Cenobio de Valerón
Coordinates: 28 ° 8 ′ 20.3 " N , 15 ° 36 ′ 16" W.
The Cenobio de Valerón is an archaeological site on Gran Canaria , in the urban area of Santa María de Guía in the valley of Valerón. It is a common granary of the Canarios (natives of Gran Canaria) , who used it until the Spanish conquest of the islands in the 15th century. Together with the Cueva Pintada in Gáldar , it is one of the landmarks of Gran Canaria.
etymology
The name cenobio (monastery) is based on the romantic notion that virgin priestesses named Harimaguadas housed the children of the nobles there. This idea prevailed until similar systems were found in North Africa in the 20th century and their common purpose was recognized.
description
The common granary “Cenobio de Valerón” comprises 298 compartments with a capacity of one to three square meters on eight floors, which were dug out of the soft volcanic pyroclastic tuff in today's Montaña del Gallego with stone and wooden tools . The easily defendable place, an abri under a natural arched overhang 20 meters high and 27 meters long, as well as the temperature and humidity conditions prevailing there, offered favorable conditions for this purpose.
The caves or storage rooms have different shapes and sizes, are partly connected to each other and are on different levels. Steps dug into the rock suggest that they were provided with stairs or with scaffolding and ropes, of which no archaeological traces remained.
At the openings of the caves, grooves can still be seen in some cases, in which doors were fixed that were made of wood or stone slabs or even just made of soft materials such as fabrics or furs. The remaining gaps had been closed with ash-colored mortar to ensure that the harvest was preserved.
Idols, so-called pintaderas (stamps), ceramics, human bones and ashes were found in the complex, which are believed to belong to the guards of the granary.
Archaeological history
In the first half of the 1940s, Sebastián Jiménez Sánchez, then head of the excavations in the Spanish province of Las Palmas, discovered further internal caves that had been filled in the meantime during cleaning work. When the stairs and the lookout points or platform were built between 1972 and 1973, the archaeological filler material was removed from the caves and used as a substructure for the stairs. As a result, not only the content of the caves was lost, but also the original path dug into the rock by the indigenous people. In addition, the improved accessibility and the lack of fencing resulted in increased visits to the actual facility by visitors, which accelerated the erosion.
Recognition as a monument
The Cenobio de Valerón was declared a Historic Monument by Royal Decree 2.756 / 78 of October 14th and, in the sense of Law 16/85 of June 25th Patrimonio Histórico Español, a Bien de Interés Cultural in the archaeological zone. The plant appears in the inventory of immovable property and in the Cadastre of Natural Resources of the Municipality of Santa María de Guía.
Similar plants
Other facilities of a similar nature on the island are:
- Cuevas del Rey and Roque Bentayga, in Tejeda
- the Cuevas del Pósito , in Temisas, Agüimes
- Cuevas Muchas , in Guayadeque, Ingenio
- Cuevas de las Palomas , in Tabuco, Ingenio
- Cuevas del Draguillo , in El Gamonal, between Telde and Ingenio
- Cueva de la Audiencia , in the complex of Cuatro Puertas , Telde
- El Álamo , in Acusa, Artenara
- Birbique, in Roque Bermejo, Agaete
literature
- Alfredo Mederos Martín, Gabriel Escribano Cobo: Los aborígenes y la prehistoria de Canarias . Centro de la Cultura Popular Canaria, 2002, ISBN 84-7926-382-2 .
Web links
- Homepage of the Cenobio de Valerón ( Memento of 23 August 2014 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mederos Martín et al., P. 72
- ↑ a b c Mederos Martín et al., P. 70
- ↑ El Cenobio ( Memento of August 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive )