More than 35 years after the discovery of Late Bronze Age shipwreck of Uluburun (dated to 14th century BC) our underwater diving team, led by Hakan Oniz,  reported the discovery of an even older shipwreck which is believed to date to 16th-15th century BC. Uluburun shipwreck was discovered close to the shore of Uluburun (Grand Cape) by George Bass and Cemal Pulak, in 1982. Antalya shipwreck was found in the same waters, 50 m off the coast of Antalya, in 2018. This discovery has been the most remarkable outcome of our archaeological underwater research along the coast of Mersin and Antalya districts of the Turkish Mediterranean.  These research activities have been carried out under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture of Turkish Republic since 1999. For the time being, the Bronze Age Shipwreck is lying at a depth of 37-52 m and excavation and research work continues in this area. It will take months for the wreck to be lifted to the surface and reconstructed.

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The length of the ship is 12-14 meter long. The cargo of the ship is preserved under the conditions of the wreck and remains in situ. The finds discovered in its cargo so far consist of pillow-type copper ingots. Pillow-type copper ingots are very rare, and extant examples in the world are only five. One of them is on display at the New York Metropolitan Museum and the other four are at the Athens Museum. In Antalya Shipwreck, 74 pillow-type copper ingots have been identified so far, and this number is expected to increase as the research continues. From the examination of the ingots on the ship, it was concluded that the ingots were not produced by a single manufacturer but processed in at least three different workshops.

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Although the examination of the shipwreck indicated that the ship had taken the copper ingots from Cyprus to the Minoan Palaces, no definitive conclusion has yet been reached. However, the present findings are in the direction that this discovery is among the early examples of the Eastern Mediterranean maritime trade and the research to be done on this wreck will shed light on the Late Bronze Age maritime trade network in the Mediterranean.

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The aim of this project is to reconstruct the digital twin of the Antalya Bronze Age Shipwreck by using volumetric scanning, artificial intelligence (image processing) and virtual reality (VR) methods.