THE BELGIAN EXPLORERS
In the 1880s, two Belgian mining engineers (see Fact II) and amateur archaeologists, brothers Henri and Louis Siret, started to excavate at Los Millares, a Copper Age site just outside the city. Their finds - ceramics, tools, jewellery - are now displayed in a cutting-edge new archaeological museum, with an area dedicated to the Sirets, who funded all their excavation work themselves.
Los Millares is now one of Spain's most important archaeological sites, dating from 2700BC. You can see a reconstruction of the 47-acre prehistoric settlement, including four sets of defensive walls with towers, circular stone dwellings for its 2,000 inhabitants, a foundry and a necropolis (cemetery) with over 100 tombs. The site itself is also open to visitors.
- Fact 1 - In the 1880s, two Belgian engineers discovered the largest Copper Age settlement in Europe, just outside Almeria
- Fact 2 - Almeria is rich in minerals, which brought new wealth and revived the city´s fortunes in the 19th and early 20th centuries
- Fact 3 - John Lennon sojourned in Almeria - and wrote one of his most heartfelt, personal songs here
- Fact 4 - In Arab times, Almeria was the richest and most important port in Andalucia
- Fact 5 - La Chanca is the Sacromonte of Almeria, but without the cheesy flamenco tablaos
