An ancient shipwreck found off the southern coast of Turkey may be around 4500 years old. That makes it the oldest shipwreck ever found, says at Akdeniz University in Antalya, Turkey, who led the team that discovered it.
The archaeologists , during an underwater survey along Turkey鈥檚 Mediterranean coast. The wood of the wreck itself has long since decomposed, but in excavations completed earlier this month, they retrieved its cargo 鈥� around 30 storage jars called amphoras 鈥� from the seabed.
The amphoras from the Kekova shipwreck have a distinctive shape with side handles and flat bases, similar to other pottery from the Levant and Egypt that dates to the Early Bronze Age. This enabled the researchers to date them to between 2700 and 2400 BC. It鈥檚 an insight into the earliest period of Mediterranean maritime trade, says 脰niz. As international trade became established, traders switched to jars with tapered, 鈥渃arrot-shaped鈥� bottoms, because they pack more efficiently onto ships.
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Minor variations between the amphoras suggest that they came from 鈥渄ifferent workshops and probably different settlements鈥�, says 脰niz. He concludes from the cargo that the ship was about 10 metres long, and departed from a harbour along the eastern Mediterranean coast. The crew would then have sailed along the coast, picking up amphoras filled with olive oil or wine from different villages. They were probably taking them to the Minoan civilisation on Crete, or to the city of Troy, in north-western Turkey, when the ship sank.
As well as the amphoras, the archaeologists found several stone anchors. These were lying some distance from the wreck, suggesting they may have been thrown overboard when the ship got into difficulty during a storm. The wreck lies about 30 metres down, says 脰niz, on a particularly treacherous stretch of coast that is plagued by strong currents and winds.
Hundreds of ancient shipwrecks have been found along Turkey鈥檚 Mediterranean coast. Most of them sank during the Roman and Byzantine periods, but a handful have been dated to the Bronze Age. The , for example, discovered in 1982 is from the Late Bronze Age. It sank around 1300 BC, carrying treasures including ebony, ivory, ostrich eggs and jewellery from cultures across the Mediterranean world. In recent surveys, 脰niz has found another two Bronze Age wrecks, one dating from the Middle Bronze Age and one from the Early Bronze Age. But Kekova appears to be the oldest yet found.
It鈥檚 鈥渁 fascinating and potentially very important discovery鈥�, says at the University of Edinburgh, UK. But he cautions that he鈥檇 like to see published evidence before 鈥渃rowning it the world鈥檚 oldest shipwreck鈥�, noting that dating by pottery comparisons isn鈥檛 always very accurate, because similar forms and decorative features can occur over quite long periods. Radiocarbon data would help to pin down the date, but unfortunately no organic material survives at the site.
Until now, the world鈥檚 oldest known shipwreck was an Early Bronze Age wreck at Dokos in southern Greece, dated to 2700-2200 BC. 脰niz argues that Kekova is older than Dokos, but the two wrecks could actually be contemporary, says Henderson.
鈥淲hat really excites me isn鈥檛 whether this wreck is a century or two older than another one,鈥� he adds. 鈥淚t鈥檚 that we鈥檙e looking at a snapshot of Mediterranean maritime trade more than 4000 years ago.鈥�
We know people were moving goods across the sea at this time, 鈥渂ut finding physical remains of this is extraordinarily rare鈥�, says Henderson.
Ancient Anatolia from Troy to Ephesus: Turkey
Journey through western Turkey to explore the deep archaeological history of Anatolia, where some of the earliest complex societies in the Mediterranean emerged.
