Bajo de la Campana

The submerged rock of La Laja, better known as Bajo de la Campana, is a calcareous formation of about 100 square meters that, from 24 m. of depth that ascends until practically reaching the surface. This has been a real danger for navigation for millennia and has caused many ships to be shipwrecked in its vicinity.

The Bajo de la Campana deposit was discovered in the 1950s, when divers scavenging the seafloor found archaeological remains. In the 1970s, the former Patronage of Underwater Archeology of Cartagena, directed by Julio Mas, carried out several archaeological campaigns that documented the existence of several shipwrecks.

The current archaeological project of Bajo de la Campana began in 2007 until 2011, under the co-direction of Juan Pinedo and Mark Polzer, for the excavation, documentation and study on the east side of the underwater site, leaving thousands of pieces uncovered . To carry it out, the Ministry of Culture signed a collaboration agreement with the Institute of Nautical Archeology (INA) of Texas A & M University.

Most of the parts can be assigned to the cargo of the ship, comprising raw materials as well as goods already manufactured. The bulk of the cargo consists of more than 50 elephant fenders, tin and copper ingots and about one tonne of lead ore. Manufactures consist of amphorae that were likely to carry wine (and other contents), ceramic materials including dishes and bowls, table and kitchen ceramics, jugs, tripod mortars and other luxury objects such as ointment perfumes, decorated ostrich eggshells , handles of ivory for daggers, bronze furniture, as well as other objects that denote prestige and rank.

Studies on this rich and diverse cargo of the Phoenician wreck are now shedding light on different aspects of the colonial and commercial network established by this people in the Western Mediterranean, as well as on the study of interactions between indigenous peoples and merchants and Phoenician settlers. This type of ceramics and objects of luxury appears in burial contexts in both indigenous and Phoenician necropolis, revealing not only the profound cultural transformation of indigenous societies influenced by the Phoenician settlements, but also the impact they exert on the colonizers.

BUENDÍA ORTUÑO, Milagros (2012): «Conservación de marfil de procedencia subacuática», en Actas de las Jornadas de ARQUA 2011. Madrid: Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, pp. 170-177.

— (2016): La conservación del marfil de procedencia subacuática: las defensas de elefante del Bajo de la Campana (San Javier, Murcia) del Museo Nacional de Arqueología Subacuática. Universitat Politècnica de València, Tesis doctoral.

— (2016): «La conservación del marfil de procedencia subacuática: las defensas de elefante del yacimiento del Bajo de la Campana (San Javier, Murcia)», en Un patrimonio para la humanidad. Actas del V Congreso Internacional de Arqueología Subacuática (IKUWA V). Cartagena, 15-18 de octubre de 2014. Madrid: Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, pp. 337-339.

BUENDÍA ORTUÑO, M.; LATORRE, R., y LÓPEZ-ALBORS, O. (2014): «Waterlogged archaeological ivory conservation: elephant tusks from Bajo de la Campana Phoenician shipwreck site, at Museo Nacional de Arqueología Subacuática», The Journal of Plastination, vol. 26, n.º 1, p. 21.

DOMÉNECH-CARBÓ, M.ª T.; BUENDÍA ORTUÑO, M.; PASIES OVIEDO, T, y OSETE CORTINA, L. (2016): «Analytical study of waterlogged ivory from the Bajo de la campana site (Murcia, Spain)», Microchemical Journal, vol. 126, pp. 381-405.

HERRÁEZ MARTÍN, M.ª I. et alii (2014): «Intervenciones de conservación-restauración sobre los marfiles del pecio fenicio del Bajo de la Campana (Cartagena, Murcia)», Informes y trabajos, vol. 10, pp. 129-148.

JONES, Joshua Y. (2012): Phoenician Explanation: Examination of Public Interpretation for the Bajo de la Campana Shipwreck Excavation. Flinders University, South Australia.

MEDEROS MARTÍN, A., y RUIZ CABRERO, L. A. (2004): «El pecio fenicio del Bajo de la Campana (Murcia, España) y el comercio fenicio del marfil norteafricano», Zephyrus. Revista de prehistoria y arqueología, vol. LVII, pp. 263-281.

