Archaeologists find shipwreck off Turkey dated 4,400 to 4,700 years old

The discovery

Underwater archaeologists from Akdeniz University in Antalya, led by Hakan Öniz, have located a shipwreck about 30 metres below the surface off Kekova island in Turkey. The wreck is dated to between 4,400 and 4,700 years ago, placing it in the early Bronze Age. Turkey's Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, shared images of the find on social media on 15 October. Adnkronos reports that the wreck could surpass a vessel found off the Greek island of Dokos, dated to about 4,200 years ago, as the oldest known shipwreck. The jars were first thought to be much younger, but Öniz later read a report on amphorae found near the Giza pyramids, and the team brought in Australian archaeologist Karin Sowada for new analysis. Öniz, speaking to CNN, said the amphorae looked like those from his own wreck.

Dating the wreck

Radiocarbon dating was not possible because the wooden hull has disintegrated, so the team relied on the pottery. The jars have two handles, a decorative band around the belly and a flat base, a form that matches amphorae found in Egypt and the Middle East and dated to the same 4,400 to 4,700 year span. DIE WELT reports that comparable pottery has been assigned to the early Bronze Age, between 2700 and 2400 BC. Clay analysis suggests that some of the jars were made in workshops in the Jordan Valley, between Israel and Jordan. Similar objects have also turned up near the Giza pyramids, at Troy and on Crete, which archaeologists say can point to production sites, transport routes and contacts between early societies.

Cargo and possible routes

More than 30 jars and three large stone anchors were found on a sloping seabed about 30 metres deep, and the ship itself was roughly 10 metres long. Some jars held a glossy, sticky residue. Karin Sowada, an archaeologist at Macquarie University in Australia, said it could be olive oil, wine or possibly tree resin, and that the jars may have been reused after the voyage. eldiario.es reports that one jar bears distinctive marks and two holes, which suggests it may have been used to make cheese or butter. The leading hypothesis is that the ship set out from the eastern Mediterranean coast, bound for Troy or Crete, before a storm, a navigational error or another accident caused it to sink.

What remains unknown

The exact cause of the sinking is still unknown, and the wooden structure cannot be studied directly. Excavations began in 2026 under the Antalya Museum Directorate, operating under permits issued by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Ersoy said the authorities will continue research to uncover more about the maritime history of Anatolia and to protect underwater heritage for future generations. Researchers are still working to determine what the jars carried, and the find has not yet been independently confirmed as the oldest shipwreck in the world.