'World's oldest known' shipwreck revealed with Sydney archaeologist's help

A Sydney ceramics expert has helped reveal the secrets of the 'world's oldest known' shipwreck off the coast of Türkiye.

The discovery was made in the shallow waters off Kekova Island, in the country's south, and is dated back to the age of the Great Pyramid of Giza's construction; about 4,500 years ago.

The ship's wooden structure has long since disappeared, but a considerable amount of pottery vessels remained embedded in the rocky seabed below.

Sydney-based archaeologist from Macquarie University Karin Sowada was asked to study the artefacts of the wreck after being contacted by the director of the excavation.

Dr Sowada joined the team of researchers, led by Hakan Öniz, an associate professor from Akdeniz University in Antalya, to examine the ancient ceramics known as amphorae.

"There were two types of objects discovered during the excavation; one was a series of ceramic anchors, the second type of material was the pottery and there was quite a bit of it left," she said.

Among the relics were jars reaching up to 50 centimetres in height.

Dr Sowada said they were used for transporting materials and foods, like grain and oil, in addition to resins and wine.

"The material was actually heavily embedded in barnacles, around rocks," she said, noting the team used hammers and chisels to extricate them.

"The vessels and the anchors themselves were also placed in a water bath to help extract the salts from the material because even once one brings anything from this from the sea up to the surface, it needs to be treated carefully to ensure that the material doesn't actually start crumbling or disintegrating."

A 'three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle'

Dr Sowada used her expertise in Egypt and Bronze Age trade combined with her specialist knowledge of ancient ceramics, studying more than 20 items to determine when and where they had come from.

"[I was] trying to understand the clays, and sort of putting together this, this three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, which was really quite exciting," she said.

Dr Sowada said the pottery was likely from a trade ship that had crashed against the rocks, abandoned by sailors who had jumped overboard in a bid for survival.

"A lot of time and effort has been gone into trying to understand the dating of the shipwreck, which we can do through the ceramics."

Dr Sowada said there were further tests being conducted on a small amount of residue found in the jars, but the investigation of understanding the wreck's origin story was in its infancy.

"At this stage, we can certainly say that this is at the very early edge or the very early side of what we know about ancient shipping," she said.

Lead researcher Dr Öniz told Reuters the colour of the clay and decorations also pointed to the age of the ceramic artefacts, crediting the project's use of multiple experts.

"When we recognised that this [shipwreck] was the earliest one, it was amazing," he said.