Oldest known shipwreck dates to time of Great Pyramid

Archaeologists working off the coast of Turkey near Kekova Island discovered the remains of a shipwreck dating between 4,400 and 4,700 years ago.

The team, led by Hakan Öniz of Akdeniz University and including Karin Sowada of Macquarie University, has been excavating the site since 2026 with permission from the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism. They have not found the ship’s wooden hull, but they have recovered stone anchors and pottery.

These ceramic vessels once held goods like grains, oil, resins, and wine, and some still contain traces of their original contents. Analysis of the clay suggests the pottery was likely made in workshops in the Jordan Valley and distributed through trade networks reaching Egypt, Troy, and Crete. The discovery could push back the date of the oldest known shipwreck, currently held by a wreck near Dokos, Greece, which is around 4,200 years old.

Mehmet Nury Ersoy, Turkey’s Minister of Culture and Tourism, stated the findings demonstrate the long history of maritime trade along the Anatolian coast and the connections between cultures in the eastern Mediterranean. Archaeologists dated the wreck by analyzing the style of the pottery, as wooden hulls rarely survive for millennia.

One unusual amphora bears nine marks and two holes, suggesting sailors used it to make butter or cheese during long voyages, and researchers speculate they may have even carried goats onboard for milk.