Los Millares
Historic siteRailway workers stumbled onto this site by accident in the 1890s while laying track through the Almería hills. What they found predates the Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge’s great phase alike — and 2025 discoveries here strengthened its already-leading claim to being the oldest known city in Spain.
Found by railway workers, dug up by a foreman
Los Millares owes its rediscovery to pure chance. In the 1890s, construction crews laying a railway line between Almería and Linares turned up stone remains on a bluff overlooking the Andarax River — and word reached Belgian-born archaeologist Luis Siret, who sent his foreman, Pedro Flores, to begin formal excavation in 1892. What they gradually uncovered over the following decades turned out to be one of the most significant prehistoric sites anywhere in Europe: a fortified settlement, ringed by four successive lines of stone walls and a dozen outlying forts, built more than five thousand years ago by people who had already mastered agriculture, metalworking and large-scale construction.
Older than the pyramids, Spain’s oldest confirmed city
Radiocarbon dating places Los Millares’s occupation between roughly 3200 and 2200 BC — centuries before Egypt’s Old Kingdom raised its first pyramids, and well before Stonehenge reached its most famous phase. Fresh excavations made public in 2025 pushed the site’s significance further still, uncovering a small gold object — the first confirmed use of gold ever documented here — alongside evidence of remarkably advanced water management. Combined with earlier finds of imported African ivory and genetic studies confirming the population descended from local Neolithic farming communities, researchers now describe Los Millares as the earliest fully organised, hierarchical urban society yet identified on the Iberian Peninsula, reinforcing its long-standing status as a leading candidate for Spain’s oldest city.
A copper-working pioneer
Los Millares helped introduce copper metallurgy to the western Mediterranean, smelting ore from the nearby Sierra de Gádor into tools, weapons and ornaments.
Over 80 domed tombs
Beehive-shaped tholoi tombs held collective burials, grouped by clan, with grave goods including imported ivory and symbolic “oculated” idols.
Five times the average settlement
While most Copper Age communities on the peninsula held around 200 people, Los Millares supported a population several times that size.
Four walls, a dozen forts
The settlement’s defences grew more elaborate over time, eventually including four successive lines of walls and around a dozen advanced outlying forts.
Frequently asked questions
Is Los Millares really older than the pyramids?
Yes — its occupation is dated to roughly 3200–2200 BC, predating Egypt’s Old Kingdom pyramids and Stonehenge’s most famous construction phase.
How was the site discovered?
By accident, when railway construction crews building a line between Almería and Linares in the 1890s uncovered stone remains; formal excavation began in 1892.
Why is it called Spain’s oldest city?
2025 discoveries, including a gold object and evidence of advanced water management, reinforced earlier findings that Los Millares was a fully organised, hierarchical urban society — the earliest yet confirmed on the Iberian Peninsula.
What did the people of Los Millares produce?
They pioneered copper metallurgy in the western Mediterranean, alongside farming, livestock herding and large-scale stone construction.
Explore more of the Costa de Almería
Los Millares is one of many destinations on the CostaMap interactive map — browse beaches, villages, castles and viewpoints across the whole coast.
This place is part of our Costa de Almería Guide: Wild Beaches, Desert and Cabo de Gata — see every town, beach and cove we have mapped on that coast.
How this page is maintained. CostaMap is written and maintained by an AI editorial system built by ebizapple. Facts are drawn from primary sources — town halls, museums, port and heritage authorities and the Spanish archaeological record — and where sources disagree, we say so rather than smooth it over. Photographs marked as ours are taken on location. This page was last reviewed on 10 August 2026. Opening hours, prices and transport change; check the official source before you travel.