Cerro del Villar
The ancient settlement of Cerro del Villar was built by Phoenicians around the second quarter of the 8th century BCE on a small sand bar (island) in the wide estuary of the Guadalhorce River. The sand bar is now connected to the southern river bank and alluvial plane. A ground-penetrating radar survey in 2018 has confirmed that the town is intact with its houses and streets.
Due to the low height above mean sea level, the site was been prone to river floodings. In other Phoenician settlement locations on the Andalucia coast such as Cadiz, Almuñecar, or Malaga city, the Romans (and later civilisations settled) on top of the Phoenician remains. However El Cerro del Villar is unique in that after the island was abandoned posible by a tsunami in 584 BCE, no one settled there again and the Phonecian remains have been preserved. An excavation took place in summer of 2022. The site is not open to the public but can be viewed from its perimeter where there are information boards. It is located south-west of the MA-20 ring road on the east bank of the Guadalhorse river estuary south-west of the Malaga Coastal Path. .
Phoenicians
3.000 years ago the Phoenicians landed in Málaga, they called it MALACA (probably from the word malac - to salt) and they used the harbour as an important centre for salting fish. They built the fortress overlooking Málaga - now replaced by the Alcazaba, the interesting archaeological museum housed in the Moorish Castle, beneath this fortress contains Phoenician pottery excavated from the fortress and nearby burial grounds.
