Los Toscanos is the site of one of the earliest Phoenician settlements in Spain — a trading post established in the 8th century BCE at what was then the mouth of the Vélez river, just west of Torre del Mar. The Phoenicians came from the Levant to trade silver from the Spanish interior, and Los Toscanos was part of a network of coastal stations supporting the mines of Tartessos. Excavations have revealed warehouses, pottery from across the Mediterranean, and evidence of metalworking.
The site is not extensively marked for visitors — it sits in agricultural land on the western edge of Torre del Mar — but the finds are displayed in the Archaeological Museum in Málaga, and the site itself is listed as a Bien de Interés Cultural. A small interpretive panel marks the location. Worth a look if you are interested in pre-Roman Iberia; the Phoenician presence on this coast was the foundation of the region's first urban culture.