Ancient Adrasan Shipwreck off Antalya Yields Thousands of Ceramic Plates
A team of underwater archaeologists has recovered thousands of pieces of fine tableware from the Adrasan Plate Wreck, which lies 42 to 55 metres deep off Adrasan on the Antalya coast of southern Türkiye. The site is in the Mediterranean Sea, about 30 km west of Kekova Island, a stretch of coast known for its ancient harbours and wrecks.
Türkiye’s Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, who has dived the site himself, said the finds include plates, bowls and trays in 122 different styles and sizes. The excavation is led by Dr Hakan Öniz of Akdeniz University, with help from underwater robotic equipment. The current dig began last year, after earlier surveys going back to the 1970s.
Coins linked to the ancient city of Antioch date the ship to the 1st century BC, around 2,100 years ago. Most of the tableware seems to have come from ancient Rhosus, near today’s Arsuz in Hatay province, while amphoras from the Aegean islands point to more than one place of production. Experts believe the ship was heading from the Arsuz area towards Italy, possibly Rome, when a storm drove it onto shallows.
The cargo was stacked in wooden crates with clay packed between the pieces, which appears to have kept much of it from breaking. Even the Roman writer Cicero mentioned ordering vessels from Rhosus in 50 BC.
For seafarers, the wreck is a reminder that careful cargo stowage and securing have mattered for thousands of years, and that sudden weather near a rocky coast has always been one of the sea’s oldest dangers.
