Off Turkey’s Kekova Island, a Bronze Age trader left behind more than 30 jars, three stone anchors and one vessel that may have been made for churning butter or cheese!
Divers found some old clay jars off the Turkish coast, that they looked a century or two old. In reality, they were more than 4,000 years older than that and not only that, some still had residue inside, and one of them may not have been made for shipping at all.
On 14 October 2026, Turkey’s Culture Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced on X that the jars came from what he called “the world’s oldest shipwreck”. It dates to the Early Bronze Age, around the time the Great Pyramid was being built in Egypt.
Most coverage has focused on the cargo, and yes the cargo is remarkable. But one object on the seabed doesn’t fit the story of a simple trading voyage. So, let’s get into it.
