It is thought that sails were invented by the Egyptians around 3400 BC. Harnessing wind power for sea transport was a crucial factor in the development of civilisation, enabling Egyptian sailors to carry the timber they needed from the thickly forested coasts of Lebanon, and later taking them to Cyprus where there were plentiful deposits of copper, and to the coasts of Anatolia. Trade began to flourish in the eastern Mediterranean, but of the thousands of ships which came and went from Anatolian harbours, some were inevitably wrecked in storms. The ships and cargoes which sank to the seabed over the centuries are today providing illuminating evidence about maritime and commercial history. Since the first underwater excavations were carried out in Turkish coastal waters in 1960, much has been discovered about shipbuilding technology in antiquity and the commodities the ships were carrying.

Undoubtedly the most important wreck excavated so far is the Uluburun Wreck, which is the earliest of all, dating from the late Bronze Age. This ship sunk 3300 years ago, and is accounted one of the most important ten archaeological discoveries of the 20th century by archaeologists. The gold seal of Queen Nefertiti and a two-leaf wooden book, the oldest book in the world, are among the hundreds of remarkable finds. With a total of nine underwater archaeological excavations so far, Turkey is the leading country in this field. Turkey's coastline totals 8300 kilometres, and there are thought to be thousands of ancient wrecks waiting to reveal their secrets. The object of the Underwater Treasures of Anatolia project that I launched two years ago is to track down all the wrecks around Turkey's coasts, photograph them, and build a database for the information gathered. This is not an archaeological project and does not involve any excavations.

Perhaps our future work will enable us to unravel the secrets of the other ships which sank in the Bermuda Triangle of the Aegean.

* Tufan Turanli is a sea captain and underwater researcher.