Two-Thousand-Year-Old Tableware Found in Shipwreck off Antalya

2,100-year-old tableware has been brought to light in the ceramic-laden shipwreck off the coast of Adrasan in Antalya's Kumluca district, where excavations began in 2025. The plates and bowls, associated with Rhosus ceramics also mentioned in Cicero's letters, survived intact to the present day thanks to clay placed between them.

Shipwreck Excavation off Adrasan

The ceramic-laden shipwreck off the coast of Adrasan in Antalya's Kumluca district, where excavations began in 2025, sheds light on the tableware culture and Mediterranean trade of antiquity.

Thousands of artifacts have been recovered to date in the operations conducted between 42 and 55 meters below the sea surface, continuing to illuminate history.

Artifacts Surviving Intact Thanks to Clay

These artifacts, which survived to the present day intact thanks to the clay placed between them while being packed into crates, carry Anatolia's manufacturing craftsmanship and the Mediterranean's trading history into the present.

Statements made by officials draw attention to the historical value of these special tableware items recovered from the depths of the Mediterranean.

One Hundred and Twenty-Two Different Forms and Sizes

While plates and bowls of Antioch origin constitute the main cargo of the shipwreck, they are thought to have been produced on the shores of Arsuz in Hatay, known in antiquity as Rhosus.

Among the artifacts are nut plates, soup bowls, fish plates, and trays in various sizes, with a total of 122 different forms and sizes drawing attention.

Rhosus Ceramics in Cicero's Letters

One of the details increasing the historical significance of the Arsuz ceramics is that they also appear in the correspondence of the Roman orator and statesman Cicero.

In a letter written to his friend Atticus in 50 BC, Cicero recounted that he ordered ceramic vessels from Rhosus for him, demonstrating that these products were well known.