The continuous plundering and the archaeological studies carried out in the past have destroyed the secrets of most of the caves that the Guanches inhabited or used as sepulchers. on Tenerife. However, an archaeological survey project in cavities that are very difficult to access, which began in 2017 on the island of The Palmnow opens new possibilities to discover and understand the aboriginal past of Tenerife thanks to climbing. Archaeologist Nuria Álvarez and speleologist Eduardo Díazwith funding from the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage of the Government of the Canary Islands, are working with the hope that these inaccessible caves will help shed light on the life and death of the Guanches.
Nuria Álvarez has a degree in history and a master’s degree in Physical and Forensic Anthropology. Eduardo Díaz is an expert in climbing and caving. Both form a team that complements each other perfectly when the objective is to reach places that have been saved from looting because they are located on inaccessible slopes or ravines. They are the executors of a project sponsored by the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage, which decided to expand the archaeological surveys in the hanging caves from La Palma to Tenerife to “be able to identify, through vertical progression and climbing, the possible uses that the Guanche population gave to cavities that are difficult to access.
sepulchral use
In this first phase Eight cavities have been located, most of them for sepulchral use, in the municipalities of San Cristóbal de La Laguna, El Rosario and Los Realejos». Room caves have also appeared, where the Guanches lived, «despite the fact that in some cases we cannot understand how it is possible that they accessed these places on a regular basis, or simply to use them as tombs, since they had to carry heavy inert bodies. The environment may have changed, due to a landslide that destroyed the access road, or that they were helped by some type of ropes or scaffolding system. That is still a mystery, “acknowledges Nuria Álvarez.
Nona Perera, general director of Cultural Heritage, recently explained that “the study of hanging caves has been extended to Tenerife to have comparative elements, but also with the aim of “obtaining the full compendium and potential of Canarian archeology to be able to plan corrective measures and risk prevention in the most optimal way”. Álvarez adds that this preliminary phase is based on establishing an inventory, with shallow observations, which gives rise to future studies in greater depth: «Our mission is to see and not touch, but in most cases we have been lucky enough to observe, on the surface, the existence of archaeological remains such as pieces of pottery or human remains. We have also been able to find small interior structures made of stones, whose use we still do not know, or walls and shelves that show that some of them were houses.
In 2017 they located the first cave paintings on La Palma in Cueva Tiznada, in El Paso, and they have also found those semicircular stone structures, attached to the walls of these caves, whose usefulness has not yet been defined. “This work raises many more questions than it answers, but we know we can help open up new lines of inquiry that will hopefully help shed more light on our past.” Although they do not carry out invasive actions, this archaeologist recognizes that it could be very useful to analyze some of the human remains found on the surface with carbon 14 in order to establish a chronology of their occupation.
8 Cavities studied
The General Directorate of Cultural Heritage of the Canarian Government extended the study of the hanging caves to eight cavities located in Los Realejos, El Rosario and La Laguna.
40 Observed places
Archaeologist Nuria Álvarez and speleologist Eduardo Díaz have observed some 40 caves since 2017, most of them on the island of La Palma, where the project began.
The caves of Becerril
His work in Tenerife, which began in December, resorted to oral and written sources to venture into some inaccessible caves on the island, such as those located in Becerril, in La Laguna. “Initially we did not know if we would find something or not, but the reality is that in practically all the chosen places we have appreciated the existence of remains that will have to be studied in depth,” he points out. The amount of pending work is enormous and it will take years to be able to study all the hanging caves that the Guanches could have used centuries ago.
This inventory, which they hope to be able to continue soon to be able to extend it to all the municipalities of Tenerife, is only the beginning, but it will serve to point out places of great archaeological interest and warn of the risks they face. For this reason, Álvarez appeals against looting: «It is very important that people understand that the important thing in any find is the context, so taking bones or pottery fragments only contributes to us losing a part of our history”.
