Divers Recover Ancient Shipwreck That Sank 2,600 Years Ago Off the Coast of Spain

Archaeologists have raised a 2,600-year-old shipwreck from the waters near southeastern Spain.

Divers initially located the vessel in 1994, according to CBS News’ Emily Mae Czachor. The 27-foot-long wreck, which had been carrying a load of lead ingots when it sank, was discovered near the town of Mazarrón.

Known as the Mazarrón II, the ship was located just six feet beneath the surface of the Mediterranean, roughly 200 feet away from a beach called Playa de la Isla. It was covered in sand, which helped keep it hidden for centuries.

Comença l'extracció del Mazarrón 2: un projecte pioner d'arqueologia subaquàtica, liderat per la UV

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More recently, changes along the coastline—including coastal construction and shifting sea currents—made the wreck site more vulnerable.

“The wreckage can no longer remain where it is because its sand protection is now disappearing,” said Carlos de Juan, an archaeologist at the University of Valencia who led the excavation project, in a July 2024 statement. “The wreckage has survived for centuries, but now it is time to roll up our sleeves and ensure that we can continue to enjoy this asset of cultural interest.”

For many years, the wreck had been covered by a protective metal box. But a group of experts who studied the wreck site between 2017 and 2019 found that the metal box was sinking and threatened to crush the shipwreck.

In the summer of 2023, archaeologists began to formulate a plan to raise the shipwreck from the seafloor. They spent 560 hours diving at the wreck site to make detailed diagrams of its many cracks and fissures.

“It is more reasonable to rescue the ship, treat it and exhibit it in a museum for people to enjoy it, rather than worrying every time a big storm arrives,” de Juan told Reuters’ Emma Pinedo in June 2023.

Between September and November 2024, a team of 14 divers carefully brought the wooden shipwreck to the surface, piece by piece. Now, those fragments are going to a lab at the Museum of Underwater Archaeology in Cartagena for conservation and reconstruction. That work is expected to take at least four years, reports El País’ Virginia Vadillo.

To preserve the ship, experts will start by removing the salt from each of the pieces, per El País. Next, they will apply resins to help fill in some of the places where the wood has rotted away. They will then freeze-dry the pieces before reassembling the ship.

Conclou l'extracció del derelicte fenici Mazarrón II

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Archaeologists think the ship belonged to the Phoenicians, a group of maritime traders and merchants who inhabited the eastern Mediterranean coast from around 1500 to 300 B.C.E.

Mazarrón II is one of the few Phoenician-era shipwrecks that’s still largely intact, and it could offer new insights into Phoenician shipbuilding techniques and culture, the archaeologists say.

“It will tell us what types of wood were used to build the boat, where it was built, what navigation was like at the time, the degradation processes of the wood, the contamination that may have occurred in shallow waters,” said Agustín Díez, a historian at the University of Valencia who also worked on the project, in the statement.

Another shipwreck, called the Mazarrón I, was discovered in the same area off the coast of southeastern Spain in 1993. Archaeologists raised it from the water two years later. After many years of conservation work, the ship went on display at the National Museum of Underwater Archaeology in 2005.

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Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.