ABORIGINAL CAVE PAINTINGS

Cristina Cerdeña Braga

Melania Brito Clavijo

Who were the guanches?

Guanches is the general name used for the people from the Canary Islands in the Prehistory, although they have a different name in each island. Their origins came from the north of Africa.

The different techniques

Guanches paintings are cave ilustrations made directly on the walls or on the rocks in the open air. They used different techniques to do it:

-Scraping the wall with sharp stones.

-Banging with other resistant stones.

-Polishing rocks.

-Scratching with deep lines and differents drawings.

Beliefs

They did not know the metal material.

Their pictures had a special religious value. They asked for help to their Gods in order to have a good hunting, rain or to thank for something, etc.

Classification

Aboriginal pictures are categorized as geometric, figurative and letters.

Geometrics:

These are lines, circles, spirals…The most famous are situated in La Palma.

Figurative: They draw people, animals (fish, lizards, horses and bulls),

boats, human feet, crosses. They had a meaning. Highlighted are those in the Balos ravine in Gran Canaria.

Letter:They could draw alphabetic signs in Berber and Roman language. They are to be seen at all the islands.

Tindaya’s mountain

This mountain, located in Fuerteventura, was a sacred place for the Canary aborigines. Here you can find more than 200 human feet’s pictures (“podomorfos”), which

were made for the worship of the rain and pasture.