Wooden Anchor Could Be Oldest Found

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May 17, 2007 — The world's oldest wooden anchor lies at the bottom of an ancient harbor in Turkey off the Aegean Sea, according to a team of Israeli and Turkish archaeologists.

Dating to the end of the 7th century B.C., the anchor was found in the Turkish port city of Urla, where the ancient site of Liman Tepe is located.

The anchor was recovered wedged into the ground about 5 feet below the surface.

"It is still there, we have not removed it from its position. It was covered with 7th century B.C. ceramics. The anchor is preserved in the ceramic layer, clearly dating from the same period," study leader Michal Artzy, of the University of Haifa's Institute for Maritime Studies in Israel, told Discovery News.

Just a portion of the anchor — a wooden log with a metal-covered crown — remains. According to Artzy, the anchor broke when sailors at the time tried to pull it up.

Located on the Bay of Izmir, Liman Tepe is one of the oldest harbors in the Aegean. Inhabited from the Neolithic Age until the end of the late Bronze Age, and continuing into the Classical Age, it was also the site of the Greek colony of Klazomenai.

It became among the most ancient and regularly used ports in world history.

"A quay and the ancient harbor floor, dating from 700 B.C., are clearly visible. We noticed a sunken terrestrial area, which indicates that the port slid into the sea following a natural disaster, probably an earthquake, in the 6th century B.C.," Artzy said.

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.