Places to visit Mazarron, The visitor centre for the Phoenician boats, Mazarron I and Mazarron II

Mazarron is the location of an important marine archaeological site in the Playa de la Isla, which is part of the way along the beach front towards Bolnuevo.

Two Phoenician boats have been discovered in the Isla, dating back to the 6th/7th century BC, one of them, Mazarron 2,  in a remarkably complete state of preservation and providing invaluable information for archaeologists about the processes of Phoenician shipbuilding techniques, being the most intact ancient ship discovered to date.

Mazarron 1 was discovered  in 1988, following the construction works for the new marina. The excavations for the marine caused sand from surrounding beaches to be literally sucked into the excavations revealing the remains beneath the sand. She is a type of vessel known a hippos, built for speed rather than cargo capacity.

Mazarron 1 was in a poor state of repair, and her remains were dispersed across the sea bed, along with a quantity of amphorae which she is believed to have been carrying, and the remains are currently on show in the ARQUA marine archaeology museum in Cartagena. There's not a lot of them, so don't get too excited.Click for ARQUA.

Following the excavations on Mazarron 1 the area was thoroughly surveyed , but Mazarron 2 was not discovered until 1994, which provoked great excitement as she is virtually intact, complete with a cargo of lead ingots weighing 2820kg, which is a major volume of cargo for a vessel which is only 8 metres long and 2.25 metres wide. It is believed that the boat was either carrying the cargo along the coastline, or was meeting a larger vessel in deeper waters to transfer the cargo when it sank.

The cargo was removed and excavations carried out to map and survey the area, before the boat was sealed inside a protective steel casing on the sea bed where it still lies, at only 3 metres depth. Parts of the cargo are to be seen in the ARQUA and also the archaeological museum in Cartagena.

One of the most exciting finds in Mazarron 2 was a plant fibre basket, still with wooden handle intact and the anchor, in perfect condition, the best example ever found of its' type.

In the ARQUA a reproduction has been made of the boat and contents as she lay on the sea bed, which gives a clear indication of her size and structure.

Visiting the Phoenician boat Interpretation centre, Mazarron

 
The visitor centre hosts an exquisitely made small scale replica of Mazarron II,  lovingly crafted using the same building techniques and the same woods that would have been used in the original. It was customary to use different woods for different jobs , as the elasticity and texture of the woods dictated their use. In this case, cypress would have been used for the keel, fig for the frame, pine for the strakes, (side panelling) and olive for the tabs, the whole being sealed with pine resin.

The Phoenicians were master mariners, colonising the whole of the mediterranean coast 3000 years ago, and dominating the shipping and trading ports from modern day Lebanon, across Cyprus , Crete, Malta, Southern Italy and the Spanish coast as far as Cadiz, then back along the northern tip of Africa.

Their sophisticated culture has left a wealth of archaeological remains and artefacts, but few traces remain of their seafaring history, so it was a major coup for Mazarron when these boats were discovered In an astonishingly intact condition, after more than 2700 years underwater.

The visitor centre has good literature in english, the model of the boat and display boards showing a little information about the phoenician culture and marine explorations. An atmospheric 2 minute presentation in spanish talks about the discovery of the boat, showing the remains in situ, and although non-spanish speakers  will not understand the commentary, the visuals are informative and in english.
The centre is open from 10am-1pm and 6.30pm-9.30, Tuesday to Sunday, closed on Mondays and entrance is free of charge.

The Centre is located on the left hand side, just out of the Puerto de Mazarron, on the main coastal road running to Bolnuevo. The bay known as Playa de la Isla is about half a km from the El Arbol supermarket on foot, so is walkable with a good degree of mobility, otherwise there is plenty of parking nearby.
 Would we recommend it?

There's not a lot to see, although the display panels are interesting, and it's well worth visiting if you're in the Puerto de Mazarron doing something else, it's certainly not worth driving a long way to visit on it's own.
We would strongly advise visiting along with the salt fish museum and house in Calle Era as this site is only a 5 minute drive from the Salt fish museum.

Click for map, Playa de la Isla, Mazarron

Click,Mazarron, Roman salt fish factory.

Click Mazarron, Casa romana de la calle Era and Villa de Playa Alamillo

 

 

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