Spanish Archaeologists Launch Ambitious Mission to Excavate Phoenician Shipwreck

Spanish archaeologists are trying to reach the wreck of a Phoenician ship that sank 2,500 years ago. It was found on the southeastern coast of Spain.

Reconstruction of the Phoenician shipwreck Mazarrón II — [Photo: Nanosanchez Derivative work MagentaGreen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]

A team of Spanish archaeologists has an ambitious plan. Scientists want to recover the wreck of a Phoenician ship that has been resting on the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea for 2,500 years. It’s not an easy task, as the researchers are fighting not only against the element of water, but also against time. The ship is secured only provisionally and could be destroyed by a storm at any time.

An ambitious plan to save the wreck

At issue is the Mazarron II. It’s an 8-meter-long Phoenician merchant ship that archaeologists describe as a unique relic of ancient maritime engineering. It was built around 580 BC, and was only discovered in 1994. However, it is only now that researchers have received permission to excavate it. That’s why researchers are anxious to secure and conserve this amazing monument as soon as possible.

According to Reuters, “nine divers from the University of Valencia spent 560 hours underwater in June alone to document all the cracks and fissures in the wreck located at a depth of 3 meters, about 60 meters off Playa de la Isla in Murcia”.