The prehistoric dwellings of El Tendal

In the Barranco de San Juan, in the municipality of San Andrés y Sauces, the caves of El Tendal form one of the most important prehistoric sites of the Benahoaritas. There are approximately 27 cave dwellings distributed on both sides of the Barranco de San Juan in Los Galguitos. The site features a main cave that is about 60 meters wide with excellent conditions for habitation, as well as several settlements of huts, 3 necropolises, and a small station of rupestral engravings.

In the main cave, three clearly differentiated areas can be seen: a right-side shelf used for sleeping, a central area delimited by skins or vegetable fibers for cooking and lithic industry, and a left side that likely functioned as a pantry. El Tendal is the most important aboriginal site on La Palma. Its significance to the island's archaeology is tied to five excavation campaigns between 1981 and 1988, which revealed a stratigraphy of more than 7 meters in thickness and a large amount of materials, including ceramic pieces over 2,000 years old.

Much of the scientific information available about the life and culture of the Benahoaritas comes from this site. These findings allow for a chronology of the prehistoric population of the island in distinct waves. Until the excavations in the 1980s, it was assumed that the Benahoaritas did not know agriculture and relied exclusively on pastoralism, fishing, and gathering. However, remains of beans, wheat, barley, and lentils were found in the caves, disproving ethnohistoric sources and changing the understanding of ancient inhabitants.

El Tendal was eventually abandoned, possibly due to a flood. Pre-Hispanic ceramics from La Palma are classified into four phases based on decoration. The total absence of pieces from phase IV proves that the cave remained abandoned for at least 500 years and was never inhabited by a second wave of settlers. In 2019, the Parque Arqueológico de El Tendal was inaugurated next to the Barranco de San Juan to value the history and pieces found at the site.

This site is one of the three most valuable in La Palma, alongside the Cueva de Belmaco in Mazo and the Parque Cultural Zarza in Garafía.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons