SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Dec. 20 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Department of Geography and History of the University of La Laguna (ULL) preserves numerous materials recovered from archaeological excavations carried out in the Archipelago at the end of the 20th century. In the past, these vestiges were deposited in the Canarian universities because at that time not all the islands had archaeological museums or conditioned spaces that allowed them to study, preserve and properly guard these elements.
Faced with this situation, the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage works together with the University of La Laguna (ULL) to return these archaeological materials to their islands of origin, beginning with the collection of the Town of Guinea (La Frontera) that is being inventoried by the Arqueometra company with the latest techniques and methods for its future transfer to the new Archaeological Museum of El Hierro.
“With this action we continue to get closer to a situation of cultural heritage that we want, that the archaeological pieces are found on the island from which they come,” declared the general director of Cultural Heritage, Nona Perera. To ensure the materials during their transfer and their subsequent storage at their final destination, “the essential preventive conservation measures will be implemented, as well as the recommendations for storage, packaging and labels included in the action protocol presented in the previous project”, advancement.
Last year’s action consisted of carrying out the first diagnosis of the state of conservation and maintenance of the archaeological funds located in the ULL Prehistory warehouse, designing and implementing preventive conservation measures in a large part of the collections. Finally, a database was created to improve the management and adaptation of these assets.
TOWN OF GUINEA
For decades work has been done in Guinea, “either recovering the architectural constructions after the conquest and the subjugation of the natural population, or working in the subsoil developing archaeological activities,” explained the general director of Cultural Heritage. It is an enclave that has significantly expanded knowledge about the history of El Hierro, “but it is true that most of the materials deposited in the ULL have not been studied,” she said.
This collection includes almost ten years of archaeological excavations carried out between the eighties and nineties of the last century, mainly by the archaeologist and professor María de la Cruz Jiménez. In fact, the fund was made up of more than 160 cardboard boxes of various sizes with materials belonging to the lithic industry, ichthyofauna, ceramics, fauna, malacofauna, among others.
The Village of Guinea “is a settlement that goes from the indigenous times of El Hierro to the beginning of the 20th century, which is why a very extensive material record is preserved,” said Ithaisa Abreu, archaeologist and coordinator of the project. “The most relevant thing is that the site occupies an extensive study period,” after all, we have material data on “almost all the people who lived there, or at least a large representation of their material culture and what happened there,” he said.
Through this project “the funds are brought up to date,” Abreu stressed, because now the techniques for carrying out inventories have improved, both in registration and in conservation. So the work is focused on updating and adapting this collection, “the registration data of the excavations that appear in the old files are collected and they are adapted to the new technologies,” he explained.
When the inventory of the materials in the database by nature and in chronological order of the units or stratigraphic levels is completed and the complete labeling, packaging and storage in the new containers of the elements is carried out, the General Directorate of Heritage Cultural undertakes to transfer all these funds to their island of origin, El Hierro.
