The natural disaster also destroyed the area of the city that was built along the coast.
"As soon as we finish uncovering the finds of the harbor, we will know more about this period and perhaps we will know what actually caused the disaster," Artzy said.
Meanwhile, the anchor has already sparked interest among experts.
According to Cemal Pulak, associate professor at Texas A&M University and vice-president at the Institute of Nautical Archaeology in Turkey, the anchor might not be the world’s oldest.
"There is a beautifully preserved, one-armed wooden anchor with a lead-cored wooden stock from a mid 7th-century B.C. shipwreck at Mazarron in Spain," Pulak told Discovery News.
Even if it isn’t the oldest, a leading pioneer of underwater archaeology, George Bass, remarked that the discovery is very exciting.
"We usually have only the stocks — of stone, then lead-filled wood, and finally lead — of ancient anchors, so it is nice to have a preserved wooden arm.
"It is a rare find, indeed," Bass told Discovery News.
