Acinipo stands on the mesa known as Ronda la Vieja, in the uplands of Málaga province. The Andalusian government describes a limestone plateau reaching about 999 metres, with wide views toward the provinces of Málaga, Cádiz and Seville. From this elevated position, the settlement overlooked routes between the Guadalhorce and Guadalete river basins. The landscape is not a backdrop added to the ruins: its defensible height, water sources and nearby mineral resources help explain why people occupied this place for thousands of years.
Archaeological evidence cited by the regional heritage authority reaches back to the Copper Age, around the third millennium BCE. The plateau later came into contact with Phoenician communities on the Málaga coast, was abandoned near the end of the seventh century BCE and was occupied again during the Iberian period from about the fifth century BCE. These layers caution against describing Acinipo as a city that began fully formed under Rome. Its Roman phase emerged from an older and changing settlement.
