The city that surfaced under Plaza de las Flores

Istibuna is the name of the Islamic medina beneath Estepona's old town; the municipal Archaeological Museum devotes its own room to it. Between 2013 and 2016, urban excavations around Plaza de las Flores uncovered a previously unknown Andalusian suburb, with houses and two craft installations: a leather tannery from the Almohad period (12th-13th centuries) and a pottery kiln from the Nasrid period (13th-15th centuries). The find was published in 2020 by a team of five archaeologists. According to the museum itself, the Andalusian city reached its greatest splendour from the 12th century onward. Andalusian rule ended in 1456, when the town passed into Castilian hands.