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ARCHIVED - Project begins to convert Isla Plana ruins into visitable archaeological attraction
The Baños de la Marrana has lain in ruins for years and Los Tinteros requires further work to make them both more attractive for visitors
Isla Plana lies within the Cartagena municipality close to the border with Mazarrón and although best-known for its fishing tradition and attractive beaches, also contains some interesting reminders of other natural resources which caught the attention of former inhabitants; its thermal waters and mined minerals.
Remains of both activities can be found within a few metres of each other close to the little white church which stands above the rocky coastline and is the start point for one of the most popular coastal walks in the area, running from the white church of Isla Plana, following a coastal path to the white church of La Azohía.
The Baños de la Marrana date back to the 18th century when hot mineral waters were discovered, bubbling up from the ground below just a few metres from the sea.
The construction we see today has a communal bath, a room for the boiler, small rooms with individual bathtubs and a series of galleries that communicated with the springs, from where the water was raised with a wheel.
The windows all look out over the sea, but due to the constant vandalism of the site, the windows and entrance to the barrel-vaulted central room have been boarded up as over the years the building has been defaced with graffiti and used as a public toilet and drinking point by generations of teenagers.
There are a number of questions to be resolved about how much of the structure which currently exists is original and when it was modified during the period in which the baths were in use, and of course, the question of to what degree the Romans, who were highly adept at the exploitation of thermal waters, had used the spring themselves.
Certainly the main bathing pool had a former life and has been re-used by the builders of the current structure.
This second archaeological site is known as The Los Tinteros and covers an area of approximately 15,000 square metres next to the Thermal Baths and Isla Plana Church.
This site was discovered during works to construct apartments and was an industrial complex, which would have reached its peak of activity between the 1st century BC and the second century AD.
There are a large number of structures corresponding to walls, pipes, possible pools or sinks and furnaces, probably for smelting iron ore. According to the ceramic material found on the site, it is clear that this is an enclave with a long use for industrial purposes, linked to fisheries, with iron metallurgy in connection with nearby mineral deposits and most likely with the thermal water deposits of the Baños de la Marrana.
The Romans are known to have produced fish sauces along this coastline which were exported across their sprawling Empire, nearby Mazarrón being the site of other fish sauce production sites and were also heavily involved in mining, smelting and mineral exportatation. The vast mines in the Sierra Minera near to Cartagena, which was the principal city in this area, are believed to have contained up to 25,000 slaves during their principal years of production and mines in the mountain areas behind isla Plana were also exploited by the Romans, as were the mines in Mazarrón.
Although the ruins which can be seen today give little indication of how substantial the production site was, this was certainly a major industrial site during this period of occupation.
The council has now awarded the contract for the the drafting of the project to adapt the archaeological sites and enhance them in order to turn them into a more impactful tourist and cultural attraction, which can be used to draw more visitors, and hopefully more revenue for local bars and restaurants, to the area.
The successful tenderer, José Ángel Ojaos, has four months in which to prepare and present, the project, following which the contract to carry out the work will be awarded, ending years of neglect and indecision and finally giving new life to the abandoned buildings.
Images: Ayto.Cartagena
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