A boat that sank 4,400 to 4,700 years ago off Turkey's Mediterranean coast may be the oldest shipwreck ever found. Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Tourism set out on Wednesday the details of the excavation of the site, which lies about 30 metres deep near Kekova island, in the province of Antalya.
The vessel was roughly 10 metres long and carried cargo across the Mediterranean. No wooden structure survived: what remains on the seabed is more than 30 ceramic storage jars and three stone anchors — the anchors have not yet been conclusively linked to the same boat.
The dating came from the shape of the jars
With no wood preserved, radiocarbon dating was not possible. Researchers estimated the age by comparing the shape and decoration of the jars with pieces found at other sites, which places the wreck in the Early Bronze Age.
That estimate is what underpins the claim to a record — and also the caution of specialists, since a 300-year margin is wide. The oldest shipwreck known until now was located in 1975 near the Greek island of Dokos; the Hellenic Institute of Marine Archaeology dates its cargo to around 2200 BC, later than the dates proposed for Kekova. The celebrated Uluburun wreck, also off the Turkish coast, went down around 1300 BC.
Clay from the Jordan Valley
Analysis of the clay indicates the amphorae were made far from where they sank. "Clay analyses indicate that the amphorae were probably produced in workshops in the Jordan Valley," said Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, who said he was bringing to light "traces of the world's oldest shipwreck".
Similar pieces have turned up in Egypt — around the pyramids of Giza, Saqqara and Abusir — as well as at Troy and on Crete. The preliminary study, published in July in the Journal of Maritime Archaeology by Hakan Öniz and Ceyda Öztosun, suggests the boat was sailing from east to west when it sank, pointing to a route out of a Levantine port towards Troy or Crete.
What was inside
Some of the amphorae reached the seabed intact and still hold a glossy, viscous residue. Analyses now under way are trying to establish whether the jars carried olive oil, wine, tree resin or something else.
Karin Sowada, an archaeologist at Macquarie University in Australia, told the BBC she was surprised by how much material had survived inside the vessels. She noted that the jars may have been emptied and reused, so the residues could correspond to more than one use.
One piece stood out for another reason: marked with nine symbols and pierced at two points in its body, it may have worked as a churn for making cheese or butter. Ersoy suggested that sailors prepared some of their own food on long voyages.
Who is excavating
Akdeniz University documented the wreck in an underwater survey in 2024, and two jars were recovered in 2024 and 2025. The excavation resumed this year under the Antalya Museum Directorate, with the ministry's authorisation; Hakan Öniz leads the work scientifically.
The artefacts are undergoing conservation and study and are due to go on display at the planned Mediterranean Underwater Archaeology Museum in Antalya.
With information from Daily Sabah and The National.
