Cool Finds

A New Contender for the World’s Oldest Shipwreck Has Been Discovered Off the Coast of Turkey. Its Ancient Cargo Is a ‘Time Capsule’ From 4,700 Years Ago

The ship was likely transporting huge jars of olive oil or wine across the Mediterranean when it sank to the seafloor. One archaeologist “could not believe how much” residue remained inside

Sonja Anderson | Daily Correspondent

October 14, 2026 3:20 p.m.

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Archaeologists have discovered remnants of what could be the world’s oldest known shipwreck, located off the coast of modern-day Turkey. Though the boat itself decomposed long ago, its well-preserved cargo of ceramic amphorae suggests that the ship sank in the early Bronze Age, up to 4,700 years ago, around the same time Egypt’s first pyramids were being built.

“These are the oldest known remains of a seagoing ship yet found,” Karin Sowada, an archaeologist at Macquarie University in Australia who worked on the project, tells People’s Becca Longmire. “While the wooden ship itself has disintegrated, the durable remains of the cargo are still preserved, giving archaeologists a time capsule from the past.”

Researchers from the Mediterranean Archaeology Association, led by underwater archaeologist Hakan Öniz, discovered the ancient two-handled jars embedded nearly 100 feet below the surface near Kekova Island. Located off Turkey’s southern Mediterranean coast, the site contained more than 30 ceramic pots and three stone anchors, per Euronews.

The archaeologists dated the finds by “comparing the decoration techniques” on the amphorae to other examples unearthed in the Egypt and the Middle East that were known to be between 4,400 and 4,700 years old, Öniz tells the BBC’s Alison Francis, Rebecca Morelle and Kevin Church. “We can definitely say our wreck is early Bronze Age. This is 100 percent.”

The researchers brought the finds back to a laboratory, where Sowada examined them. Some of the amphorae were still intact and, remarkably, appeared to be coated with dregs of the liquids they once transported.

“I looked inside and nearly fainted,” Sowada tells the BBC. “I could not believe how much [residue] was visible.”

Amphorae were typically used to transport liquid commodities. Researchers believe these ones were made in the Jordan Valley, along the modern-day border between Jordan, Israel and the West Bank, according to a social media post from Mehmet Ersoy, Turkey’s culture and tourism minister.

“It appears the vessel sank while transporting olive oil or wine from that region westward—perhaps to Troy or to the Minoan civilization in Crete,” Öniz tells CBS News’ Archie Clarke.

Though the body of the wrecked ship is long gone, researchers have some ideas about how it looked. They believe it was a sail-powered cargo ship about 33 feet long. According to Ersoy, its sailors may have produced their own cheese or butter while on long maritime journeys.

“It’s possible that [the residue] could actually be the result of reuse of the jars,” Sowada tells the BBC. “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.”

The Mediterranean’s long history of crisscrossing trade routes have made it into a hotbed for modern marine archaeology.

The Kekova Island wreck “represents a ‘missing piece’ of the story about ancient trade relations in the eastern Mediterranean,” Sowada tells People. “It was [traveling] along the southern coast of Turkey with trade goods that we now know belonged to a much wider exchange network.”

Sonja Anderson is a daily correspondent for Smithsonian magazine who covers art, archaeology and culture, from newly discovered artifacts to the latest art heists.