Newsletters
A shipwreck discovered off Türkiye’s Mediterranean coast has been recognized by Guinness World Records as the oldest known shipwreck, dating back about 4,700 years to the Early Bronze Age.
The vessel lies 35 to 40 meters (115 to 130 feet) deep near Kekova Island, off the southern province of Antalya.
Archaeologists from Akdeniz University found it in 2024, and the record was made official this week.
Hakan Oniz, head of the university’s Cultural Heritage Conservation and Restoration Department, said his team first assumed the wreck was far younger, perhaps only 100 to 400 years old and from the Ottoman era.
Most of the wrecks the team works on date to between 2,000 and 2,500 years ago.
That changed when the researchers were preparing their findings for publication. They noticed that amphorae, the two-handled clay jars used to carry goods such as wine, oil and grain, closely resembled ones found in Egypt.
After returning to the site with permission from Türkiye’s Culture and Tourism Ministry, they concluded the wreck belonged to the Early Bronze Age.
1 min read
"The ship is about 5,000 years old," Oniz said, adding that the discovery had drawn worldwide press coverage.
Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced the find on Oct. 14, saying amphorae from about 4,700 years ago had been recovered near Kekova.
The recovered artifacts, mostly amphorae, are being treated and studied at a regional laboratory and at the university’s underwater archaeology lab in the Kemer district of Antalya.
Some will go on display in the coming months at the "Four Seas, One Museum" exhibit in Istanbul’s Haydarpasa. Others will be shown at the Mediterranean Underwater Archaeology Museum in Kemer, which is nearing completion.
Oniz said Türkiye is among the world’s leading countries in underwater archaeology, which he attributed to strong infrastructure, skilled specialists and what he called the world’s richest coastline for such work.
"In our view, we are one of the top two or three," he said, describing the Kekova wreck as just one of the team’s projects.
Researchers have recovered other significant wrecks over the years, he said, and shared the findings with the world.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
1 min read
