OTTOMAN SHIPWRECK (ALANYA)

We studied a shipwreck that has been dated to the Ottoman Period offshore Alanya District of Antalya Province with the permission of the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums in 2019.

The shipwreck has been known since 2010, and a comprehensive protection and documentation program was developed in 2018 upon a warning sent to the Directorate of the Alanya Museum. Within the same year, we started to remove and document the finds on the seafloor that were presenting a form and necessary to be protected. The excavations were conducted under the presidency of Museum Directorate in order to eliminate any risk the shipwreck may incur to. It was a merchant ship carrying copper utensils in the territory of the Ottoman Empire. The ship partially burned and sank as a result of a possible explosion while sailing in the direction of Alanya Cape. According to the copper coins that were removed from the shipwreck, we believe that the ship sank after 1703, which was determined based on the Ottoman inscriptions on the coins. Abundacy of fragments that have scattered around indicates that the ship sank probably due to a fire or an explosion.