Archaeologists have recovered a 2,600-year-old shipwreck off the coast of Spain over 30 years after it was discovered.

       The Mazarrón II sank around 600 B.C.E and was almost immediately buried in sand which helped keep it hidden for centuries.

       Amazingly between September and November 2024 researchers were able to revive the shipwreck from its watery grave.

       During the extraction, researchers discovered new materials including fragments of ropes and ceramic. The preservation of these delicate materials represents a unique opportunity in the archaeology field.

       Piece by piece a team of 14 specialists led by the University of Valencia’s Carlos de Juan carefully transported the Phoenician vessel to dry land, where it will be studied and preserved.

       Now, those fragments are going to a lab at the Museum of Underwater Archaeology in Cartagena for conservation and reconstruction.

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       Researchers hope the wreckage will shed new light on the Phoenician civilization.

       Carlos de Juan, the director of the excavation project, told El Cronista: "It has been delicate work, but mechanical. Slow, but equivalent to what the team had already done before in other scenarios of extracting archaeological remains.

       "The ship has now the consistency of a cake: it can stand if lying down but crumbles if we tilt it a little.

       Divers initially located The Mazarrón II in 1994 in the waters of Murcia, Spain's Ministry of Culture revealed. It was one of two wrecks found near the town of Mazarrón, which they have both been named after.

       The ship measures 8.10 meters in length and 2.25 meters at its widest point.

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       The wreck had been covered by a protective metal box, however, a group of experts found that the metal box was sinking and threatened to crush the shipwreck.

       As a result in summer 2023 archaeologists formulated a plan to raise the shipwreck from the seabed. They spent 560 hours diving at the wreck site to make detailed diagrams of its various cracks.

       Now the team is working to restore the materials and preserve them in the National Museum of Underwater Archeology.

       The University of Valencia said: "This specialized centre will continue the work of restoration and study, ensuring the preservation and analysis of this priceless historical achievement."