Eloy Vera |
Puerto del Rosario (Fuerteventura) (EFE) of the nice ones
It will be archeology that will clarify if it is just cattle feces or a piece of soil created on purpose to condition the habitat, with a technique similar to those in North Africa.
Archaeologists and researchers from the Department of Geography and History of the University of La Laguna Paloma Vidal and Salvador Pardo arrived at the Tejate site with some objectives noted in the field notebook. The main one was to obtain paleoenvironmental data and archaeobotanical remains such as seeds and charcoal.
The intention was to be able to compare the Tejate findings with what was found in the nearby Villaverde cave, an oasis for Canarian archaeologists where, among other things, it has been possible to clear up the doubts about the use of agriculture in the aboriginal period thanks to the discovery of a few seeds of barley, lentils and wheat.
“The Villaverde cave, excavated by Rosa López and her team, are providing very interesting data from the point of view of the vegetation, about the landscape that existed at that time and the use that its inhabitants gave to the plants, but it is something punctual on the map of the island”, Paloma Vidal told EFE days after leaving the field monkey to lock herself in the laboratory of the University of La Laguna.
A context for the Villaverde cave
“We need to obtain more data from other points in Fuerteventura and the Tejate site, being a place close to the Villaverde cave, was an important element,” he clarifies.
Vidal directs the project “Use and management of woody resources during the pre-Hispanic and colonial period in the Canary Islands: adaptation and human impact in insular environments”, an initiative with funds from the Ministry of Science and Innovation, which seeks answers to the use of plant resources between the aboriginal societies of the islands.
The research scope is focused on Gran Canaria, Tenerife and Fuerteventura. In the case of the latter, it had several points noted on the insular archaeological map, including a volcanic tube in the Tejate site.
Tejate is located on the limits of the Malpaís de la Arena, one of the important lava fields of Fuerteventura where, thanks to inventories and archaeological maps, it is known that it is full of deposits, but where systematic excavations have not yet taken place that allow locate the aboriginal settlements in time.
The archaeologist explains that another of the objectives of the excavation was “to obtain a series of Carbon 14 dates to be able, at least, to place in time the occupation of the site and the housing structures or animal stables that are located inside of the tube”.
A technique for conditioning a rocky soil
After days of digging, Vidal, Prado and the team from Arenisca, a Majorera company led by the archaeologist and specialist in the culture of the Majos Rosa López, found a packet of sediment that has led them to open new lines of investigation.
Underground, the team of archaeologists found remains that they had not expected to find in the field notebook: a package of compact earth in contact with the rock of the soil, made up of plant and herbaceous elements, some type of mud or animal excrement.
“We don’t know if it could be the ovicaprids’ own droppings, with food remains, and that when they stepped on the ground this compact sediment would result, which would indicate that we are in front of a stable space for the goats or pieces of the first floor prepared to adapt the rock and be able to inhabit the volcanic tube”, explains Paloma Vidal.
The sample has already been sent to the laboratory in search of a Carbon 14 dating and on that date to propose the analysis of the material. While the results arrive, the archaeobotany specialist clarifies that this practice is ethnographically documented in North Africa.
“It is known that this type of paste is made to prepare a soil and make it habitable, but what we don’t know is if it was made in Fuerteventura,” he explains.
If its practice in Tejate is confirmed, it would be the first place on the island where it is documented. “In other Canary Islands deposits it has been observed, but it has not been studied in depth nor have studies been published to date”, he indicates.
One of the key questions that awaits an answer is the use that was given to the volcanic tube. The excavation brought to light abundant aboriginal remains such as malacofauna, ovicaprine remains, lithic material and ceramics, but no remains of popular or colonial ceramics inside the tube.
Was it a stable or a domestic room?
According to the archaeologist, “the sedimentary strength and the distribution of the materials indicate that we are dealing with a specific use of the volcanic tube, not prolonged in time.”
One of the questions that the researchers ask is whether the tube was an enclosure intended for the stabling of cattle or if it came to function as a domestic space. Inside, basalt blocks have appeared placed in the form of dependencies.
The discovery of mollusc shells and ceramics makes the balance lean more towards the hypothesis that it is a domestic space. “In a place dedicated exclusively to stabling, it is difficult to find lithic remains, malacofauna or ceramics,” Vidal clarifies. Or it may, he launches the theory, that “it had different functionalities at different times.” Carbon 14 will give the answer.
Likewise, the sediments found will be washed with the sediment flotation technique in search of coals and seeds.
The excavation will also allow a first approach to the way of life of the majos in the malpaíses. Paloma Vidal points out that the aboriginal settlement model in malpaís is “still little studied”, since “the dominant settlement model in Fuerteventura is the habitat in ravines close to water and fertile areas”.
“It has always been considered that the malpaíses had an almost exclusive purpose, aimed at livestock, taking advantage of the forage species that grow among the humidity of the volcanic zones, but no settlement has really been systematically excavated,” he points out.
The researcher explains that, thanks to written sources from around the time of the Conquest, it is known that the volcanic tubes “were occupied by the aboriginal population in moments of instability”, for which reason “another of Tejate’s objectives has been to begin to investigate those spaces. EFE