LIMANTEPE, TURKEY—A Mediterranean shipwreck thought to be 4,000 years old is being called one of the oldest in the world by scholars from Ankara University’s Research Center for Maritime Archaeology. “If we confirm that the sunken ship is 4,000 years old, it will be a very important milestone for archaeology,” Hayat Erkanal, head of excavations, told Hurriyet Daily News. Turkey’s Urla Port and the coastal town of Klozemenai date back to the seventh century B.C. The city was destroyed and inundated by an earthquake in the eighth century. The wreck and its artifacts are being conserved and studied at the new Mustafa Vehbi Koç Maritime Archaeology Research Center and Archaeopark. To read about two Bronze Age shipwrecks discovered off the Turkish coast, see ARCHAEOLOGY's "History's Top 10 Shipwrecks."
