What started as a routine dive by two lovers of diving in Dénia waters ended with an incredible archaeological find. At the beginning of April, Rafael Martos and Javier Reyes were practicing diving at the Playa de Marines, at a shallow depth and near the coast. It was then that they came across what appeared to be the structure of a boat and three ceramic pieces.
The protagonists of this story warned the Archaeological Museum of the discovery, providing the objects, images and a video. All this has shed light on the architectural details of the nave, like frames assembled to a fragment of the hull of the nave and a long piece of wood. The images, the characteristics of the pieces, as well as limited written sources on shipwrecks, have allowed the experts to recognize that this is the Derelicte Martos, a ship that happened between 1375 and 1400, time of remarkable activity and strength in the port of Dénia.
For Josep V.Lerma, archaeologist and expert in ceramics, "the pieces are very important references to obtain chronologies". From his morpho-technological and iconographic analysis, the concrete medieval attribution and probable belonging to the shipwreck of a ship in transit in the waters of Dénia are revealed.
As detailed, the first piece is a bowl of green and manganese of simple composition, with radial decoration, Schematic paternal, because it is a typical production of the Mudejar pots of Paterna and that served to deposit liquid foods.
The second is a green glazed ceramic jug, with a molded high foot, a trefoil mouth with a beak and a handle, which continued to be produced and mentioned as pitxers in the archival documentation during the Late Middle Ages.
The third piece is a fairing plate of green glazed ceramic, whose original prototypes are among the monochrome ataifores of the Almohad period.
For the municipal archaeologist, Josep GisbertIt is certainly "relevant and exceptional to find evidence of a wreck sunk with artifacts that allow its chronological ascription to the Middle Ages".
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