Spanish archaeologists have successfully removed a 2,600-year-old shipwreck from the waters off the country's southeast coast, two decades after the relic was originally discovered, officials said.
The shipwreck of an ancient Phoenician ship dates back to the 7th century BC. e. It was discovered in 1994 off the coast of Murcia in southeastern Spain, near the town of Massarón. in accordance with Ministry of Culture of Spain.
This shipwreck, now called Mazaron II, was one of two located in the same area. The first, called Mazarrón I, was originally discovered in 1993, raised from the water in June 1995 and put on display at Spain's National Museum of Underwater Archeology in 2005 after years of conservation work. – told in the museum.
National Museum of Underwater Archeology of Spain
Massaron II is of particular interest to archaeologists and researchers because it is one of the few Phoenician-era shipwrecks found largely intact, said Carlos de Juan, director of the excavation project. in the video shared by the University of Valencia. The university collaborated with the regional ministry of culture in Murcia to carry out the excavations.
A team of 14 specialists worked with de Juan to raise the wreckage from the sea in less than two months, starting the project on September 13 and finishing on November 7. The video shows divers carrying wooden fragments of the wreckage to the surface.
Phoenicia was an ancient civilization along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, in what is now Lebanon, Syria, and Israel, that existed from about 1500 to 300 BC. BC, although historians say The Phoenicians prospered for a time on trade and developed an alphabet that formed the basis for the alphabets that were later created by ancient Greece and Rome, many traces of the civilization were considered lost until the 20th century.
Artifacts like Massaron II can help shed light on Phoenician culture, de Juan said. He noted in his comments at the University of Valencia that little is known about Phoenician naval construction, even now, despite the wealth of information about ships built nearby in the Mediterranean by the ancient Greeks.
“So this wreck is a very important contribution to this area of research,” de Juan said. He noted that the features of Mazarrón II are similar to construction designs found in cultures throughout the surrounding region, but some are distinctive and mysterious, at least for now.
Each piece of the shipwreck was transferred to the laboratory of the Museum of Underwater Archeology in southern Spain. The lab will be working diligently to preserve his remains, which will likely take several more years.