Almuñécar began as a Phoenician colony named Sexi, and even today, some of its inhabitants still call themselves Sexitanos. Under the Moors, Almuñécar blossomed as the fishing town of Al-Munakkab or HiSn-al-Munakkab Although the Phoenician and Roman history of the district was known from Greek and Roman sources it was not until the 1950s that significant archaeological evidence was discovered.
Phoenician
The Phoenicians first established a colony in Almuñécar in about 800 BC and this developed for six hundred years into an important port and town with the name of Ex orSexi and with a large fish salting and curing industry that was a major supplier ofGreece and Rome. They also supplied a prized fish paste called 'garum' made from the roe and liver of mackerel and tuna by a process of fermentation. Archaeological evidence comes chiefly from Phoenician cemeteries, the earlier Laurita necropolis on the hillside at Cerro San Cristobal and the later necropolis at Punte de Noy. An extensive collection of Phoenician grave goods and other artifacts is on display in the town museum located at the castle of San Miguel and in the 'Cueva de Siete Palacios'.
Roman
The Romans came to Southern Spain at the time of the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage in 218 BC as part of the process of subduing the Phoenician settlements along the coast. During 700 years of Roman colonial rule the town and its industry prospered and in 49 BC the municipality (one of 20 cities in Spain honoured at that time) was given the title Firmium Julium Sexi in recognition of the town's loyalty to Rome.
Major evidence of the fish salting and curing industry was uncovered during excavations in the 1970s and 1980s in the extensive Majuelo Botanical Gardens. This revealed the great extent of the rebuilding and modernising of the industry under Roman influence. A segment of the site
