Archaeologists Think They've Just Found The World's Oldest Shipwreck

The Titanic, which sank in 1912, is a newborn so far as historic shipwrecks go.

Other sunken vessels that have been uncovered include the Queen Anne’s Revenge, an 18th-century warship once manned by Blackbeard, off the coast of North Carolina; and a Gozo Phoenician shipwreck from 700BC near Malta.

Another, discovered close to the Greek island Dokos, is believed to be around 4,200 years old – and, until recently, this held the record for the most ancient shipwreck on Earth. 

But now, experts think it’s been beaten by a 4,400-4,700-year-old discovery in waters off Turkey’s Kekova Island.

That would mean this “new” shipwreck sank around the time the Great Pyramids were being built in Egypt.

What do we know about the shipwreck? 

Even though it’s still classed as a “shipwreck”, the ship itself has long gone, its wooden frame having disintegrated. This meant traditional carbon dating wasn’t possible.

But what researchers could still see were ancient ceramic storage pots and hulking metal anchors. Looking at the design and handles of the containers helped the team to date the hoard back to the Early Bronze Age, because they looked like similar items found in Egypt and the Middle East about 4,400-4,700 years ago.

These lie about 30 metres underwater – in comparison, the Titanic is roughly 3,810 metres deep.

Divers were able to retrieve the pots and bring them to the surface to be inspected. They’re now being conserved (amazingly, many still have a visible glossy residue, though researchers are not sure where that comes from). 

What were the pots carrying? 

The contents of the containers, their origins, and their destination are part of this new mystery. 

An archaeologist from Australia’s Macquarie University, Dr Karin Sowada, who examined the pots, said: “It could be olive oil, it could be wine, it could be tree resins.

“It’s possible that [the pots’ residue] could actually be the result of reuse of the jars,” rather than something like a varnish, the expert added. 

“I mean, these jars are huge – they’re not things that you just ship away and then never see again. People would have emptied these jars on arrival and potentially used them for many, many, many years”.

It looks like the ship left from the east coast of the Mediterranean and was bound for either the city of Troy or the Minoan people in Crete.

Professor Hakan Öniz of Turkey’s Akdeniz University, who led the Mediterranean Archaeology Association discovery, said: “We are the first humans who [have] touched these objects after 5,000 years.

“We are always thinking of the sailors... the producers of the amphora and the person who carried the amphora on their shoulders to the ship, and the women who were waiting for their husbands, and they unfortunately couldn’t go back.”