04.11.2026 13:01
The 4,700-year-old shipwreck found at a depth of 35-40 meters off Kekova Island in Antalya has entered the Guinness Book of Records as the world's oldest shipwreck. The wreck, initially thought to belong to the Ottoman period when first found, was understood to date to the Early Bronze Age through the amphoras' similarities to those in Egypt. The artifacts recovered from the wreck will be exhibited in the coming months at the Four Seas One Museum in Haydarpaşa, Istanbul.
The shipwreck unearthed during underwater excavations near Kekova Island in Antalya has entered Guinness World Records as the world's oldest shipwreck.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hakan Öniz, Head of the Department of Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Akdeniz University, told an AA reporter that they had been conducting work along the Mediterranean coastline on behalf of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism for years.
Öniz, who recounted that they have unearthed very important shipwrecks to date and shared them with the world, stated that in the underwater excavations they have been conducting near Kekova Island in Antalya since 2024, they also recovered approximately 4,700-year-old amphorae from the world's oldest shipwreck.
Öniz, noting that this discovery was reflected in the world press and reached billions of people, said, “This is a source of pride for us. As our President said, Türkiye is one of the leading countries in the world in underwater archaeology. In our view, it is also one of the top 2-3 countries. Because we have very good infrastructure and very good experts working in this field. Most importantly, we work on the world's richest coastline.”
IT WAS FIRST THOUGHT TO BE AN OTTOMAN SHIPWRECK
Öniz, stating that they were successful in the underwater excavations, used the following statements: “The shipwreck we found in the Kekova region entered Guinness World Records this week as the ‘world's oldest shipwreck’ and was officially announced. This shipwreck was only one of our studies. We found our Kekova shipwreck in 2024, but when we first found it, we thought it was a shipwreck from the Ottoman period.”
SIMILAR AMPHORAE WERE FOUND IN EGYPT
Öniz, recording that at first they thought the shipwreck in question was 100-400 years old, explained that they mostly continued their work on shipwrecks 2,000 to 2,500 years old.
Öniz, stating that they examined the materials recovered from the shipwreck at a depth of 35-40 meters and conducted scientific scanning, spoke as follows:
“The shipwreck in Kekova is a 4,700-year-old shipwreck. A ship approximately 5,000 years old. Some of the artifacts here resembled more recent artifacts that we know less about, but during the publication work we carried out last year, we found similar examples of these amphorae in Egypt. In other words, we saw from publications that similar examples of the amphorae we recovered from this ship were in Egypt. Thereupon, when we went back to the area and conducted work with the permits of our Ministry of Culture and Tourism, we understood that these were indeed a shipwreck from the Early Bronze Age. Our artifacts, predominantly amphorae, that we recovered are currently being processed both in our regional laboratory and in Akdeniz University's underwater archaeology laboratory in Kemer.”
THE ARTIFACTS WILL BE EXHIBITED AT HAYDARPAŞA
Öniz, mentioning that the artifacts recovered from the world's oldest shipwreck will be exhibited in the coming months at the “Four Seas, One Museum” whose construction has been completed in Haydarpaşa, Istanbul, also stated that some artifacts will be featured in the Mediterranean Underwater Archaeology Museum in the Kemer district of Antalya, whose construction is about to be completed.
In 2024, Öniz and his team determined after coastal and surface surveys that the objects and materials they identified off Kekova belonged to a shipwreck, and afterward, by recovering materials through other dives carried out with the Ministry's permission, they continued their scientific examinations.
Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced on October 14, 2026, that approximately 4,700-year-old amphorae belonging to the world's oldest shipwreck had been found near Kekova Island in Antalya.