The first modern evidence concerning the location of the ancient city came in 1780, when the Count of Lumiares, Antonio Valcárcel Pío de Saboya, suggested that the ruins of "Tossal de Manises" - which he personally had excavated for a number of years — were in fact Lucentum. This contradicted the common wisdom at the time, which held that the Roman city was well outside the town of Alicante. Later, the ruins were excavated by Lafuente and Figueras, who found the more ancient Carthaginian city. In the 1930s they were again excavated by a Professor Belda, around which time a necropolis was discovered during road construction.