The technical director of Arqueocanaria, Valentín Barroso, ensures that there was no destruction of archaeological sites in the area where the works of the Cuna del Alma tourist complex are being carried out, in El Puertito de Adeje. This company, based in Santa María de Guía (Gran Canaria), is the responsible for the archaeological survey carried out in 2018 and the archaeological excavations carried out in 2019. The reports of both interventions were then sent to the Adeje City Council and the Canary Islands Territory and Environment Planning Commission (Cotmac), for the authorization of the urbanization works. It arrived months later and the Cotmac communicated it to the Consistory Adejero and the Cabildo de Tenerife.
The works have been paralyzed since it was ordered, on December 2, 2022, by the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage of the Canary Islands Government for the discovery of “new cave manifestations”. Previously, on May 31, the Island Territory Planning and Historical Heritage Directorate of the Cabildo de Tenerife applied the first precautionary suspension for the partial destruction of archaeological remains, a measure that it ratified on June 28. The High Inspectorate of the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage verified, during its visit to the area on July 12, the condition of a site “with great potential (PA4).”
According to Valentín Barroso, the engraving that caused the Government of the Canary Islands to stop work “has the size of a matchbox and is located in the center of an area similar to seven football fields, which has always been a protected area”. As detailed in the project, “this area will have a series of pedestrian paths open to public use and, perfectly signposted and preserved, it can be enjoyed by the public, with the engravings perfectly musealized and protected.”
The archaeologist insists that, except for the affectation of a small part of the PA4 site, “no archaeological sites have been destroyed, as has been said without any scientific or documentary basis. Everything else is perfectly preserved: the engravings and the cabins with the associated archaeological material.”
Barroso assures that the archaeological studies in Cuna del Alma “were carried out scrupulously” and that the information has always been available for consultation. He explains that “in September 2018, the promoter delivered to the City Council the report for the Canary Islands Territorial Planning and Environment Commission with all the information on the registered deposits and the proposals for actions to protect each of the elements that were important ». The technical director of Arqueocanaria maintains that “at that time, the Cotmac considered it good and forwarded it to the City Council in October 2018, saying that there is already archaeological prospecting and, consequently, the project can be carried out.”
The expert highlights that “during the archaeological prospecting work, 37 elements were identified, which were completed in 2019 with complementary excavations to clarify the importance and chronology of certain archaeological remains.”
There are three deposits
With regard to cultural heritage, on the land owned by the promoter company, Segunda Casa Adeje, SL, There were three pre-Hispanic sites: one in the lower part, on a promontory near the sea, with the remains of a Guanche cabin that has been very dismantled because it has been used by campers for decades.
The second, located in the middle area of the urbanization, which was destroyed with the construction of a building in the mid-20th century and of which the remains scattered along the hillside are visible, which have been systematically collected by archaeologists to avoid his lost.
In the highest part of the urbanization is the most important and best preserved (called PA4), which indicates a pastoral activity carried out by the aborigines until the conquest of the Island. It has been this site, of almost 2,000 square meters, that was affected “due to an oversight of a driver in a specific area of about 75 square meters.” However, the best preserved part, as well as the remains of two possible cabins, “remain intact and in good condition.” This site, from the outset, was going to be conserved or archaeologically excavated in its entirety.
In his report, he ensures that the few engravings located on the property “have not suffered and will not suffer any damage, since they are in the middle of green areas of special scenic value.” The rest will be preserved with specific modifications of the roads or with systematic collection of those that are loose and displaced from their original place for their musealization. Barroso points out.
During modern times, archeology works show that there were cereal plantations and, at the end of the 19th and 20th centuries, tomato cultivation that contributed to the destruction of the few existing deposits in this space.
