Bronze Age shipwreck up to 4,700 years old found off Turkey's Kekova Island

Centre · 2Archaeologists say they have found the world's oldest known shipwreck close to the shore of Kekova Island in Antalya, Turkey, and have dated it to between 4,400 and 4,700 years old, in the Early Bronze Age. 1 2 Centre · 2That is around the time the Great Pyramid in Egypt was being built. 1 2 Centre · 1The ship was about 10m long and is believed to have been a trade vessel carrying cargo across the Mediterranean. Its artefacts lie scattered across an underwater slope about 30m below the surface. 1

Centre · 1The ship's wood has not survived, so radiocarbon dating could not be used. Instead, archaeologists compared the shape of the ceramic storage jars (amphorae), which have two handles, a ridge in the middle and a flat base, with amphorae from Egypt and the Middle East known to be 4,400–4,700 years old. 1 Centre · 2The BBC reports that three large stone anchors and more than 30 amphorae were found. Hindustan Times, citing the BBC, says about 30 pots were used for the dating. 1 2 Centre · 1Prof Hakan Öniz of Akdeniz University, who led the Mediterranean Archaeology Association expedition, called the wreck "a time capsule at the bottom of the sea" and said of its Early Bronze Age date: "This is 100%." 1

Centre · 1Divers brought the pots to the surface, where they are being conserved. Dr Karin Sowada of Macquarie University, Australia, examined them and found that some were intact and still held a viscous, glossy residue. She said she "nearly fainted" at how much remained. 1 Centre · 2The team is working to identify the contents. Sowada said it could be olive oil, wine or tree resins, or the residue could come from later reuse of the jars, since such large jars would have been emptied on arrival and used for many years. 1 2 Centre · 2The archaeologists say the ship set out from somewhere on the eastern Mediterranean coast and was heading either to the ancient city of Troy, in what is now north-western Turkey, or to the Minoan people on Crete. 1 2

Centre · 2Strong currents and winds around Kekova Island have claimed many ships, and the BBC says there are hundreds of wrecks in the area. 1 2 Centre · 1The find replaces a wreck off Dokos, an island in southern Greece, dated to about 4,200 years ago, as the oldest known. The oldest wreck with some preserved wood, about 2,400 years old, lies in the Black Sea off Bulgaria. 1