There will be grants to allow two or three young archaeologists to come out with us each year to train.” “We also want this to serve as a training ground for young underwater archaeologists from Latin America so that countries don’t find themselves at the mercy of pirates and treasure-hunting companies. “When you have a cargo of such extraordinary riches, you’ve got to be totally transparent about what you’re doing, whether you bring up two tonnes of silver or a single silver spoon,” said Negueruela. The priority from an archaeological point of view is securing the site and carrying out a methodical, exhaustive and transparent excavation. Anything organic is unlikely to have survived four centuries of sitting in saltwater, however. Negueruela said the Juncal was transporting riches beyond silver and gold from the New World, among them cacao, dyes and animal hides. The Juncal is thought to have been carrying between 120 and 150 tonnes of precious materials, dwarfing the 14 tonnes of cargo recovered from another Spanish wreck, the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, in 2007. ![]() “The survivors were also questioned in-depth and their statements help us to reconstruct what happened with quite a high degree of accuracy, so we have a fairly good idea of where the ship sank.” “Because the cargo was so valuable – it was carrying lots of ingots – the authorities had a detailed inventory,” he said. ![]() Negueruela said the team had done its calculations and the chances of finding the ship were looking very promising. The joint project, which comes six years after Spain and Mexico signed a memorandum of understanding over their shared underwater cultural heritage, aims not only to locate and protect the Juncal but also to train a new generation of Latin American underwater archaeologists.ĭr Iván Negueruela, the director of Spain’s National Museum of Underwater Archaeology, has been working closely with Roberto Junco, the deputy director of underwater archaeology at Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History. ![]() It is hoped that the work will be just the beginning of a two-decade-long scientific and cultural collaboration. In May, underwater archaeologists from Spain and Mexico will begin a 10-day search for the Juncal. Of the 300 people onboard, 39 survived by climbing into a small launch. After weathering a fortnight’s storms, cutting the main mast and tossing cannons and other heavy objects overboard in a desperate attempt to lighten the ship, the crew could do no more.
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