Cabezo del Castellar Mazarrón

The Cabezo del Castellar looks like an ordinary  rocky outcrop, but is in fact an important archaeological site.

At first sight, this may just look like a rocky outcrop 26 metres high, to the south-west of Puerto de Mazarrón, joined to the mainland by a thin strip of land which divides the two bays of Playa Grande and Playa de Nares.

But in fact, it´s a surprisingly important archaeological site.

The whole outcrop is littered with shards of broken ceramics, important evidence of it´s use and occupation from the time of the Phoenicians who are known to have traded actively along this coastline in the 7th century BC and left behind two sunken boats just a few hundred metres along the coast in the Playa de la Isla ( Click following the Phoenicians in Murcia), through the era of the Iberians which lasted from around 550BC to the 1st century BC ( Click who are the Iberians) the invasion and occupation of the Romans in 209BC , a very important period for Mazarrón, and into the Arab occupation which takes us to the middle of the 13th century.

Although there are pieces of pottery all over the floor on this island from all of these cultures :Phoenicians, Iberians, Moors and a few modern contributions, they are not associated to any tangible archaeological structure, which makes it difficult to interpret them and what part they played in the history of the outcrop, although they do show that these cultures were here and used the island at some point in its history.

Archaeologists believe that the Phoenicians may have been the first to use the hill, it´s height providing a naturally strategic outlook over not only the surrounding seas, but also the mainland countryside stretching out across modern day Mazarrón and the Puerto. The presence of broken ceramic pots suggests that the hill may have been home to a small settlement where ships might have anchored in order to unload cargos for them to be redistributed further inland, and was probably an outpost of the settlement discovered at the other end of the next bay, at the site of Punta de Gavilanes.

The Phoenicians were actively trading along this coastline in around 6-700 BC, and as their influence waned, the Iberians , then the Carthaginians left their ceramic remains on the Cabezo del Castellar.

However, most of the ceramic materials date from the time of Roman occupation, particularly the later years. The Romans invaded Cartagena in 209BC and stayed until the end of the second century AD.

For the Romans the Cabezo del Castellar was a fish salting factory. This has been confirmed by the extensive archaeological digs of the 1980s and the underwater studies carried out by the Museo Nacional de Arqueología Marítima de Cartagena in 1998, which revealed a large amount of ceramic material related to the hill.

Salted fish was one of the most popular foods in Roman times, and was similar to the products which are still made today. The strong taste was used to spice up many dishes, and probably to disguise the state of preservation of some of the food used in preparing meals. Demand was so great that there were factories all along the coastline of Murcia and Andalucía, some very small and others extremely large, to satisfy the requirements of the whole of the Empire. Although it was the Romans who industrialised the process, the Carthaginians had already encouraged production in the 3^rd century BC with a view to large-scale commerce.

Certain types of ceramic product are closely associated to the production of salted fish, such as the spatheia. These were specially produced amphorae, which were closed with cork, mortar or volcanic rock, and it was in these containers that the salted fish was sold. Most of the items found at the Cabezo del Castellar are spatheia, although there are also pieces of crockery (sigillata, from Africa), kitchen ceramics and other types of amphora, most of which were also used to store salted fish.

The most well known salted fish product is Garum sauce, a product which was produced extensively in Mazarrón and which the Romans exported throughout their vast Empire. Mazarrón has a large Roman salt fish factory which was discovered during a residential construction and which is today a museum dedicated to the history of garum production ( Click Salt Fish factory Mazarrón) and there are salting tanks clearly visible at the site of the El Alamillo Roman Villa on the El Alamillo beach ( Click El Alamillo beach).

If you´d like to read some more information about the production of Garum, Click Garum, which explains the whole ( smelly) process.

Physical remains on the Cabezo del Castellar.

Although it´s very difficult to actually see them, there are a number of remains on the Cabezo del Castellar:

Among the Roman remains are fortifications, ovens, rooms, salted fish tanks (two are visible, although only one has been excavated), two rooms, two water tanks, a stairway and what seems to be a small road along which carts would have reached the jetty. A large number of salted fish amphorae and sigillata items have been found.

The remains of the two rooms are on the north of the hill, facing the mainland, and in the north-west is what seems to be a retaining wall for terracing the land, made from stone and mortar and about 60 cm in width. On the western side are the two salted fish tanks, while on the Eastern slopes is a small sink, or basin, measuring 2m x 80cm x 20cm. To the south of this are the ceramic ovens related to the amphorae, and next to them are the water tanks and the stairway, which may have been covered.

At the southern end of the thin strip of land connecting the hill to the mainland are the remains of the wall, fortifications and a tower, as well as what seems to be a mooring area and possibly the track for carts.

There is plenty of parking in the residential streets which back onto the beaches and bays of Playa Grande and Playa de Nares, although it does get busy here in Summer. There are no noticeable tracks leading onto the outcrop, so wear strong and practical shoes and take care when exploring and trying to locate remains, as some of the rock faces are sheer and dangerous. It really is a lump of rock with loose stones and scrub, so take care.