Some 4,500 years ago a small merchant boat went down off what is now Turkey’s southern coast, and the sea swallowed every trace of its timber. What it could not dissolve were the clay jars. Scattered across a slope about 30 metres below the surface near Kekova Island in Antalya, more than 30 of these amphorae and three heavy stone anchors are now being hailed as the oldest shipwreck yet found.
Without wood, the usual carbon-dating route was closed. So the team led by Professor Hakan Öniz of Akdeniz University dated the site by its pottery. The Kekova jars – twin-handled, flat-bottomed, with a ridge around the middle – closely resemble vessels from Egypt and the Middle East known to be between roughly forty-four and forty-seven centuries old. That would put the wreck in the Early Bronze Age, around the era of the Great Pyramid, and ahead of the previous record holder off the Greek island of Dokos. Öniz said he was completely sure of the period. Clay tests reported by Turkey’s culture ministry hint that some jars were made in the Jordan Valley.
The surprise came once the pots reached the surface. Macquarie University archaeologist Karin Sowada found some still coated with a thick, glossy residue and said she “nearly fainted”. Olive oil, wine and tree resin are all candidates; the jars may also have been reused many times. One vessel, with nine markings and two holes, might even have been a churn, raising the idea of goats and fresh butter on board. Researchers stress that idea is still unproven.
The boat, perhaps ten metres long, is thought to have been heading west from the Levant, possibly towards Troy or Minoan Crete, through waters notorious for wrecking ships.
Curators plan to display the recovered pieces in Antalya’s forthcoming underwater archaeology museum, which is expected to open soon.
