Museo y Parque Arqueológico Cueva Pintada

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Coordinates: 28 ° 8 ′ 38.9 ″  N , 15 ° 39 ′ 18.7 ″  W.

Facade of the museum

The Museo y Parque Arqueológico Cueva Pintada was built over an archaeological site. It is located in the village of Gáldar in the northeast of the island of Gran Canaria .

museum

Representation of the wall painting at the end of the 19th century by René Verneau

The museum is located in the historical center of the city of Gáldar. It has the task of protecting the historical sites there, conducting scientific research and communicating the findings to the general public. The facility is named after the Cueva Pintada (painted cave), which was probably created in the 7th century AD by the native inhabitants of the island, the Canarios . This cave was forgotten and buried after the conquest of the Canary Islands in the 15th century. It was only rediscovered in the second half of the 19th century. Its cultural and historical importance was already recognized by foreign experts. It was not until the 1970s that a precise scientific study of the cave began. After the site was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural in 1972 , it was protected against environmental influences that caused damage, among other things, through the irrigation of the surrounding fields. In 1982 access to the cave was closed to the public and in 1987 excavations began in the area. They revealed that the cave was not an isolated object, but part of a prehistoric settlement with more than 50 houses and other caves. To protect the facility, the construction of a newly designed type of museum was started. An area of ​​5700 m 2 was covered. Today visitors have the opportunity to cross and visit the archaeological site on footbridges. Reconstructed aboriginal apartments were set up and exhibition, information and laboratory rooms were created. In 2006 the new museum was opened. It shows objects found on site such as pintaderas , statuettes as well as everyday objects and jewelry made of various materials in separate exhibition rooms .

Cueva Pintada

Due to its size, the Cueva Pintada is the most important cave painting site on the island of Gran Canaria. It was carved into the tufa in the 6th or 7th century AD and was painted in the 12th century. The cave, which continued to be used after the conquest of Gran Canaria in the 15th century and was later buried, was found again in 1873 when the farmland was re-terraced.

The cave is roughly rectangular with sides 4.53 m and 4.26 m. The widths are 5.00 m and 4.90 m. It has a height of 3.22 m. A series of pits about 20 cm deep are set in the floor. Remnants of paintings were found on three sides of the cave. They are arranged in fields that fill the entire width of today's front wall and parts of two other walls. Image areas begin at a height of 1.90 m or 1.75 m above the ground.

Painting on the back wall of the Cueva Pintada

The paintings are three-colored. The pigments used were red chalk and a fine whitish clay . Black was not applied to the area as a pigment. It is the natural color of the ground. Geometric shapes are arranged on the picture surfaces. The most common motif is a square divided into two triangles. The triangles are filled in black and red or black and white and surrounded by a white or red line. The squares are each arranged in several rows and columns. A few larger undivided squares arranged next to one another and one below the other are filled in black and red and outlined in white. Another motif that occurs twice is a white vertical stripe in which a series of red angles appear one below the other. Some red stripes are decorated with white triangles similar to a saw. In some places white circles can be seen on a red surface, in which one or two more circles are arranged concentrically.

settlement

The investigation of the area around the Cueva Pintada began in 1987. It was established that the cave was part of one of the most important settlements of the indigenous people. It existed since the 6th century AD. In an area of ​​more than 6,000 m 2 there are the remains of more than fifty houses and a whole series of caves. According to archaeologists, the ruins that were found represent only a part of the pre-Hispanic place that extended over the entire slope of the Barranco. From written records of the 15th century we know that the Guanarteme , the ruler of the northern part of the island, had his seat in the place called "Agaldar" at that time.

