Archaeologists Date Turkish Shipwreck to 2700–2400 B.C., Potentially Oldest Ever Found
A shipwreck off Kekova, Turkey, has been tentatively dated to 2700–2400 B.C., making it possibly the world’s oldest known wreck and offering new insight into Early Bronze Age maritime trade.
Archaeologists have identified a shipwreck in shallow water off Kekova, west of Antalya, Turkey, that they date to roughly 2700–2400 B.C., about 4,500 years ago. If confirmed, the find would surpass the previously oldest known wreck off Dokos, Greece, which dates to around 4,200 years ago. The site was located in 2024 after local seafarers reported the wreck, and divers spent four months recovering pottery fragments from the rocky seabed.
"The cargo included large ceramic storage vessels with a distinctive horizontal clay belt, which help us determine both the origin of the jars and the approximate date of the wreck," said associate professor Hakan Öniz of Akdeniz University, who has long studied shipwrecks along the Turkish coast.
The ship itself has left no visible timbers, likely lost to prolonged underwater exposure, but the recovered amphorae provide clues about the trade networks of the eastern Mediterranean during the third millennium B.C. Researchers suggest the vessels may have originated in the Central Jordan Valley and could have carried commodities such as olive oil, wine, or tree resin, though scientific analysis of residues is pending.
The discovery adds a new data point to the limited understanding of maritime commerce in the Early Bronze Age, a period when Egyptian texts record trade with Byblos and the import of materials like cedar, tin, and silver. While Egyptian ships are not thought to have made the journey, the Turkish wreck may represent a regional vessel that participated in an emerging international trade route.
The team plans to publish a peer-reviewed paper detailing the findings, which could reshape current views of ancient Mediterranean connections.