan Valley in the Middle East, located along Jordan’s border with Israel and the West Bank.

“It appears that the ship sank while carrying olive oil or wine from that region to the west, perhaps to Troy or to the Minoan civilization on Crete,” Öniz told CBS News.

Similar examples of amphorae were also found in Egypt, Troy and Crete, according to Ersoy.

Öniz told the BBC that when he was diving for the wreck, his first thoughts were on the lives of the many people connected to the ship.

“We are the first humans to have touched these objects after 5,000 years,” he said.

“We always think of the sailors…the amphora producers and the person who carried the amphora on their shoulders to the ship, and the women who were waiting for their husbands and who, unfortunately, were not able to leave.”

The discovery brought the record for the world’s oldest shipwreck from the previous holder in the Aegean Sea near Greece, dated 4,200 years ago.