3,600-year-old bronze dagger with silver rivets found in a shipwreck in Antalya

Turkish underwater archaeologists found a 3,600-year-old silver riveted bronze dagger, which was determined to belong to the Cretan-Minos civilization, during an underwater excavation in a shipwreck off the coast of Antalya’s Kumluca district.

The discovery was led by Assoc. Prof. Hakan Öniz from Akdeniz University.

Underwater archaeology studies in the Kumluca region have been ongoing since 2019.

The sunken ship, from which the silver riveted bronze dagger was recovered, was found 50 meters deep in the sea.

The sunken ship was carrying copper pillow ingots thought to have been extracted from the Troodos Mountains.

Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced the discovery of the silver riveted bronze dagger on his social media account.

Ersoy said, “A 3,600-year-old secret from the depths of the Mediterranean has come to light.

A bronze dagger with silver rivets from the Cretan-Minos civilization was found during underwater excavations off the coast of Kumluca district of Antalya.

The wreck is a candidate to be one of the most important discoveries not only in Türkiye but also in the world underwater archaeology.

Akdeniz University and Akdeniz University, which reached the artifact, which reveals the traces of civilizations hidden in the depths of the Mediterranean, as a result of meticulous studies
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I would like to thank our teams.”