Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a merchant ship off the southern coast of Turkey that sank about 4400-4700 years ago. The find dates back to the Early Bronze Age - approximately the period in which the Great Pyramid of Giza was built. According to researchers, this is the oldest known shipwreck in the world, reports the BBC, Vesti.bg.
The wooden structure of the vessel has not been preserved, but part of its cargo has remained on the seabed. The remains are located off the island of Kekova in the Turkish province of Antalya, at a depth of about 30 meters. Among the items found were three large stone anchors and more than 30 ceramic storage vessels known as amphorae. Archaeologists estimate the ship was about 10 meters long and carried goods across the Mediterranean Sea.
“This ship is a time capsule at the bottom of the sea,“ said Prof. Hakan Oniz of Turkey's Akdeniz University, who led the Mediterranean Archaeological Association expedition.
Because nothing of the wood remained, the researchers were unable to use radiocarbon dating. Instead, they determined the age of the find by the shape and decoration of the ceramic vessels. The Kekova amphorae have two handles, a convex rim in the middle and a flat bottom. According to Oniz, these characteristics are consistent with vessels found in Egypt and the Middle East that date back 4,400 to 4,700 years. "By comparing the decoration techniques... we can say with certainty that our vessel is from the Early Bronze Age. That's 100% certain," he says.
Divers brought the amphorae to the surface, where they are undergoing careful conservation after millennia underwater. Dr. Karin Sovada, an archaeologist at Australia's Macquarie University, examined the vessels and found that some of them were completely preserved. Inside was a significant amount of thick, shiny residue.
“I looked inside and almost fainted. I couldn't believe how much residue was visible. It wasn't just stains... "a lot of that material was still there," Sovada says.
The team is continuing to study the composition of the remains. Among the possibilities are olive oil, wine or tree resins. Sovada also suggests that the vessels may have been reused many times after their cargo was unloaded. "These vessels are huge - they're not things you just send and never see again. People emptied them upon arrival and potentially reused them for many, many years," she explains.
The discovery provides new insights into ancient maritime trade. According to archaeologists, the ship likely set sail from somewhere along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. It is thought that it was carrying goods to the ancient city of Troy, located in what is now northwestern Turkey, or to the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete.
The area around Kekova is known for its difficult navigation. Strong currents and winds have caused the sinking of many ships, and hundreds of shipwrecks have been discovered in the area. The Mediterranean Archaeological Association specializes in their discovery and study. Because of the depth, divers can only work on the seabed for about 30 minutes at a time.
For Prof. Oniz, the study also has a human dimension. He says that during his descents he thinks about the sailors, the makers of the amphorae and the people involved in carrying the cargo. “We are the first people to touch these objects in 5,000 years. We always think about the sailors… "about the makers of the amphorae and the man who carried the amphora on his shoulders to the ship, as well as the women who waited for their husbands, but unfortunately they did not manage to return," the archaeologist says.
The discovery near Kekova breaks the previous record for the oldest known shipwreck. Previously, the remains near the island of Dokos in southern Greece, dating back about 4,200 years, were considered to be such.
Separately, the oldest known shipwrecked vessel, in which part of the wooden structure has been preserved, was discovered in the Black Sea off the coast of Bulgaria. It is about 2,400 years old.