OMM Newsroom
A shipwreck discovered near Kekova Island off Türkiye’s southern Antalya province has entered “Guinness World Records” as the world’s oldest shipwreck, according to Anadolu Agency.
Hakan Oniz, head of the Department of Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage at Akdeniz University’s Faculty of Fine Arts, said his team had been researching the Mediterranean coastline for years on behalf of the Culture and Tourism Ministry. The researchers have uncovered numerous significant wrecks and shared their findings internationally.
During underwater excavations near Kekova Island that began in 2024, the team recovered amphorae estimated to be about 4,700 years old. Oniz said the discovery attracted international media attention and reached billions of people worldwide.
“This is a source of pride for us. As our president has said, Türkiye is one of the world’s leading countries in underwater archaeology. In our view, it is among the top two or three countries,” Oniz said.
He said Türkiye had excellent infrastructure and highly qualified specialists in the field, and that the team was working along one of the world’s richest coastlines.
Oniz said the Kekova wreck received official recognition this week. When it was first discovered in 2024, researchers thought it dated to the Ottoman period and initially estimated it was between 100 and 400 years old. Their work had mainly focused on wrecks dating back 2,000 to 2,500 years.
Further study of materials recovered from the wreck, which lies at a depth of 35 to 40 metres (115 to 131 feet), revealed its much greater age. “The wreck in Kekova is a 4,700-year-old shipwreck. It is a vessel that is nearly 5,000 years old,” Oniz said.
Some artifacts appeared similar to more recent objects the team was less familiar with. During research for a publication last year, however, researchers found similar amphorae in Egypt. After obtaining permission from the Culture and Tourism Ministry, they returned to the site and concluded that the wreck dated to the Early Bronze Age.
The recovered artifacts, predominantly amphorae, are being conserved and examined at a regional laboratory and Akdeniz University’s underwater archaeology laboratory in Kemer.
Oniz said the artifacts would be displayed in the coming months at the newly completed “Four Seas, One Museum” in Istanbul’s Haydarpasa district. Some will also be exhibited at the Mediterranean Underwater Archaeology Museum in Kemer, Antalya, where construction is nearing completion.
Oniz and his team first identified objects and materials off the coast of Kekova in 2024 during coastal and surface surveys, determining that they came from a shipwreck. They later carried out further dives with ministry permission, recovered materials and continued scientific examination.
Türkiye’s Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced on Oct. 14 that amphorae dating back about 4,700 years and belonging to the world’s oldest shipwreck had been discovered near Kekova Island in Antalya.
