A shipwreck discovered during underwater excavations near Kekova Island in Türkiye's southern Antalya province has entered Guinness World Records as the world's oldest shipwreck.

Hakan Oniz, head of the Department of Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage at Akdeniz University's Faculty of Fine Arts, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that his team has been conducting research along the Mediterranean coastline for years on behalf of the Culture and Tourism Ministry.

Oniz said the team has uncovered many significant shipwrecks and shared its discoveries with the international community.

During underwater excavations conducted near Kekova Island since 2024, researchers recovered approximately 4,700-year-old amphorae from what has now been recognized as the world's oldest shipwreck.

He 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. We think, it is among the top two or three countries," Oniz said.

"We have excellent infrastructure and highly qualified experts working in this field. Most importantly, we are working along one of the world's richest coastlines," he added.

Highlighting the success of the underwater excavations, Oniz said the Kekova discovery received official recognition this week.

"The shipwreck we discovered in the Kekova region entered Guinness World Records this week as the 'world's oldest shipwreck,' and this was officially announced," he said.

"This shipwreck was just one of our projects. We discovered the Kekova wreck in 2024, but when we first found it, we thought it belonged to the Ottoman period," Oniz noted.

Artifacts to be displayed

Oniz said researchers initially believed the shipwreck was between 100 and 400 years old, while their work had primarily focused on wrecks dating back 2,000 to 2,500 years.

However, further examination of materials recovered from the wreck, located at a depth of 35-40 meters (115-131 feet), and scientific research 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 of the artifacts resembled more recent objects that we were less familiar with. However, during our publication research last year, we found similar amphorae in Egypt."

He explained that researchers identified comparable amphorae in publications documenting archaeological discoveries in Egypt, prompting them to return to the site with permission from the Culture and Tourism Ministry.

"When we returned to the site and conducted further research, we realized that this was indeed a shipwreck dating back to the Early Bronze Age," he said.

"The artifacts we recovered, predominantly amphorae, are currently undergoing conservation and examination at both our regional laboratory and Akdeniz University's underwater archaeology laboratory in Kemer."

Oniz said artifacts recovered from the shipwreck would be displayed in the coming months at the newly completed "Four Seas, One Museum" in Istanbul's Haydarpaşa district.

Some of the artifacts will also be exhibited at the Mediterranean Underwater Archaeology Museum in Antalya's Kemer district, 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 belonged to a shipwreck.

They subsequently conducted additional dives with permission from the ministry, recovered materials, and continued scientific examinations.