ARCHIVED - Roman ruins spruced up in Puerto de Mazarrón after the gota fría storm

Weeds and undergrowth had partly covered the 2,000-year-old remains in the town and in El Alamillo

The Town Hall of Mazarrón is continuing its very visible policy of protecting the historical heritage of the municipality, and following the heavy rain which fell in the the gota fría storm a month ago, the Roman house in Calle de la Era and the Roman villa in El Alamillo have both received care and attention to maintain them in the best possible condition.

Both sites had already been cleaned up and restored prior to the storm, but after the rain weeds and plants had grown rapidly and threatened to partly obscure the 2,000-year-old remains again. Aware that any commitment to preserving heritage of this kind must be constantly maintained if it is to be successful, though, the council has quickly intervened to ensure that both sites are spick and span as visitors continue to visit the beaches of Puerto de Mazarrón in the fine October weather.

The remains of the villa in El Alamillo, which dates from the 1^st century BC, can be broadly divided into two parts: a residential area containing thermal baths and a zone which was devoted to the salting of fish and the production of “garum”, a fish sauce which was highly prized in the Roman Empire and which was exported all over southern Europe from Mazarrón and other locations on the Murcia coastline.

The villa is just part of a collection of Roman ruins which were found in the area of El Alamillo in the 1980s and 90s, including an aqueduct and more remains at the other end of the Alamillo beach.

Both this and the urban house in Puerto de Mazarrón reflect the fact that the town was once an important Roman settlement, as evidenced by the museum which has been built to house the fish salting factory in the centre of Puerto de Mazarrón.

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