Yahoo TV

STORY: Spanish archeologists plan to recover this 2,500-year-old Phoenician shipwreck

before a storm destroys it forever

(Location: Mazarron, Spain)

The 26-foot-long Mazarron II lies off Playa de la Isla beach

under 5.6 feet of crystal-clear Mediterranean water

(Carlos de Juan, Archeologist and project leader)

“It is an archeological jewel, which means it is unique. We do not have in our latitudes wreckages of the Phoenician culture that preserve their naval structure. Therefore, we have just this one. It is a piece that deserves special treatment. It has been declared an asset of 'cultural interest.'”

Nine technicians underwent 560 hours of scuba diving over more than two weeks

to record all the cracks and fissures in the ship

The boat will have to be extracted piece by piece and reassembled onshore

“The photographs show us a puzzle that is already assembled, we see the fusiform shape of a not very large coastal vessel, about eight meters long and it gives the impression that we have only one piece. But this is not the reality of archeology. Archeological wood, after spending so much time underwater, in this case over 2,500 years, loses its physical and chemical properties and begins to crack.