Pyramids of La Palma
The pyramids of La Palma can be found in different places on the island of La Palma . They are made without mortar piled lava built up step pyramids which have a flat platform at the top, to which goes up a sunken in lava stone staircase.
Occurrence
The "Torre Vandamme" or "El Guincho" in Los Cancajos in the municipality of Breña Baja is located on the steep slope above the resort's resort and near the LP-5 road. With a side length of 26 × 18 meters, the base of the step pyramid forms a pentagon that differs from the trapezoid. The building rises over six terraced steps around 10 to 12 meters high. The staircase on the west side of the pyramid consists of 32 steps, some of which are handcrafted. On the top step are the remains of a tower (hence the name "Torre Vandamme" , which also refers to the previous owner family).
In the municipality of Breña Baja there are two more pyramids, "Polvacera" and "La Rosa" , which are built in six steps and also have a staircase leading to the upper platform on the west side; there, too, the top step is partly table-shaped, with a tower on top.
Another multi-level pyramid is located in the center of El Paso . On the plateau of El Paso, "El Llano de la Pina", a large number of pyramidal piles of stones can be found, which are often also called paredones ("walls"). These heaps are mostly built in a round shape; they also lack a staircase.
In Garafía there are 17 (Lomo de Las Lajitas) and 8 (Llano de Las Ánimas) groups of stone piles, which are provided with geometric rock engravings. Their bottom shapes are either circular, oval, rectangular or square with diameters between 1.5 and a little more than 4 meters.
interpretation
There is no reliable information about the builders and the purpose of the pyramids. One problem is that the age of the stones can be determined, but not when they were put together to form structures. Only in the case of excavations where the age of the ground on which the building was built can be determined, archaeologically reliable age statements can be made.
The question of the origin of the pyramids on the Canary Islands has so far triggered an extensive discussion and has formed two opposing groups.
Archaeological studies of the pyramids of Güímar on Tenerife have shown that their origin can be traced back to the 19th century. Canarian researchers then represent the terraced dry stone buildings on Tenerife as well as on La Palma as the work of Spanish farmers. They would have cleared the fields near the settlement of stones and piled them up to form such pyramidal structures. Figs and other fruits were dried on the structures .
In contrast, various similar structural features of the Canarian pyramids could indicate a pre-Hispanic origin. The special shape of the pyramids, the west-facing stairs and the astronomical orientation of the main pyramid of Güímar towards the summer solstice prompted researchers such as Thor Heyerdahl and Harald Braem to assign the origin of the pyramids to the native inhabitants of the islands, who had built them for cultural purposes .
Proponents of a prehistoric origin of the step pyramids support this assumption with the writing of the Franciscan Fray Juan de Abreu Galindo, "Historia de la Conquista de las Siete Islas de Canaria", from the year 1632, in which the following is said:
- These palm meros worshiped idols, and every prince had a place of worship on his territory. They piled many stones in a pyramid, as high as loose stones can be stacked. They all came to that heap of stones, and there they danced, sang lamentations and fought, but they did not fail to remember that there was someone in heaven to whom they had to pay homage and who, according to their understanding, was in heaven, they called him Abora .
Such cult sites with similar cairns are also known among Berber tribes of the Moroccan High Atlas .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Manfred Betzwieser: La Palma: Enigmatic island - Mysterious and unknown discovery , Books on Demand GmbH, ISBN 978-3-738-61562-3 .
- ↑ a b c d Hans-Joachim Ulbrich: Canarian "pyramids" revisited - are they pre Hispanic or recent? , 2016.
- ^ S. Lipps DuMont travel paperback travel guide La Palma DuMont travel publisher, Cologne 2012 ISBN 978-3770173068 (2nd edition), p. 138f.
- ↑ Manfred Betzwieser: La Palma: Enigmatic island - mysterious and unknown discovery , p. 86.
- ↑ a b Los benahoaritas, Arte y cultura material de los aborigenes de La Palma , Universidad Ambiental de La Palma, accessed on January 22, 2019
- ↑ Dominique Görlitz : The Canaries - for a long time the last outpost of the Old World , Atlantis research portal.
- ^ Jan Möckel: The pyramids of Güimar , ISSN 1619-5744.
- ↑ History of the Conquest of the Seven Islands of Gran Canaria Edition: Digital Repository of the Canary Islands , (p. 196)
- ↑ cit. n. Rainer Schuhmann: The pyramids of La Palma