Hundreds of ancient ceramics “perfectly stacked in their original position” have been found in a shipwreck off the coast of Turkey.
The ceramic plates, trays, and bowls date back to the Late Hellenistic Early Roman Period and were found off the coast of Adrasan in the Kumluca district of Antalya. The Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, also visited the underwater archaeology site.
In a press statement after the dive, Ersoy said that the cargo ship dated back approximately two thousand years. The ceramic artifacts were plastered with raw clay and “placed one inside the other in order to protect them during transportation,” a storage method which helped “extraordinarily” preserve the original colors, patterns, and surface features on the “almost intact” ceramics.
“These provide very valuable data in terms of both production and packaging techniques,” Ersoy added, noting the items were being preserved through the department’s regional laboratories for restoration and conservation.
“This is an extremely valuable discovery not only for our country, but also for the world’s cultural heritage,” Ersoy continued.
The excavation of the cargo ship was part of the Culture and Tourism Ministry’s “Heritage of the Future” project, which aims to speed up archaeological studies and excavations in much shorter time periods.
The culture and tourism minister also noted the large number of underwater explorations on the country’s coasts, with more than 400 shipwrecks identified just in the area from Patara to Mersin.
“Our professors are working in these regions in a very intense and disciplined manner,” Ersoy said, noting the explorations offered opportunities for both scientific research and tourism from visitors in the near future. “Each shipwreck is a new door opening to our past under the sea. Institutions such as the Bodrum Underwater Archaeology Museum present the products of these meticulous excavations to the public.”
Hakan Öniz, associate professor at Akdeniz University who led the excavation, said archaeologists encountered “rocky clusters of thousands of plates in the region” and, after the excavation of the shipwrecks is completed, a section will be opened to diving tourism.
Ersoy also announced the construction process of a new museum focused on underwater archaeology would begin this month in the Kemer Idyros region, where the ceramic artifacts will be exhibited in the future. Additionally, there will be an dedicated section on underwater archaeology at the Antalya Archaeology Museum.