UNDERWATER EXCAVATIONS OF THE ANTALYA - KUMLUCA BRONZE AGE SHIPWRECK

In 2018, a wreck carrying pillow-shaped copper ingots was discovered off the coast of Kumluca, Antalya.

This shipwreck, dated to the 16th–15th century B.C., likely belonged to a merchant vessel that sank after striking the shore during a storm. The typology of the ingots makes it one of the earliest known merchant ships. Excavation work on the vessel, which sank in ancient Lycia, began in July and August 2019 with the permission of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, under the supervision of the Antalya Museum Directorate.

The Akdeniz University Mediterranean Civilizations Research Institute / Mediterranean Underwater Cultural Heritage Research Department team, led by Assoc. Prof. Hakan Öniz, participated in the excavation alongside the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) team, headed by Prof. Dr. Cemal Pulak. The teams worked from Akdeniz University's ARKEO scientific research vessel and the INA research vessel Virazon 2.

A sample of ingots was retrieved from the wreck, and one was found to bear a shipment mark—an early example of such markings, many of which became more common in the Late Bronze Age. XRF analyses conducted by the Antalya Conservation and Restoration Laboratory confirmed that the samples taken from the pillow- and bun-shaped ingots were copper.

The 2019 archaeological studies on the Bronze Age shipwreck in Kumluca focused on in situ documentation, with a small number of samples excavated under the permission of the Turkish Ministry of Culture to gather more information about the wreck. The latest technology and modern methods were applied to minimize the margin of error. Work on this significant shipwreck will continue over the next five years.