Archaeological Heritage of Veneguera

Castillete de Tabaibales

It is located on the right bank of the Perchel ravine, on a trachyphonolite hill that rises about 500 metres above sea level, about 2 kilometres from the coastline. To reach the site by car, you must take the road that connects Mogán with Veneguera, through a private estate, for which you will need to obtain the appropriate permission.

At the top of this elevation are two large circular dwellings, 4 metres in diameter, surrounded by a thick wall of slabs that reaches a height of three metres in some places. At the foot of the wall there were other buildings of a similar type, although in a worse state of preservation, which S. Jiménez Sánchez described in 1946, noting that “at the foot of the outer wall, which gives the building the appearance of an authentic castle, hence the name Los Castilletes, we discovered several remains of other half-ruined dwellings in which not only their floor plan but also their circular walls made of slabs can be clearly seen”.

The excellent finish of the interior of the walls of the rooms is very unusual, with the stones fitting together perfectly, without any gaps. A short distance from the walled enclosure were five burial mounds with a central tower on a circular platform, all made of slabs, and a circular enclosure that has traditionally been interpreted as a tagoror.

The Los Castilletes site has certain characteristics (walls, layout of the buildings, turrets, etc.) that distinguish it from the generic classification of a settlement, or at least from other domestic sites defined in the same terms.

Video courtesy of the El Legado: Culture and Heritage Association

La Cogolla de Veneguera

The archaeological site of ‘La Cogolla de Veneguera’ is located in the highest part of the ravine, approximately 350 metres above sea level, in the place known as ‘La Cogolla’.

It is an aboriginal settlement consisting of at least seven dry stone houses, some of which are badly damaged, making it difficult in some cases to determine the layout and morphology of the structures. In general, they have a circular exterior layout and a cruciform or quadrangular interior, with adjoining rooms. They are distributed upwards along the slope and in some cases the ground has been lowered to attach the walls of the buildings to it. The walls of the structures are mostly in ruins, so that both the interior and exterior of the structures are covered with stones from a collapse.

In the surroundings and inside some of these houses, various archaeological material has been found on the surface, consisting of pottery fragments, various lithic material (a fragment of a circular mill, a fragment of a naviform mortar and obsidian) and malacological material.

Declared a Site of Cultural Interest by the Government of the Canary Islands

La Cañada de La Mar

This site covers a wide strip of land that extends along the left bank of the Barranco de Veneguera, approximately two kilometres from its mouth on the beach of the same name, and climbs up the hillside to Tabaibales, where it covers part of the ridge.

In this area there are various archaeological remains, consisting of a group of dry stone structures of a residential nature distributed at an altitude of between 30 and 75 metres above sea level, close to Veneguera beach. It is currently in a state of ruin as a result of the canalisation works carried out in the ravine. The poor state of conservation of these structures makes it impossible to determine their layout and construction morphology, although it is possible to observe some structures with an apparently cruciform layout and irregular enclosures, the function of which is unknown.

In the surroundings and inside these structures, there is a variety of archaeological material scattered on the surface, consisting of ceramic fragments, some of them painted, obsidian and flint flakes, as well as remains of marine and terrestrial fauna. Above these constructions, at an altitude of around 200 metres, there is a group of enlarged natural caves, which have been reused until relatively recently and still contain archaeological material on the surface. Finally, this archaeological site is completed by various dry stone structures consisting of turrets and stone circles located in the Tabaibales area.

SOURCE: Guide to the Heritage of Gran Canaria. Cabildo de Gran Canaria