4,000 year-old shipwreck belonging to Minoans found in Turkey

Turkish researchers have discovered a 4,000 year-old shipwreck in Marmaris Hisarönü Gulf in the Mediterranean, as part of an ongoing project carried out by Dokuz Eylül University's Marine Sciences Institute since 2007.

Professor Abdurrahman Harun Özdaş, from Dokuz Eylül University said that the 4,000 year-old shipwreck is the oldest of its kind to be found in Turkey.

He said that the shipwreck was found as part of the 'Research on Turkey's Underwater Heritage' project, which has been launched in 2007.
Last year the project has received 70,000 Turkish liras in funds and aims to make an inventory for shipwrecks in Turkey's territorial waters."We come up with maps based on such shipwrecks, where they dropped their anchors, as well as objects which fell off from ships" Özdaş said, and noted that they refer to this as the 'underwater geographic information system of Turkey.'

The shipwreck is thought to be used for trading purposes and is from the Minoan Civilization, which existed around 3650 to 1400 BCE.
It is reported that the ship is thought to have capsized during a trip to Hisarönü Gulf from Cyrete through the Rhodes Island and Bozburun.

It was also reported that the project found over 20 submerged harbors and architectural remains, 25 berthages and over 400 anchors dating from the Bronze Age to the Ottoman period.There is a separate project for the Ottoman period, which was launched in 2012.

The project, carried out by a team of 15 researchers, had initially been supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) and also received support from the Ministry of Development.

Among the participants of the project include underwater archeologists, marine geophysicists and biologists.