Oldest shipwreck

The oldest shipwreck in the world can be found off the Greek island of Dokos in the Aegean. Peter Throckmorton of the Hellenic Institute of Marine Archaeology first discovered the wreck on 23 August 1975. It was identified by a large pile of pottery 20 metres below the sea, which was dated by archaeologist George Papathanasopoulos to 2200 BC, making the Dokos shipwreck 4,214 years old.

The excavation of the wreck, which occurred between 1989 and 1992, was the first to apply up-to-date underwater archaeological techniques of the time to a wreck in Greece. The pots represent one of the largest assemblages of early Helladic pottery. They are believed to be cargo, transported from pottery workshops in the Argolida to smaller settlements around the Gulf of Argos. This makes the Dokos wreck among the earliest evidence for trade in the Aegean.