Archaeologists working off the coast of Turkey have discovered a shipwreck dating back around 4,700 years, making it the oldest in the world.
A number of ancient storage ships known as amphorae were recovered during excavations of the wreck, which was discovered at a depth of around 30 meters near the island of Kekova, off the coast of southern Turkey, according to a statement from the country’s Culture Ministry on Wednesday.
The amphorae date from 4,400 to 4,700 years ago and provide new information about maritime history, the daily lives of sailors and trade relations of the time.
It is believed that these ships were mainly used for transporting olive oil or wine. However, one amphora has a distinctive set of markings and two holes in its body, suggesting it could have been used to make cheese or butter.
Researchers said the presence of this amphora could mean that sailors took goats with them on their voyages, using their milk to make dairy products.
The excavation was led by Hakan Öniz, a professor at Antalya’s Akdeniz University, who told CNN the wreck was first discovered four years ago.
The amphorae were initially thought to be much newer, but then Öniz read a publication about amphorae found near the Giza pyramids in Egypt – the oldest of which was believed to have been under construction at the same time the ship sank.
“These looked like the amphorae from our wreck,” Öniz told CNN on Wednesday, adding that a team of researchers had conducted a follow-up dive at the site.
They then invited a leading amphora expert, Australian archaeologist Karin Sowada, to visit the wreck and examine the evidence.
“We reached a consensus and carried out further analysis,” said Öniz, who added that the team was “generally confident” that it was the world’s oldest shipwreck.
“It’s not just the amphorae; the anchors and other objects found at the shipwreck site also bear witness to the same centuries,” he said.
Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said the amphorae appear to have moved around the eastern Mediterranean.
“Clay analyzes indicate that the amphorae were likely produced in workshops in the Jordan Valley,” Ersoy said in the statement.
“The fact that similar examples were found in Egypt, Troy and Crete is of great importance for understanding the trade networks that connected different geographic areas via sea routes,” he said.
Researchers believe the ship may have been traveling from the Levantine coast, which stretches from Turkey in the north to Egypt in the south, to Troy or Crete when it sank.
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