During the excavations in the houses and caves, a large number of everyday household items made of ceramic, stone and bones were found. But also pintaderas and Ídolos . The finds are presented in separate collections in the museum. Together with the rubbish and leftovers of food, the finds provide an insight into the living conditions of the Canarios. This information was used to create a reconstruction of the living conditions of the indigenous people for the visitors. The discovery of coins and ceramics made with a potter's wheel indicate that the settlement was inhabited even after the island was conquered.

literature

  • Carmen Gloria Rodrígez Santana et al .: Cueva Pintada . Ed .: Museo y Parque Arqueológico Cueva Pintada. Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 2007, ISBN 978-84-8103-548-3 (Spanish).
  • Pedro González Quintero: Poblado de la Cueva Pintada . In: Armando del Toro García (ed.): Patrimonio histórico de Canarias, Gran Canaria . tape 3 . Dirección General de Patrimonio Histórico, Viceconsejería de Cultura y Deportes, Consejería de Educación, Cultura y Deportes, Gobierno, Las Palmas 1998, ISBN 84-7947-241-3 , p. 91-93 (Spanish).
  • Dolores Cámalich Massieu: La Cueva Pintada . In: Armando del Toro García (ed.): Patrimonio histórico de Canarias, Gran Canaria . tape 3 . Dirección General de Patrimonio Histórico, Viceconsejería de Cultura y Deportes, Consejería de Educación, Cultura y Deportes, Gobierno, Las Palmas 1998, ISBN 84-7947-241-3 , p. 95-97 (Spanish).
  • Jorge Onrubia Pintado, José Ignacio Sáenz Sagasti, Carmen Gloria Rodrígez Santana: La conservación en la musealización de la Cueva Pintada . Ed .: Departamento de Difusión de la Conserería de Cultura y Patrimonio Histórico y Cultural. Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 2007, ISBN 978-84-8103-534-6 , p. 301 (Spanish, grancanariapatrimonio.com [accessed April 14, 2017]).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Consejería de Turismo, Cultura y Deportes: Cueva Pintada de Gáldar y su entorno. Bienes de Interés Cultural. Gobierno de Canarias, accessed May 26, 2018 (Spanish).
  2. ^ Antonio Tejera Gaspar; José Juan Jiménez González; Jonathan Allen: Las manifestaciones artísticas prehispánicas y su huella . Ed .: Gobierno de Canarias, Consejería de Educación, Universidades, Cultura y Deportes (=  Historia cultural del arte en Canarias ). Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 2008, ISBN 978-84-7947-469-0 , p. 102 (Spanish, mdc.ulpgc.es [accessed June 28, 2016]).
  3. ↑ Jorge Onrubia Pintado, Isidro Moreno Sánchez, Víctor Antona del Val: Proyecto museológico Parque Arqueológico de la Cueva Pintada Gáldar (Gran Canaria) . In: Revista de la Asociación Profesional de Museólogos de España . No. 4 , 1999, ISSN  1136-601X , p. 133–153 (Spanish, dialnet.unirioja.es [accessed April 12, 2017]).
  4. ↑ Carmen Gloria Rodrígez Santana et al .: Cueva Pintada . Ed .: Museo y Parque Arqueológico Cueva Pintada. Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 2007, ISBN 978-84-8103-548-3 , pp. 15th ff . (Spanish).
  5. ↑ António Beltrán Martinez: Cuestiones sobre la Cronología de la Cueva Pintada de Gáldar (Gran Canaria) . In: Zephyrvs . No. 25 , 1974, p. 309 (Spanish, revistas.usal.es [accessed April 12, 2017]).
  6. ↑ Carmen Gloria Rodrígez Santana et al .: Cueva Pintada . Ed .: Museo y Parque Arqueológico Cueva Pintada. Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 2007, ISBN 978-84-8103-548-3 , pp. 28 ff . (Spanish).
  7. ↑ Carmen Gloria Rodrígez Santana et al .: Cueva Pintada . Ed .: Museo y Parque Arqueológico Cueva Pintada. Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 2007, ISBN 978-84-8103-548-3 , pp. 24 (Spanish).
  8. ^ Pedro González Quintero: Poblado de la Cueva Pintada . In: Armando del Toro García (ed.): Patrimonio histórico de Canarias, Gran Canaria . tape 3 . Dirección General de Patrimonio Histórico, Viceconsejería de Cultura y Deportes, Consejería de Educación, Cultura y Deportes, Gobierno, Las Palmas 1998, ISBN 84-7947-241-3 , p. 93 (Spanish).