The General Directorate of Cultural Heritage, through the Canarian Institute for Cultural Development (ICDC), has confirmed in a study the existence of an area of guanche production of rotary mills in the south of Tenerifeoutside the area of Las Cañadas del Teide.
The investigation, carried out by Prored, has located, documented and analyzed a quarry-workshop of circular mills, an indication that Guanche agricultural activity could have been more important and extended in the insular territory of what has been admitted to date, has reported this Monday Cultural heritage it’s a statement.
The archaeological zone is made up of raw material supply structures and areaswith remains that represent different phases of the operational chain linked to the elaboration of grinding pieces in vacuolar rock.
There has also been the first archaeological excavation phase in a surface structure or habitat in a Guanche hut.
In the south of Tenerife there have been few interventions in this type of depositsin such a way that the lack of data makes it difficult to carry out in-depth comparative analyzes and to broadly understand the Guanche settlement model in the area, which goes beyond the cave habitat.
First off Mount Teide
According to the general director of Cultural Heritage, Nona Perera, this is the only documented quarry-workshop outside the high mountains of Tenerife.
“The archaeological excavation of one of the housing structures in this important southern area will allow us to better analyze the Guanche villagesthe model of occupation and mobility in the territory”, as well as the social and economic changes that took place in the Guanche society before the conquest of Tenerife, he points out.
The data has been collected in parchaeological surveys and interventions carried out in 2004, 2008 and 2018, and thirteen abandoned grinding elements have been located in different stages of production.
There are also structures associated with this activity, workshops in a very poor state of conservation due to the alterations that this territory has had. They have also been located various large format compact rock instrumentsrelated to the work of hand mills.
These instruments, classified as peaks due to their morphology, indicate that this area was not only associated with the capture of resources but also with the work of vesicular or porous rocks and, therefore, it would be a quarry-workshop areavery similar to those described for the Cañadas del Teide in the context of the projects directed by Matilde Arnay de la Rosa, from the University of La Laguna.
Tools associated with housing contexts, attached to daily or domestic activities, from the excavation of a structure or cabin near the quarry.
It is thought that there was a high human occupation in this area, something that seems to corroborate the existence of some deposits registered in the environment, such as caves, cabins or rock art.
In this study, the X-ray fluorescence analysiswhich has allowed to know the chemical composition of the raw material of several volcanic cones in the area of Las Cañadas del Teide and Los Riscos de Ifara.
The comparison of the results allows establishing mobility patterns between different geographical areas and types of settlements.
Until now, the vision that was had of the role of agriculture within the guanche economy It was of a complementary nature with respect to the grazing of small cattle, considered the main productive activity in the insular context.
The documentation reveals very little information about Guanche agriculture, indicating that the preference for cultivation was in the mid-altitude, mid-altitude areas or even close to the summit, where the moisture uptake was sufficient. The degree and forms of integration of both activities in the territory are still not known exactly.
