Orca Shipwreck

The Orca Shipwreck is a shipwreck dating from the Late Bronze Age found in deep water in the eastern Mediterranean, 90 km (56 mi) off the shoreline of Israel. Believed to belong to ancient Canaanite merchants, the ship is considered the earliest deep-sea shipwreck to be discovered. The findings are hundreds of complete Canaanite storage jars (amphoras), dating to 1,300 BCE, two of which are planned to be exhibited in the National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel in Jerusalem.

On 20 June 2024, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced that the earliest discovered deep-sea shipwreck in the world had been found, about 90 km (56 mi) off the Israeli shoreline at a depth of 1.8 km (1.1 mi).^[1][2] The cargo of a Canaanite merchant vessel was discovered a year prior, when natural gas production company Energean was scanning the Mediterranean Sea seafloor next to Israel's proposed Katlan natural gas field with an underwater robot to discover and produce natural gas ("Katlan" is Hebrew for the orca).^[1] During the scan, a cluster of urns was observed which led them to contact the IAA.^[3][4][1] Believed to belong to ancient Canaanite merchants, the ship is considered the earliest deep-sea shipwreck to be discovered. The findings are hundreds of complete Canaanite storage jars (amphoras), dating to 1,300 BCE, two of which are planned to be exhibited in the National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel in Jerusalem.^{[5][6][1][3][7][4]}

After alerting the IAA regarding the seafloor anomaly, the conducted survey discovered evidence of a 3,300-year-old shipwreck on the seabed. The IAA said that it was about 12 to 14 meters (39 to 46 feet) long,^[1] crewed by 4 to 6 sailors. Unless it had lost its way, the shipwreck's location indicates capabilities in deep-sea navigation. This was the earliest shipwreck ever discovered in deep sea water in the world. Following the survey, the IAA designed and dispatched a specially equipped robot to examine and retrieve samples from the ship's cargo of hundreds of jars. The samples taken consisted of two large jars dating to the Bronze Age. No trace of the ship itself has been found above the sea bed, but timbers may have survived below the cargo.^[3][4][2]

According to the IAA, the Orca Shipwreck changes the understanding of marine navigation in ancient times.^[3][2] Up to its discovery, it was thought that marine routes around the Mediterranean were based on sailing along the coast.^[3] According to Yaakov Sharvit, director of the Maritime Archeology Unit at the Antiquities Authority, "the discovery shows the impressive navigational abilities of the ancients - the kind that made it possible to cross the Mediterranean Sea without any eye contact with the shore - since from this distance you can only see the horizon line around. Most likely, the navigation was done using the heavenly bodies - with the help of calculating the angles of the sun and the stars."^[1][2] The reason why it sank is not yet known, but speculations include an attack by pirates, a storm, and a leak in the ship.^[1] The most certain thing to be said of the sinking is that it occurred quickly.^[3]

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