From the Paleolithic to the Late Roman period.
Mazarrón and Mazarrón Port have a rich and varied historical and archaeological heritage, with more than 150 sites which cover from the Paleolithic period to current times.
From the Paleolithic period the most significant sites are the Mousterian habitat of Perneras Cave, or the enclaves of Hoyo de los Pescadores, the Palomarico Cavey and the La Peñica silex workshop in the Cabezo del Faro in Mazarrón Port.
The main remains of the Bronze Age is the fortified dwelling of Cabezo de la Cueva del Plomo, close to Bolnuevo, able to be visited, and where next to the wall and the circular huts, one can contemplate a burial site in tholos.
The Argaric culture, 1700 to 1200 B.C. in the Iberian Peninsular, left us important settlements such as Ifre or Cabezo de las Víboras.
The colonial influence, which throughout the first half of the first millennium before ours gave way to the Iberian culture, has a unique testimony in the world in the at least two Phoenician boats dating from the 7th Century B.C. and sunk in front of the La Isla beach.
Regarding levels of the Final Bronze and Old Iron, an installation for smelting and working silver has been studied, dating back to the 4th-3rd centuries B.C. Archaeology has contributed specific testimonies to activities in the area during the period of the Carthaginian occupation at the end of the 3rd Century at the lower levels of the Villa de Ramón Pérez on Rihuete beach or the Gacha beach factory.
Mining activity, with its origins in the Bronze Age, will have its greatest moment of splendour during the Roman era. Three grand mining reserves stand out, mainly of silver and lead extraction: Coto Fortuna, Coto de San Cristóbal and Los Perules (next to Mazarrón town) and Las Pedreras Viejas. In the Fortuna reserve the SOCIETAS MONTIS ARGENTARI ILVCRO worked, known for the brand in the lead bars which even appeared in the Tiber, next to Rome.
There was dense occupation throughout the municipality of Mazarrón in the Roman era. The most important commercial dock to consider is Mazarrón Port. In the immediate environment once can visit the site from the Republican era of Loma del Alamillo, or the high imperial sites of Villa and Balsa del Alamillo. Of the coastal sites, probably the most known, with an extensive chronology, would be the Cabezo del Castellar, next to Nares beach.