What is the oldest shipwreck ever found and how do archaeologists date them?

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1. 1

   World's oldest shipwreck found off coast of Turkey

   BBC NewsPublished Oct 14, 2026Checked Oct 14, 2026

   “Archaeologists say the wreck is up to 4,700 years old, dating to the Early Bronze Age.”

2. 2

   Shipwrecks in the off Shore Waters of the Indian Peninsula–A Review

   Current Science (Tripati & Korisettar)Published Nov 25, 2019Checked Oct 14, 2026

   “Marine archaeological investigations in the Indian waters have made steady progress during the last four decades, spearheaded by the marine archaeology centre of the CSIR-NIO, Dona Paula, Goa.Wooden and steel hulled shipwrecks have been investigated off Sunchi Reef, St. George's Reef and Amee Shoals in Goa waters.Sunchi Reef shipwreck is datable to the 17th century CE and was part of the Indo-Portuguese trade and commerce network.The St George's Reef shipwreck is dated to the 19th century CE.The name stamped on the firebricks of the Amee shoals shipwreck suggests that it could be of British origin, dating around the 1880s or later.Further, steam engine shipwrecks have been explored and documented in the Minicoy waters.An 18th century CE wooden hulled shipwreck has been explored off Poompuhar, Tamil Nadu.The discovery of Poompuhar shipwreck suggests that the wreck represents a local cargo ship carrying lead ingots from manufacturers in Europe.Similarly, explorations have brought to light, a shipwreck off Konark coast of Odisha, details are awaited.”

3. 3

   A revised radiocarbon calibration curve 350-250 BCE impacts high-precision dating of the Kyrenia Ship.

   PloS one (Manning et al.)Published Jun 26, 2024Checked Oct 14, 2026

   “Strikingly, extensive radiocarbon dating on both wooden materials from the ship and on short-lived contents from the final use of the ship fail to offer dates using the IntCal20 calibration curve-the current Northern Hemisphere radiocarbon calibration curve at the time of writing-that correspond with the archaeological constraints. The issue rests with a segment of IntCal20 ca. 350-250 BCE reliant on legacy pre-AMS radiocarbon data. We therefore measured new known-age tree-ring samples 350-250 BCE, and, integrating another series of new known-age tree-ring data, we obtained a redefined and more accurate calibration record for the period 433-250 BCE. These new data permit a satisfactory dating solution for the ship and may even indicate a date that is a (very) few years more recent than current estimations. These new data in addition confirm and only very slightly modify the dating recently published for the Mazotos ship, another Greek merchant ship from the southern coast of Cyprus. Our work further investigated whether ship wood samples impregnated with a common preservative, polyethylene glycol (PEG), can be cleaned successfully, including a known-age test.”

4. 4

   DNA of centuries-old timber can reveal its origin.

   Scientific reports (Akhmetzyanov et al.)Published Nov 23, 2020Checked Oct 14, 2026

   “However, this method has pitfalls and limitations and therefore alternative techniques are needed. Here, we used three different DNA analysis methods to investigate the potential of using ancient (a)DNA, extracted from oak timber derived from historical buildings and shipwrecks from a variety of countries. All the material had also been analysed dendrochronologically, so its dating and provenance is demonstrated. We included heartwood samples in this analysis, for which DNA extraction is especially challenging as it contains chemicals that inhibit DNA amplification. We succeeded in amplifying DNA for at least one marker from 56% of samples (including heartwood samples), yielding crucial information that allowed us to identify the potential source area of centuries old timber buildings in Latvia and Denmark and of 750-year-old shipwreck material from Germany. Our results prove the strong potential of DNA analyses for identifying timber origin to the regional scale, but by combining these with the dendrochronological results, we can control the exactitude of the aDNA approach and demonstrate a more nuanced examination of the timber sources for these historic structures.”

5. 5

   An overview of three decades of dendrochronology applied to ancient Mediterranean shipwrecks in southeastern France

   Archaeonautica (Guibal et al.)Published Jan 1, 2021Checked Oct 14, 2026

   “Three decades of dendrochronology applied to ancient Mediterranean shipwrecks in southeastern France have resulted in a considerable improvement in knowledge about the wood resources used in ancient shipbuilding. However, in terms of dating, the success rate of dendrochronological analyses is still very low. The possible causes of this low rate are discussed through two case studies: the first pertaining to the shipwrecks from the ancient harbour of Toulon (1st-3rd centuries AD); the second to a couple of fluvial barges discovered in the Rhône River (mid 1st-beginning of the 2nd centuries AD).”