These thousands upon thousands or relics, were uncovered in the 80s and 90s but never fully catalogued. Such was the immensity of the task that it had to be done in three stages, beginning in 2013 and finalising last month.
The items were stored in most cases in plastic fruit boxes and scattered between several municipal buildings, explained the Councillor for Culture, Alberto García Gilabert.
There were 123,333 pieces of pottery, which with stone, metal and stucco artefacts added up to 148,488 labelled pieces now lying in 475 European-standard, specialised boxes. There are also 637 historical photos, explained Councillor Gilarbert
The first stage of the cataloguing was carried out by municipal archaeologists Iván Sánchez Marcos and Eduardo Cabrera Jiménez, (see photo) between October 2013 and June 2015. The dealt with material recovered from the Necrópolis de Puente de Noy in 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984 and 1993), Palacete del Escamado (1985), Calle Morería (1996), Calle Vélez (1997), Callejón del Silencio (1998) and Cueva del Obispo (2001).
The second stage was carried out by archaeologist, Eva Urquieta Castillo between March and August 2015 and working on artefacts recovered from La Alfarería (1995).
The third and final stage lasting from last May until the present day were archaeologists Antonio López Marcos and Francisco Javier Brao González with the collaboration of José López Marcos. They classified material from the Cueva de los Siete Palacios, Factoría de salazones, El Majuelo, Castillo de San Miguel, Calle Real (1983), Plaza de la Constitución (pharmacy and plot, both in 1984), Eras del Castillo (1986), Cine Galiardo (1987), Acueducto (1996, 1999, 2000, y 2001 and Calle Puerta de Granada, 6 (2003)
Almuñécar’s archaeological material was recovered from 33 different sites corresponding to the different civilisations that past its way during its 3,000 years of history.
(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)