Türkiye’s underwater heritage reveals ancient Mediterranean trade routes - Get updated on what's happening in tourism!

Beneath the waters surrounding Türkiye lies an archaeological landscape that remains far less familiar to international visitors than the country’s ancient cities, Byzantine monuments and Ottoman heritage. Shipwrecks, amphorae, copper ingots, ceramics and other finds document thousands of years of maritime connections between Anatolia, the Aegean, the Levant, Cyprus and Egypt.

With more than 8,300 kilometres of coastline on the Mediterranean, Aegean, Marmara and Black seas, Türkiye occupied a strategic position on some of the ancient world’s most important maritime routes. Archaeological research is increasingly revealing the scale of that heritage. According to underwater archaeologist Hakan Oniz of Akdeniz University, more than 430 shipwrecks have been detected and documented along the country’s Mediterranean coast alone.

The discoveries are also gaining greater relevance for cultural tourism. Established attractions such as the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology are being complemented by new museum projects in Antalya and Istanbul, while ongoing excavations off the southern coast continue to produce evidence of trade stretching from the Early Bronze Age to the Roman period.

Where underwater archaeology began

Türkiye occupies a special place in the development of underwater archaeology. The Cape Gelidonya wreck off Antalya, discovered by a Turkish sponge diver in the 1950s, was excavated by American archaeologist George Bass in 1960. The project is widely regarded as the first scientific excavation of an ancient shipwreck carried out directly on the seabed.

Research into Ottoman records, however, points to archaeological activity beneath the sea decades earlier. In 1891, Osman Hamdi Bey, archaeologist, painter and founding director of the Istanbul Archaeology Museums, ordered work around Farmakonisi, today known as Bulamac Island, in the Aegean. Divers were employed to search for antiquities, with finds subsequently taken to Istanbul.

Türkiye’s underwater sites have since produced some of the most important maritime archaeological discoveries in the Mediterranean. Among the best known is the Uluburun wreck off Kaş. Discovered in 1982 and excavated over 11 years, the Bronze Age vessel carried around ten tonnes of copper and one tonne of tin ingots alongside glass, ebony, ivory and a gold scarab bearing the name of Egyptian Queen Nefertiti.

Istanbul produced another exceptional discovery during construction of the Marmaray rail project. At Yenikapı, archaeologists uncovered the buried Theodosian Harbour and eventually recovered 37 vessels dating from the fifth to the 11th centuries. The site also revealed traces of a Neolithic settlement dating back around 8,000 years.

New wrecks off Antalya

Research continues along the Mediterranean coast. Oniz and his team are currently investigating three shipwreck sites in the Antalya region, using research vessels and remotely operated underwater vehicles to work at greater depths.

Near the Kekova islands, archaeologists are studying an Early Bronze Age wreck carrying Levantine-type amphorae. Another Bronze Age vessel off Kumluca, estimated to be around 3,600 years old, transported copper ingots believed to have originated in Cyprus. Researchers consider both wrecks older than the celebrated Uluburun and Cape Gelidonya sites.

A third wreck off Adrasan offers a glimpse into a much later trading world. Dating from the late Hellenistic or early Roman period, the vessel carried hundreds of plates, trays and bowls packed in raw clay for transportation from Rhosus near Antioch towards Rome. A recently recovered coin helped archaeologists narrow the date to around the middle of the first century BC.

Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy recently announced the discovery of 122 different forms and sizes of plates, bowls and trays at the site, providing further evidence of dining culture and ceramic trade during the period.

Maritime finds move into new museums

Underwater archaeology is also being incorporated into Türkiye’s wider cultural heritage strategy. The Culture and Tourism Ministry’s Legacy to the Future programme, launched in 2023, had expanded to 255 excavation sites across 65 provinces by 2025, with more than 15,000 finds entering the scientific record.

Bodrum remains the country’s principal destination for visitors interested in underwater archaeology. Established in 1964, its museum displays finds from important wrecks including Uluburun, Yassıada and Serçe Limanı.

Further projects could considerably expand public access to the country’s maritime heritage. In Kemer near Antalya, a Mediterranean Underwater Archaeology Museum is being developed at the ancient site of Idyros to bring together discoveries from the surrounding seabed.

Istanbul’s historic Haydarpaşa railway station is meanwhile being redeveloped with plans for a “Four Seas Museum” devoted to Türkiye’s maritime heritage across the Mediterranean, Aegean, Marmara and Black seas. The concept envisages around 10,000 square metres of exhibition space together with an archaeological park.

For travellers, the growing network of excavations and museums adds another dimension to Türkiye’s archaeological landscape. Some of the routes that once connected the great civilizations of the Eastern Mediterranean can now be reconstructed not only through ruins on land, but through the ships and cargoes preserved for centuries beneath the sea.

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