Mehmet Nuri Ersoy

New Capabilities

Announced the discovery and museum plans

Archaeologists call the shipwreck found off Turkey's Kekova Island the world's oldest. It dates to between 4,400 and 4,700 years ago, the Early Bronze Age, around the time the Great Pyramid was built.

Updated Oct 18

New Capabilities

Announced the discovery

Archaeologists at Kayalıpınar in central Turkey have uncovered a Hittite royal archive of 184 cuneiform tablets, preserved for about 3,400 years. The tablets date to the reign of King Tudhaliya II in the mid-14th century BC.

Updated Oct 17

New Capabilities

As of September 2026: Announced the fragment's identification on September 21

Archaeologists in central Turkey have found a cuneiform fragment belonging to a copy of the Treaty of Kadesh, the oldest known peace treaty, signed around 1269 BC by Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II and Hittite king Hattusili III. The tablet piece, unearthed at the ancient Hittite capital of Hattusha, preserves part of the agreement's rules on how refugees were to be returned and treated.

Updated Sep 27