Walter Finch
WORK has begun on the amphibious excavation of an ancient Phoenician trading ship off the coast of Murcia.
The remarkably well-preserved vessel, dubbed Mazarron 2, is believed to be the most complete ancient ship ever found in the Mediterranean.
An expert team of specialists from the Universitat de Valencia have been painstakingly working to extract the ship’s contents since last month.
They even had to put up a barrier of buoys to cordon off the archeological site during the tourist season to keep curious onlookers at bay from the incredibly fragile artefacts.
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So far the team has recovered fragments of ropes and pieces of pottery that have remained hidden beneath the seabed for centuries, providing an insight into the lives of the sailors who once sailed these waters.
It is hoped that once properly excavated and preserved, the artefacts will offer tantalising clues about the ship’s construction, cargo, and the daily lives of its crew.
Experts believe that the learnings from the Mazarron 2 could revolutionise current understanding of life at sea and shipping during Phoenician times.
To help them along, Spain’s Ministry of Culture has kitted the team out with advanced technology, including air compressors and motor pumps that allow the suction of sediments under water.
The experts have even created 3D models of the wreck, which has been divided into 22 pieces.
It has allowed them to foresee and anticipate potential problems during the planning and execution of the incredibly challenging excavation.
The team hopes to complete the excavation by early November, but the timeline could be affected by weather conditions.
Once the artefacts have been recovered, they will undergo a meticulous conservation process before being put on display in a museum.
The Phoenician Empire flourished in the eastern Mediterranean region, primarily centred around the modern-day countries of Lebanon, Syria, and Israel from around 1500 BCE.
They established trading posts and colonies throughout the Mediterranean, including in North Africa, Europe, and the Iberian Peninsula and were one of the perennial ancient powers in the region until – like so many empires, they were conquered and finished off by the Romans in the first century.
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