Archaeologists have uncovered a 4,700-year-old shipwreck in the Mediterranean that could be the world’s oldest ever discovered, offering new evidence of ancient maritime trade. Found near Turkey’s Kekova Island, known as Dolichiste in antiquity, the wreck dates to the Early Bronze Age and could rewrite the history of Mediterranean seafaring.
The remains lie about 30 meters (98 feet) underwater. Divers have found more than 30 ceramic storage jars, but none of the ship’s wooden structure has survived. Researchers therefore estimated its age, between 4,400 and 4,700 years, by comparing the pottery with vessels from other ancient sites.
Akdeniz University researchers documented the wreck in 2024 and recovered jars in 2024 and 2025. Wider excavations began in 2026 under the Antalya Museum Directorate. Archaeologists Hakan Öniz and Ceyda Öztosun published a preliminary study in July.
Why the Mediterranean find may be the world’s oldest shipwreck
The proposed date would make the Kekova wreck older than the famous Dokos shipwreck near Greece’s Hydra island. The Dokos cargo dates to about 2200 B.C. and was long regarded as the oldest known shipwreck. Researchers discovered it in 1975 and carried out systematic excavations from 1989 to 1992.
The Kekova jars also point to possible trade connections across the eastern Mediterranean. Turkish Culture Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said that clay analysis suggests that some vessels originated in workshops in the Jordan Valley. Similar pottery has been found in Egypt, Troy and on the Greek island of Crete.
Researchers believe the ship may have sailed west from the Levantine coast, perhaps toward Troy or Crete. Its jars could have carried olive oil or wine, but their contents have not been confirmed. Some still hold residues that specialists are examining.
Three stone anchors were also recorded near the site. A preliminary scientific report cautioned that they have not been conclusively linked to the ship.
An unusual jar offers clues about life aboard
One vessel has nine markings and two holes in its body. Ersoy said it may have been used to churn milk into cheese or butter. If that interpretation is correct, sailors could have prepared their own food during long voyages.
Archaeologist Hakan Öniz described the wreck as “a time capsule at the bottom of the sea.” The recovered artifacts are undergoing conservation and further study, with plans to display them at a future underwater archaeology museum in Antalya.
Turkey’s “Blue Homeland” Rhetoric Overshadows Archaeological Discovery
Ersoy framed the archaeological discovery within Turkey’s controversial “Blue Homeland” (Mavi Vatan) doctrine, using the term in his announcement of the excavations. The doctrine promotes Turkish maritime claims in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean that are disputed by Greece and Cyprus. His choice of language placed the ancient shipwreck discovery within a broader nationalist narrative, rather than presenting it solely as an archaeological finding.
Mavi Vatan’da, dünyanın en eski batığının izlerini gün yüzüne çıkarıyoruz.
Kekova’da yürüttüğümüz su altı kazılarında çıkarılan, 4.700 yıl öncesine uzanan amforalar, Anadolu kıyılarının deniz ticaretindeki köklü geçmişine ışık tutuyor. Zeytinyağı ya da şarap taşımak için… pic.twitter.com/FzpQzRin5B
— Mehmet Nuri Ersoy (@MehmetNuriErsoy) October 14, 2026
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