18 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

3600-year-old lead weights were unearthed in the Kumluca Bronze Age Shipwreck, one of the oldest shipwrecks in the world

Underwater archaeological work continues in the Bronze Age shipwreck off Antalya Kumluca, one of the oldest shipwrecks in the world.

During the underwater archaeological excavations carried out in the Bronze Age shipwreck dated to the 16th century BC, 2 lead weights weighing 22 and 44 gr were found.

The shipwreck, estimated to date back to 1600 B.C., was discovered off the western shores of southern Turkey’s Antalya province, in 2018, by Antalya University’s Underwater Research Department.

About the lead weights used in commercial life 3600 years ago, the head of the excavation, Associate Professor Hakan Öniz said, “We found lead weights that we have never seen among the 350 shipwrecks we have identified so far.”

The 14-meter-long (46-foot) shipwreck was found in a 50-meter depth, with 1.5 tons of copper bullion inside of it.

The researchers used sonar surveys, photo scans, and photographic mosaics to create three-dimensional scans of the bullion on the ship. They were able to determine that the bullion were taken from mines in Cyprus, and then molded in the 15th or 16th centuries B.C.

Akdeniz University (AU) Underwater Cultural Heritage Conservation and Restoration Department Head Associate Professor Hakan Öniz, “It was probably caught in the middle of a storm while traveling to the Aegean region from Cyprus. It was carrying a cargo of copper bullion and type of that bullion helped us date the ship.  This may well be world’s earliest vessel carrying industrial goods,”.

Öniz said, “These copper ingots have an important feature. “If the Egyptians were the dominant power in the region in those days, other states in the region, such as Cyprus or the Minoan palaces or Assyrians, pay their taxes to the Egyptians with these copper ingots,” he said.

Noting that they encountered every form of copper ingot in the shipwreck, Associate Professor Hakan Öniz said: “We have also found clues about how it was made in the 16th century, Mediterranean trade.”

Photo: DHA

Noting that the lead weights, one of which is 22 grams and the other 44 grams, indicate that there was probably a Syrian merchant on the sinking ship, Öniz said, “Probably, the traders go everywhere with their own weights. Therefore, the merchant on this ship travels with lead weights of 22 grams and 44 grams. The merchant, who owns these weights, probably went to different copper mines in Cyprus and collected copper from one mine, for example, 10 ingots, and 20 ingots from another mine, and loaded them onto the ship. What we understand from this is that the business was not only about maritime trade, but that the merchant went around the mines one by one and bought them, perhaps using his own weight units to measure something else.”

Öniz added that they have identified approximately 350 shipwrecks within the borders of Antalya and Mersin during the underwater archaeological excavations they have carried out since 1999.

Cover Photo: DHA

Related Articles

1,400-year-old temple from the time of the East Anglian Kings discovered at Suffolk royal settlement

21 November 2023

21 November 2023

Archaeologists have uncovered a possibly pre-Christian temple from the time of the East Anglian Kings at Rendlesham, near Sutton Hoo...

The first time in Anatolia, a legionnaires’ cemetery belonging to the Roman Empire unearthed

18 November 2022

18 November 2022

In the ancient city of Satala, in the Kelkit district of Gümüşhane in the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey,...

Archaeologists uncovered largest Bronze Age burial site of Nitra culture in Czech Republic

19 October 2024

19 October 2024

Archaeologists have uncovered the Nitra culture’s largest Bronze Age burial site near Olomouc in Central Moravia, during their rescue research...

Teacher unearthed stone with ancient ogham writing from Ireland in Coventry garden

9 May 2024

9 May 2024

A geography teacher, Graham Senior, stumbled across a rock with mysterious incisions while tidying his overgrown garden in Coventry, England. ...

The World’s Oldest Mummies “Chile’s Ancient Mummies Older than Egypt’s”

20 February 2024

20 February 2024

At the beginning of the 20th century, mummies dating back 2000 years before the Egyptians were found in the Atacama...

Neo-Assyrian underground complex discovered under a house in southeastern Turkey

11 May 2022

11 May 2022

An underground Iron Age complex has been found in Turkey that may have been used by a fertility cult during...

Archaeologists in Israel are restoring the largest Roman Basilica in the country

6 June 2021

6 June 2021

Archaeologists in Israel are trying to rebuild a 2,000-year-old Roman-era basilica that is thought to be the country’s biggest. A...

Early humans appreciated geometry and symmetry and were intentionally crafting spherical shapes 1.4 million years ago, according to a new study

7 September 2023

7 September 2023

An examination of 150 round, baseball-sized stones discovered at a site where early humans lived 1.4 million years ago shows...

“Exceptionally rare” gold sword pommel given to Scottish national museums

24 October 2022

24 October 2022

An “exceptionally rare” solid gold sword pommel found by a metal detectorist near Blair Drummond, Stirling, has been acquired by...

A rare 2500-year-old saw, the first of its kind, discovered in Anatolia

28 November 2023

28 November 2023

Archaeologists conducting excavations in Çorum, the capital of the Ancient Hittite Empire in northern Turkey, discovered a 2,250-year-old saw. Recent...

A 1,700-year-old trident discovered in Assos ancient city in Türkiye

10 October 2023

10 October 2023

An iron trident, believed to be used for fishing, dating to the 3rd or 4th century A.D. has been discovered...

Early Anatolian Genes: Genetic Links Between Girmeler Mound and 17,000-Year-Old Pınarbaşı Skeletons

16 April 2025

16 April 2025

Recent archaeological excavations at Girmeler Mound, located near the ancient Lycian city of Tlos in southwestern Türkiye, have not only...

Secrets of the Galloway Hoard Revealed

27 May 2021

27 May 2021

Experts have uncovered fascinating secrets of a Viking Age hoard discovered by a metal detector to be presented to the...

Farmer was Discovers 2600-year-old Stone Slab of Pharaoh Apries

19 June 2021

19 June 2021

The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities announced that a farmer in Ismailia, Egypt, uncovered a 2,600-year-old stone monument erected by Pharaoh...

Burials covered in red dye discovered in Serbian barrows

18 February 2022

18 February 2022

Polish archaeologists excavating two barrow mounds in Vojvodina, in the northern part of the Republic of Serbia, have uncovered the...