PINEDO REYES, Juan (2013): «Investigaciones arqueológicas subacuáticas en el Bajo de la Campana 2007-2011. San Javier (Murcia)», en I Congreso de Arqueología Náutica y Subacuática Española, Cartagena 14, 15 y 16 de Marzo de 2013. Edición de Xavier Nieto Prieto, Abraham Ramírez Pernía y Patricia Recio Sánchez. Madrid: Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, pp. 16-25.

PINEDO REYES, J., y POLZER, M. E. (2012): «El yacimiento subacuático del Bajo de la Campana», en Actas de las Jornadas de ARQUA 2011. Madrid: Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, pp. 90-95.

POLZER, Mark E. (2008): «Bajo de la Campana Phoenician Shipwreck Excavation», The INA Quarterly. Magazine of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, vol. 35, n.º 3-4, p. 14.

— (2009): «Hard rocks, heavy metals. A report from Bajo de la Campana», The INA Quarterly. Magazine of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, vol. 36, n.º 3, p. 10.

— (2011): «Phoenician finale: The Claude & Barbara Duthuit Expedition to Bajo de la Campana», The INA Quarterly. Magazine of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, vol. 38, n.º 1-2, pp. 16-19.

— (2012): «Iron Age Phoenician shipwreck excavation at Bajo de la Campana, Spain: preliminary report from the field», en Between continents. Proceedings of the Twelfth Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology, Istambul 2009. Edición de Nergis Günsenin. Istambul: Ege Yayinlari, pp. 27-36.

— (2014): «Strategies for Underwater Cultural heritage: The Case for the Bajo de la Campana Phoenician shipwreck», en La fragata Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes. Patrimonio subacuático recuperado

— (2014): «The Bajo de la Campana Shipwreck and Colonial Trade in Phoenician Spain», en Assyria to Iberia at the dawn of the Classical Age. Edición de Joan Aruz, Sarah B. Graff y Yelena Rakic. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 230-242.

POLZER, M. E., y CASABÁN, J. L. (2012): «Mapping the shipwreck site at Bajo de la Campana», The INA Quarterly. Magazine of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, vol. 39, n.º 1-2, pp. 13-17.

POLZER, M. E., y PINEDO REYES, J. (2008): «Phoenicians in the West: the ancient shipwreck site of the Bajo de la Campana, Spain», The INA Annual, 2007, pp. 57-61.

— (2009): «Phoenician rising. Excavation of the Bajo de la Campana Site begins», The INA Annual, 2008, pp. 5-10.

— (2010): «Bajo de la Campana 2009: phoenician shipwreck excavation», The INA Annual, 2009, pp. 3-14.

— (2010): «Bajo de la Campana Phoenician Shipwreck Excavation», The INA Quarterly. Magazine of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, vol. 37, n.º 2-3, p. 20.

— (2011): «Excavating an Iron Age Phoenician Shipwreck at Bajo de la Campana, Spain», en ACUA Underwater Archaeology Proceedings 2011. Edición de Filipe Castro y Lindsey Thomas. Austin: Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology, pp. 84-93.

— (2012): «The final season of the Claude and Barbara Duthuit Expedition to the Bajo de la Campana, Spain. Excavation of a late Seventh-Century B.C.E. Phoenician Shipwreck», The INA Annual, 2011, pp. 6-17.

ROLDÁN BERNAL, B.; MARTÍN CAMINO, M., y PÉREZ BONET, M.ª A. (1995): «El yacimiento submarino del Bajo de la Campana (Cartagena, Murcia). Catálogo y estudio de los materiales arqueológicos», Cuadernos de Arqueología Marítima, vol. 3, pp. 11-61.

ROLDÁN BERNAL, B.; MIÑANO DOMÍNGUEZ, A., y MARTÍN CAMINO, M. (1995): «El yacimiento arqueológico subacuático de “El Bajo de la Campana”», en Actas del XXI Congreso Nacional de Arqueología. Vol. 3. Zaragoza: Gobierno de Aragón, Departamento de Educación y Cultura, pp. 965-974.

WHITE, L.; WILLIS, S., y PUCKETT, N. (2014): «Beginnings and Endings: The 2011 Field Season at Bajo de La Campana, Spain», CMAC News and Reports, vol. 4, n.º 1, pp. pp. 7-8.