“In the Kızlan Ottoman Wreck Underwater Excavation, weapons, porcelain, chess sets, and unique findings illuminating history have recently been uncovered,” said Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy this week.
The Kızlan Ottoman Shipwreck - described as the first and only 17th-century Ottoman shipwreck excavated in Türkiye - is under excavation off Datça, providing insights into Ottoman maritime history, according Hurriyet Daily News. The work was conducted by Dokuz Eylül University’s Underwater Cultural Heritage and , according to Anadolu Agency.
The season’s work focused on military ammunition, with the team bringing to light 36 packaged Ottoman rifles, more than 50 grenades, swords, daggers, pistols, and more than 3,000 bullets. The wreck also yielded everyday items: 135 Tophane-produced pipe bowls — described as the largest known pipe collection from the Ottoman period — two chess sets, and more than 40 pieces of Chinese porcelain packed in bamboo, alongside copper kitchenware, jugs, cauldrons, wooden spoons, boxwood combs, and leather flasks.
“Last year we came across coins; we were roughly dating them between 1660 and 1675, but this seal gave us the Hijri year 1078 (Gregorian 1667–1668). It shows the ship ran aground after a conflict, then burned and sank,” said excavation director and director of the Maritime History Application and Research Center (SUDEMER) Professor Harun Özdaş. He said they precisely dated the ship using a seal bearing the name Hüdabende Abdullah Ahmed. The wreck measurs approximately 30 meters in length and 9 meters in width, and chestnuts found among the cargo indicate the ship sank during the winter months, according to Evrensel. An Ottoman dagger with a curved blade and decorated hilt was also recovered.
“We are doing the inventory work of the artifacts extracted daily. The most important method we use here is photogrammetry. We take hundreds of photos of the wreck area every day and combine these photos in mosaic form. Thus, we obtain a detailed and single photo and carry out the planning work based on this,” said Proffesor Nilhan Kızıldağ, the excavation vice president.
“The finds are unusually diverse and abundant for such a shallow wreck site. We are facing a collection so rich it could open a new museum dedicated solely to Ottoman maritime history,” said Özdaş.
Özdaş said that SUDEMER created a Geographic Information System of Ottoman-era underwater cultural heritage, recording both Ottoman ships and enemy vessels sunk by the Ottomans. In nearby waters from shallow areas down to 70–100 meters, there were around 20 wrecks dating from the 17th to 19th centuries.
“The wreck is the first example carrying the Ottomans’ naval power and trade to the present day,” and, “This discovery has gone down in history as one of the most striking findings of not only our country but also world underwater archaeology,” said Ersoy.
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