A 2,100-year-old merchant shipwreck discovered near ancient Adrasos in present-day southern Turkey has yielded thousands of plates, bowls and serving dishes. The shipwreck is offering archaeologists a rare look at how fragile tableware goods were packed and traded across the Mediterranean in antiquity.
Archaeologists began underwater work at the wreck in 2025 and have identified 122 different forms and sizes of tableware. The latest findings expand on earlier work at the site, where archaeologists had already uncovered remarkably well-preserved ceramics still arranged inside the ancient shipwreck.
The wreck lies at a depth of about 42 to 55 meters (138 to 180 feet). Divers are working with underwater robotic systems to document and recover the cargo.
Ancient cargo reveals Mediterranean trade
The large number of vessels indicates the pottery was commercial cargo rather than tableware intended for the crew. Many pieces have survived in remarkably good condition. Similar shipwreck discoveries have provided important evidence for Mediterranean trade during the Roman Republic.
Researchers have also linked some of the ceramics to ancient Hellenistic port city of Rhosus, generally identified with the area around modern Arsuz on Turkey’s Gulf of İskenderun.
Rhosian tableware appears in Cicero’s letters
That connection is notable because Rhosian tableware appears in the correspondence of Roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero. In 50 BC, while serving as governor of Cilicia, Cicero wrote to his friend Titus Pomponius Atticus that he had ordered a service of “Rhosian ware.” The reference shows that tableware associated with Rhosus was known in Roman circles around the same broad period as the shipwreck.
Akdeniz’in derinliklerinden 2.100 yıllık sofra takımlarını gün yüzüne çıkarıyoruz. 🏺
Antalya Adrasan’da 2025 yılında başlattığımız sualtı kazılarında, seramik yüklü gemi batığından bugüne kadar binlerce eser çıkardık.
122 farklı form ve boyuttaki tabak, kâse ve tepsiler,… pic.twitter.com/d3v3WKUaPJ
— Mehmet Nuri Ersoy (@MehmetNuriErsoy) September 28, 2026
The discovery does not mean the ceramics belonged to Cicero or were part of his order. Researchers still need to determine exactly where individual pieces were produced. But the wreck could help explain how ceramics moved through Mediterranean trade networks.
Clay packing protected fragile ceramics
The way merchants protected the cargo is another important feature. The vessels were packed closely together, with clay placed between them to limit movement and reduce the risk of breakage. That packing material may also have helped protect some ceramics after the ship sank. Archaeologists are recovering vessels that retain much of their original shape and surface.
Adrasos stood within a Mediterranean maritime system in which ships used formal harbors as well as sheltered bays and offshore anchorages. Recent research has shown that ancient Mediterranean ports handled maritime traffic beyond their surviving harbor structures.
The ship’s departure point and destination remain unknown. Analysis of the clay, manufacturing methods, and vessel forms could eventually reveal where the cargo originated and help reconstruct its final journey. More than two millennia later, thousands of vessels that never reached their ancient destination are finally returning to the surface.
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