article_detail
Date Published: 06/05/2022
ARCHIVED - Experts examine excavating Phoenician ship Mazarron II
The delicate operation to recover and restore the Mazarrón II is likely to begin early next year
The Minister of Culture and Sports, Miquel Iceta, and his department are looking at options for raising the Phoenician wreck ‘Mazarrón II’ from the Murcian seabed early next year in order to proceed with its restoration. Discovered in 1994 off the coast of the La Isla beach, the vessel is the most complete ancient ship found to date.
Resurrecting the Mazarrón II would be an extremely delicate operation but Mr Iceta assured that the “experts are telling us that we would be in a position at the beginning of 2023 to refloat it,” once the best and safest method has been agreed upon, since the job will certainly not be an easy one.
Earlier this year there was widespread alarm when a spell of bad weather hit, with experts warning that a particularly cold spell or hurricane could irreparably damage the 2,700-year-old ship. The decision was made at the time, however, to leave the vessel on the seabed with a protective metal covering, but even this has now started to disintegrate and the crossbeams that supported the structure have disappeared.
Recovering the ancient ship at this stage would mean, in the words of the minister, “adding another medal to the long list of successes” of Spain in the field of underwater archaeology.
“Spain is setting the pace, which raises the level of demand; that is why we want to be very sure of the steps that are being taken and of our later capacity to conserve the wrecks that are recovered,” he added.
Back in 2021, the Ministry of Culture actually gave the go-ahead for the extraction, conservation, restoration and exhibition of the Mazarrón II but the project never got off the ground. If it had been completed the vessel would have been displayed in the National Museum of Underwater Archaeology in Cartagena alongside the Mazarrón I, which was restored in 1993.
Image: Ministry of Culture
Loading
Sign up for the Spanish News Today Editors Roundup Weekly Bulletin and get an email with all the week’s news straight to your inbox
Special offer: Subscribe now for 25% off (36.95 euros for 48 Bulletins)
OR
you can sign up to our FREE weekly roundup!
Read some of our recent bulletins:
25% Discount Special Offer subscription:
36.95€ for 48 Editor’s Weekly News Roundup bulletins!
Please CLICK THE BUTTON to subscribe.
(List price 3 months 12 Bulletins)
Read more stories from around Spain:
Contact Spanish News Today: Editorial 966 260 896 /
Office 968 018 268