Santander, February 19th-22nd 2008 - Aranzadi

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EDUARDO MESA, JUAN C. HERNÁNDEZ, JOSE F. NAVARRO & GUSTAVO GONZÁLEZ
Pre-European people of the Canary Islands
came from the North of Africa; probably the first
arrival was around 500 B.C. Many authors
(Navarro 2001) believe that possibly there were
several waves of settlers. These groups, known as
Berbers or Amazhigues, based their economy on
livestock; gathering and agriculture were less
important. At the end of the 13 th century the
islands were “discovered” by the European
nations, who began their expansion into the
Atlantic. The period of the conquest of the archipelago,
carried out as private enterprise –as in the
case of La Gomera– or by the crown of Castilla,
took place during the 15 th century and produced
the destruction of the islanders´ social and political
structure, causing deep changes and ending the
historical phase known as the “Prehistory” of the
Canaries.
The steep topography of La Gomera, its isolation,
and the scarce funding for scientific research
in the Canary Islands have produced only a small
number of archaeological studies. However, surveys
of the archaeological shell middens have
been of some importance (Mesa 2006). J.
Bethencourt (1882) studied and described the
large shell midden of Playa del Inglés in Valle
Gran Rey, and later L. Diego (1953) excavated
one at Puntallana. P. Acosta, M. Hernández and
J. F. Navarro excavated another two shell middens
in 1974 in Arguamul (Acosta et al. 1975–76)
(Fig.1). Navarro carried out research between
1974 and 1975, recording the main part of the
shell middens located on the island (Navarro
1975). Recently surveys have been done in the
most important concentration of shell middens
located in the Natural Protected Area of
Puntallana (Navarro 1999).
Figure 1. Stratigraphy of the shell midden nº1 of Arguamul (Vallehermoso).
2. THE PROJECT “SURFACE STUDY OF THE
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SHELL MIDDENS OF LA
GOMERA (2006-2008)”
The shell middens constitute by their location,
morphology, and nature one of the most homogenous
archaeological units to be found throughout
the entire island. The homogeneity is very clear in
their boundaries, which are easily established,
and the scarce biodiversity of materials found in
them, if we compare these shell middens with
others elsewhere in the Canary Islands. This type
of site has been investigated, sporadically, since
the 19 th century.
We have performed this project, but all the
information collected has not yet been processed.
Therefore, this papel gives a preliminary report
about the state of research into shell middens on
La Gomera island.
We believe that in the archaeological research on
the island, the “surface” and monographic study of
the shell middens could be highly profitable, bearing
in mind variables such as invested costs/energy and
the potential quality of the conclusions to be obtained.
Moreover, the project would allow us to raise points of
debate on what is already “known” about the
archaeological shell middens of La Gomera, both historical
and prehistoric, and what is more we would try
to set up an island register dealing with the state of
conservation of the same. On a more interpretative
front, hypotheses could be established about the
socio-economic models/guidelines followed by the
island inhabitants as far as the exploitation of the
shellfish resource is concerned.
Therefore, the objectives of the project have
been to:
1). Establish the different categories of shell and to
prepare a complete inventory overall the island.
2). Understand the characteristics of prehistoric
shellfish gathering and its territorial patterns.
3). Establish guidelines for further research.
Our project has three categories of analysis
with different methodologies of study:
a) Territory: the island as a whole. We use
information provided from previous research projects,
such as the Archaeological Inventory
(1995-96) and the Bachelor´s Degree essay of J.
F. Navarro (1975). The data were complemented
by the work done in the context of this project.
The study of archaeological remains offers multiple
possibilities for establishing hypotheses of
interpretation and planning future investigations
to obtain answers about specific questions.
MUNIBE Suplemento - Gehigarria 31, 2010
S.C. Aranzadi. Z.E. Donostia/San Sebastián