Sines

Sines (ˈsinɨʃ) is a town and a municipality in Portugal. The municipality, divided into two parishes, has around 14,214 inhabitants (2021) in an area of . Sines holds an important oil refinery and several petrochemical industries. It is also a popular beach spot and the main fishing harbor of Alentejo region. The municipality is bordered to the north and east by the municipality of Santiago do Cacém, south by Odemira and west by the Atlantic Ocean. The coastline of the city, south of São Torpes, is part of the Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast Natural Park. Vestiges of a few settlements have today been discovered in archaeological sites, such as Palmeirinha and Quitéria, that attest to the age of human settlements in Sines. Arnaldo Soledade (1981) noted that these Visigoths, identified as Cinetos, may have been the original civilization that gave rise to the community, suggesting the local toponymy may have derived from this; Cinetos, to Cines and, finally, Sines. Although this tribes lineage is not clearly defined, Soledade goes on to refer to the construction of a castro where the current Castle stands. The Punics are thought to have also had a presence in the area; a Punic artifact, the Tesouro do Gaio was unearthed in 1966, and is on display in the Museu de Sines (Sines Museum). Discovered in May 1966, the 'treasure' was unearthed by a local farmer, Francisco da Silva Campos, who was tilling his land to plant corn, and discovered a schist tomb with women's jewellery in his plot of land in Herdade do Gaio (12.5 km southeast of Sines, 7 km from the coast and 275m from Ribeira de Morgavel). Between 1966 and 1967, investigator José Miguel da Costa discovered several of these Punic graves, but all showing evidence of early tomb raiding. While the jewellery was determined to be Punic in origin, the symbolism on the artefacts were characterized as Egyptian. On the island of Pessegueiro, there is also evidence of Ibero-Punic artefacts discovered under the Roman port, discovered by archeologists Carlos Tavares da Silva and Joaquina Soares (1981).