World's oldest shipwreck found off Kekova Island in Turkey

The world's oldest shipwreck has been discovered off the coast of Turkey, dated to between 4,400 and 4,700 years old, during the Early Bronze Age. This period coincides with the construction of the Great Pyramid. Although the ship's wooden structure has not survived, archaeologists found ceramic storage pots on the sea floor, some of which still contain traces of their original contents.

The shipwreck, located near Kekova Island in Antalya, was approximately 10 meters in length and was identified as a trade vessel that transported cargo across the Mediterranean Sea.

“

"The shipwreck is a time capsule at the bottom of the sea," said Prof Hakan Öniz, who led the expedition from Akdeniz University.

The divers uncovered three stone anchors and more than 30 ceramic storage pots, known as amphorae, scattered across an underwater slope just 30 meters beneath the waves. The absence of the ship's wood meant that radiocarbon dating could not be used to determine its age. Instead, archaeologists analyzed the amphorae's shape and decoration, linking them to styles from Egypt and the Middle East that are known to date back to the same period.