The discovery of the world's oldest shipwreck off the coast of Turkey

Archaeologists say that this carcass is up to 4,700 years old and dates back to the Early Bronze Age.

By Alison Francis, Rebecca Morrell and Kevin Church for BBC News Science

Archaeologists say the world's oldest shipwreck has been discovered off the coast of Turkey.

They date it between 4400 and 4700 years, which is the Early Bronze Age and roughly the same time as the construction of the Great Pyramid.

The ship's wooden structure does not survive, but the ceramic vases it carried lay on the sea floor, and remarkably, some of them still have traces of what was held inside.

Archaeologists who found this ship say that it was about 10 meters long and was a merchant ship that carried cargo through the Mediterranean Sea.

"The shipwreck is a time capsule at the bottom of the sea," said Professor Hakan Oniz of Turkey's Akdeniz University, who led the Mediterranean Archeological Society expedition.

The ship is located off the coast of Kekova Island in Antalya, Türkiye. Antiquities are scattered on an underwater slope, just 30 meters below the waves.

Three large stone anchors were found as well as more than 30 ceramic storage pots called amphorae.

The fact that none of the ship's wood remained meant that techniques such as radiocarbon dating - which measures a form of carbon in organic matter - could not be used to determine its age.

Instead, archaeologists analyzed the shape of the amphorae. Since pottery styles have changed over time, different styles are associated with specific periods.

Kekuwa ceramics are characterized by two handles, a ridge in the middle and a flat base.

Oniz said the design is consistent with other amphorae discovered in Egypt and the Middle East, which are between 4,400 and 4,700 years old.

By comparing the decoration techniques... we can definitely say that our sherd is from the Early Bronze Age. This is 100%.

The expedition's divers brought the vases to the surface, where they are now carefully guarded after thousands of years underwater.

Dr. Karin Suwada, an archaeologist from Macquarie University in Australia, examined the amphorae after they were recovered. Some were intact and he was surprised to find that they still contained a sticky, shiny residue.

"I looked inside and I almost passed out. I couldn't believe how much [residue] was visible. It wasn't just like stains... a lot of this stuff was still there," he said.

The team is now working to find out exactly what was carried in the amphora.

"It could be olive oil, it could be wine, it could be tree resin," Sawada said.

"It's possible that [the remains] are actually the result of jars being reused. I mean, these jars are big—they're not things that you just carry around and never see again. People would have emptied these jars upon arrival and potentially used them for many, many, many years."

The shipwreck and its cargo also shed light on trade in the ancient world.

Archaeologists say that the ship started its journey somewhere along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea

They believe that the goods were taken either to the ancient city of Troy, in present-day northwestern Turkey, or to the Minoan people in Crete.

Traveling by sea was fraught with danger, especially around Kekova Island, where strong currents and winds carried many ships.

There are hundreds of wrecks in the area and the Mediterranean Archaeological Society specializes in finding and studying them.

Oniz says that when he is diving on a ship, his first thoughts are about the lives of the people attached to it.

We are the first humans to touch these objects after 5000 years.

"We are always thinking of the sailors... the makers of the amphora and the one who carries the amphora on his shoulders to the ship and the women who were waiting for their husbands who unfortunately could not return."

This shipwreck belongs to the Turkish Ministry of Culture. Its minister, Mehmet Nouri Ersavi, said the artifacts discovered at the new Mediterranean Underwater Archeology Museum in Antalya will be on display in the coming months.

The discovery of Kekuva now tops the list of oldest shipwrecks in the world.

Previously, the record holder was broken off the coast of Doukos, an island in southern Greece, which dates back to about 4,200 years ago.

The oldest known intact shipwreck, where the wood is still preserved, was found in the Black Sea off the coast of Bulgaria. It is about 2400 years ago.