Archaeologists have identified 122 forms and sizes of ceramic tableware in a shipwreck about 2,100 years old off Adrasan in Türkiye, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said on Monday, September 28.
The wreck lies off Adrasan in the Kumluca district of Antalya province. Underwater excavations began in 2025 and are continuing at depths of 42–55 metres with the support of underwater robots. Ersoy said thousands of artefacts have been recovered from the ceramic-laden vessel.
The figure of 122 refers to different forms and sizes rather than the number of pieces recovered. The finds include fish plates and soup bowls, along with nut dishes and trays of various sizes. Ersoy said the pieces “reveal the luxury dining culture of the period.”
Much of the tableware is associated with Rhosus, the ancient name for the area identified with present-day Arsuz in Hatay. Arsuz lies on Türkiye’s eastern Mediterranean coast, east of the wreck site in Antalya.
The cargo also contained amphorae linked to other production centres. Some are thought to have been made on Aegean islands, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said.
First-century BC coins of Antioch were found at the wreck. They have helped date it to around the middle of that century, within the Late Hellenistic to Early Roman period previously assigned to the vessel.
The coins and mixed cargo point to trade connections linking Antioch and the Aegean with Greece and Italy. The ministry said the ship may have sailed from Arsuz towards Rome before striking a shoal during a storm.
The ceramics were packed in wooden crates, with plates and bowls nested together and separated by raw clay. The packing protected the pieces during transport and helped cushion them when the vessel sank.
Ersoy dived to inspect the wreck in June 2025, when hundreds of packed ceramic pieces had been documented. “Thanks to this method, the ceramics have survived nearly intact, with even their designs remaining clearly visible,” he said at the time. The latest announcement puts the number of recovered artefacts in the thousands.
Ersoy also pointed to a reference to Rhosian ceramics in a 50 BC letter from Cicero to his friend Atticus. “I have ordered the Rhosian ware,” Cicero wrote.