A shipwreck off the coast of Turkey is the oldest shipwreck in the world, our team of archaeologists estimates.
Little remains of the ship itself, but based on clues from its cargo – including pottery vessels – a research team I was part of tentatively dated the wreck to around 2,700-2,400 BCE.
This was around 4,500 years ago. Before this discovery, the world’s oldest shipwreck was a wreck off the coast of Dokos, Greece, believed to date from around 4,200 years ago.
Much work remains to be done to refine the findings, and a paper describing the results has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal. Yet this discovery could transform our understanding of ancient Mediterranean connections during the Early Bronze Age.
Here, and perhaps even before, lie the foundations of the vast trade routes as we know them today.
Looking for clues
Associate Professor Hakan Öniz of Antalya’s Akdeniz University has been working along this coastline for decades, excavating ancient shipwrecks.
Relying on clues from local sailors, Öniz discovered a shipwreck in the shallow waters off Kekova, west of Antalya in Turkey, in 2024. Earlier this year, he contacted me and asked if I could help him date some of the pottery vessels found on this shipwreck.
As an archaeologist specializing in desert sites, this was a unique experience. New technologies, water-logged excavation methods and laborious conservation techniques were the new normal. However, it is always possible to learn new skills in life.
From the ship itself there is nothing more to see, due to the underwater exposure. Yet the research team now estimates that the ship and its cargo date to around 2,700 to 2,400 BCE. However, the precise dating is still under study. Earlier or later dates on either side of this initial determination are also possible.
Hakan Oniz
A time capsule of ancient commerce
This discovery promises to rewrite our understanding of early trade networks from around 4,500 years ago.
The ship is a “missing piece” in the history of networks, commerce and exchange of goods in the wider Eastern Mediterranean. This era includes the pyramid era of Giza and its powerful pharaohs.
What remains beneath the sea is a time capsule of ancient commerce.
Although its direction is not known, the boat was clearly traveling along the southern coast of Turkey.
Now resting on the seabed between two islands, it is evident that the ship probably sought shelter in the leeward waters during a storm. We can imagine the terror of the sailors – perhaps coastal people from the Levant region – when their ship crashed against the rocks.
While the ship’s wood is long gone, the remains of its precious cargo have been embedded in the rocky slope along the coast of Kekova.
Divers have worked over the past four months to extract its pottery from barnacles clinging to the underwater rocky slope.
A Closer Look at Pottery
Pottery is like plastic: it never disappears and simply breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces.
Yet humble pottery vessels hold many clues to the past.
In this case, the cargo included large ceramic storage vessels or amphorae that once contained products from the eastern Mediterranean regions.
The pots were large, flat-based ovoid pots with two handles, most featuring a raised horizontal clay “belt” around the widest part of the pot.
Thanks to these ships, it was possible to collect a lot of information. This includes the likely origin of the jars and the contents traded within the region.
Importantly, the shape and manufacturing technique of the pots themselves help us date the cargo. By extension, this also includes the date of other pottery and the vessel itself.
The big picture
Compared to later periods, trade and commerce in the eastern Mediterranean during the third millennium (3000–2000 BCE) is poorly understood.
Maritime voyages during this period are known from Egyptian texts, pottery vessels and raw materials from ancient tombs.
Around the same time this ship hit the rocks, the ancient Egyptians were trading in the Eastern Mediterranean through the port of Byblos in Lebanon.
Products such as cedar, tin/lead, oils, tree resins, lapis lazuli, and silver, all materials that Egypt lacked, were imported by the Egyptian state.
Recent scientific research also reveals that the silver was acquired by the Egyptian state around 2600 BCE. Analyzes showed that this silver came from the mines of Lavrion, east of modern Athens.
Although it is unlikely that Egyptian ships made this journey, boats like the Kekova ship may have used this route as part of an extensive international shipping network.
And what was in the jars? Remarkably, there was still some residue visible to the naked eye. Again, scientific analyzes are pending, but these could be some of the products mentioned in Egyptian texts, possibly olive oil, wine or tree resin.
The ship may have acquired its pottery in several ports during its voyage. Our best assessment at this stage of the research is that some of the “belted” jars (or clays used to make them) may have come from the central Jordan Valley.
The southern coast of Turkey is littered with ancient shipwrecks. While maritime archeology is a relatively recent phenomenon, some of the world’s most famous shipwrecks have been discovered there. Who knows what other secrets these waters hold.
The research on which this article is based was carried out by Associate Professor Hakan Öniz, Head of the Mediterranean Underwater Cultural Heritage Research Division and the Department of Restoration and Conservation of Cultural Heritage at the Faculty of Arts, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey.
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