Bajo de la Campana Phoenician shipwreck

Bajo de la Campana Phoenician shipwreck

Elephant tusks from the Phoenician wreck of the Bajo de la Campana
Shown within Spain
Location	Off the coast of La Manga del Mar Menor
Region	Murcia, Spain
Coordinates	37°44′11″N 0°41′33″W / 37.73639°N 0.69250°W / 37.73639; -0.69250
Altitude	−16 m (−52 ft)
Type	Site of a sunken ship
Length	20 m (66 ft)
Width	20 m (66 ft)
History
Builder	Phoenicians
Founded	7th century BC
Abandoned	Sank late 7th century BC
Periods	Iron Age
Associated with	Crew of the merchant vessel
Site notes
Discovered	1958
Excavation dates	Excavation dives 2007 to 2011
Archaeologists	Mark Polzer and Juan Piñedo Reyes, directors[1]
Condition	Conservation, sampling and study are ongoing
Ownership	Spain

The Bajo de la Campana Phoenician shipwreck is a seventh-century BC shipwreck of a Phoenician trade ship found at Bajo de la Campana, a submerged rock reef near Cartagena, Spain. This shipwreck was accidentally discovered in the 1950s. It is the earliest Phoenician shipwreck to date to undergo an archaeological excavation. Over the course of four field seasons, researchers conducted almost 4,000 dives and over 300 hours of exploration. The sunken ship spilled its cargo in and around an underwater cave at the edge of the Bajo reef. Among the artifacts recovered were fragments of the ship's hull, along with terracotta vessels, including amphoras, bowls, and plates. Among the cargo were elephant ivory tusks, indicating Phoenician trade connections with regions where elephants were native. Additionally, the discovery of tin ingots, copper ingots, and galena nuggets suggests the ship's involvement in long-distance trade networks. The cargo also contained pine cones, double-sided wooden combs, amber nodules from the Baltic, and various raw materials such as timber and resin. Provisions and personal items of the crew were also recovered from the wreck, such as a gaming piece, a whetstone with Phoenician graffiti, and nuts and seeds. The Bajo de la Campana shipwreck belonged to Phoenician traders from the Eastern Mediterranean.^[2]