The Cave of the Guanches, or Archaeological area of the Cave of the Guanches (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

: ''Zona Arqueológica de la Cueva de los Guanches''), is an important

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

located in the north of the island of

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

(

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Characteristics

The protected archaeological environment is in the municipality of

Icod de los Vinos Icod de los Vinos is a municipality in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (province), Santa Cruz de Tenerife on the island of Tenerife, in the Canary Islands (Spain), located in the northwestern part of the island. Inhabitants of Icod are know ...

and revolves around the Cave of the Guanches. This archaeological area is where the earliest

Guanche Guanche may refer to: *Guanches, the indigenous people of the Canary Islands *Guanche language Guanche is an extinct language that was spoken by the Guanches of the Canary Islands until the 16th or 17th century. It died out after the conquest ...

autochthonous settlements on the island of

have been found. It has provided the oldest chronologies of the Canary Islands. These have been dated to the 6th century BCE, according to analysis carried out on ceramics that were found inside. The area was in aboriginal times a village of natural caves and huts (now disappeared), which were located at the top of a cliff, about above sea level. The site is also famous for having found in him a single secondary burial pit. This is considered an exceptional find in the Canary Islands two questions: firstly due to the rare circumstance of a secondary burial and secondly, by their nature individual burial. The oral tradition also points out that the place was the abode of the menceyes of Icod (aboriginal Guanche kings). At the site have been found numerous findings, including: pottery shards made by hand, bone awls, bone remains of caprids, shells of marine mollusks and a human lower jaw. Most of these archeological finds can be found in the

Museo Guanche Museo Guanche is an ethnographic museum in Icod de los Vinos, Tenerife. It is focused on the Guanches The Guanches were the indigenous inhabitants of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean some west of Africa. It is believed that they may ...

in Icod de los Vinos. A small representative sample of artefacts is also in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

.British Museum Collection
/ref> The cave is declared a ''Site of Cultural Interest'' by the Government of the Canary Islands.

References

{{Navbox prehistoric caves Guanche Archaeology of Tenerife Caves of the Canary Islands Archaeological sites in Spain

Characteristics

See also

References