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Caves of Valeron
native name: Cenobio de Valerón ("Monastery of Valeron")
General view of the caves
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Location	Santa María de Guía borough, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands (Spain)
Website	Template:Es Cenobio de Valeron on arqueologiacanaria.com

Valerón’s "monastery" (in Spanish cenobio de Valeron) is an archaeological site on the Spanish island of Grand Canary, in the municipality of Santa Maria de Guia, on Valerón's cliff. It is a large collective granary built and used by the island’s inhabitants until the conquest of the island at the end of the 15th century. Close to Gáldar painted cave, it is one of the emblematic sites of Grand Canary.

Location

It is located 2,000 ft (in direct line) south of the northern coast of the Gran Canary island, on the small GC-291 road, near Las Palmas (23km east) and Agaete (11km south-west) (see § "Access" for more details). Galdar is about 4 km west in direct line.

The place was chosen for its easy-to-dig tuff, for the fact that it is hidden from the sea and for its steep access slope that make good natural defences.

Description

The collective granary known as "cenobio de Valerón" is a complex system of caves on several levels: 298 compartments with surfaces between one and three square meters, distributed on 8 levels.. Altogether with silos, rooms, caves and cavities, there are more than 350 storage places. They were excavated with stone and wood tools in the soft tuff - cemented volcanic tephra - in the north-west face of the mountain known nowadays as Mountain of the Galician (“ Montaña del Gallego ”). The easy defence of the site, the natural shelter offered by a natural arch in the mountain and the conditions of temperature and dampness were making it ideal for its use.

The caves or silos are of varied forms and sizes, communicating somewhat with each other, and they are grouped on several superposed levels. The steps excavated in the rock still exist and they may have been complemented with stairs or scaffoldings and ropes, of which there are no archaeological remains.

The caves were shut with doors made of unknown material, which left traces. These are believed to have been made of wood, stone slabs or soft materials like textile or leather. Their holes, as well as other grooves, were sealed in addition by an ashen mortar. All this aimed at preserving the crops.

Within the site are found idols, paintings, ceramics, human bones and ashes, which are believed to have belonged to those who were guarding the granary.

The sheer size of the caves complex is witness to the importance of agriculture on Gran Canary and of the power of its governing casts.

Origin of the name

The name of “ monastery ” comes from the Roman belief that herein had lived some celibate priestesses called “ harimaguadas ”, with whom young women of noble class came to live until their marriage. The above mentioned vision prevailed up to the 20th century, when Guy Marcy, a French archaeologist, was the first to recognize its real use as being obviously similar to that of other structures of the island and of north Africa. In addition, some of the chronicles mention the practice of preserving the food in crags of difficult access. The North African granaries or agadires often have a common storage area, guarded by the community to which it belongs, with chambers used and maintained by individuals.

Similar structures

Other similar structures on the island are :

• King's caves (Cuevas del Rey) and Roque Bentayga in Tejeda
• Caves of the Granary (cuevas del Pósito) in Temisas, Agüimes
• the numerous caves (Cuevas Muchas) in Guayadeque, Ingenio
• Caves of the doves (Cuevas de las Palomas) in Tabuco, Ingenio
• Caves of the Small Dragon (cuevas del Draguillo) in El Gamonal, between Telde and Ingenio
• Cueva de la Audiencia in the Cuatro Puertas ("Four Doors") complex on Bermeja mountain, Telde
• El Álamo in Acusa, Artenara
• Birbique in Roque Bermejo, Agaete

Protection

Valerón's Monastery was declared Historical Artistic Monument in 1978, by royal decree 2.756/78 of October 14. Due to the current law, 16/85 of June 25 on Historical Spanish Heritage, it became a Property of cultural interest, in the category of Archaeological Zone. The site belongs to the Santa María de Guía’s municipality, being inscribed in the Municipal Inventory of Built Properties (Sp. Inventario Municipal de Bienes Inmuebles), and in the Land registry of Property of urban nature (Sp. Catastro de Bienes de Naturaleza Urbana).

Nowadays the site is open to the public as archaeological park, included in the Network of archaeological parks of Grand Canary (Sp. Red de Parques arqueológicos de Gran Canaria). The latter also includes the archaeological sets of es [Arteara necropolis] in Fataga, El Maipés de Agaete’s necropolis in Agaete, the es [Cats' valley] by Mogán’s beach in Tejeda, Roque Bentayga in Tejeda, Guayadeque's Cliff in Ingenio near Agüimes, the museum and archaeological Park of Cueva Pintada (Painted Cave) in Gáldar, and Cuatro Puertas (Four Doors) in Telde.

Access

The main access to the GC-291 road is immediately east of Albercon de la Virgen, from exit 20 on the 2 x 2 lanes "carretera Variante de Silva" GC-2 road that goes from Agaete (11km north-east) and Las Palmas (23km west); or indirectly from exit 21 (Llano Parra, GC-292, GC-70, Guia, Artenara) of the same GC-2 road. At exit n° 20 on both ways are indicated the Felix Santiago Meliàn factory, the GC-291 and the cenobio de Valeron. The cenobio de Valeron is about 4 km from the GC-2 road exit 20.
The other end of the GC-291 road (eastways) joins again the GC-2 road near San Felipe in the direction of Las Palmas (not that of Agaete), but the traffic cannot exit the GC-2 either way.

See also

Connected articles

• es [Painted Cave, Las Palmas]

Bibliography

• Mederos Martin, Alfredo; Escribano Cobo, Gabriel (2002). Los aborígenes y la prehistoria de Canarias. Centro de la Cultura Popular Canaria. ISBN 84-7926-382-2.

• "Cenobio de Valerón". Retrieved July 15, 2016.

External links

• Official website of Valerón caves
• List of archaeological Heritage sites, Grand Canary
• Cenobio de Valerón caves archaeological site - Gran Canaria. Video detailing the views from outside the caves.

Notes and references

Notes

1. ^ The uTube video Cenobio de Valerón caves archaeological site - Gran Canaria shows in details all that can be seen from outside the caves, including from 1'21 to 1'28 a panoramic view of the surroundings as seen from the entrance of the caves complex ; the sea is not in sight. The beginning of the video shows the surroundings, its steep slopes and difficult access.
2. The cave of the Audience (cueva de la Audiencia), in the Cuatro Puertas complex near Telde, is a cave settlement hewn out of the rock by hand and has been used for various functions such as sleeping quarters, kitchens, silos, granary and others.

References

1. ^ El Cenobio de Valerón on the site of the Unidad de Patrimonio Histórico del Cabildo de Gran Canaria. This page includes a short video showing 2 types of openings on cavities, and how some were hidden from view. It also includes a citation describing this type of caves on the islands at the time of their Spanish conquest.
2. ^ Mederos Martin & al. 2002, p. 70.
3. Cenobio de Valerón, Guia, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands. UTube video of a guided tour in Valeron's caves. At 5'06 is shown an information panel on the site about the discovery of the real use of the caves.
4. Mederos Martin & al. 2002, p. 72.

[[Category:Caves of the Canary Islands|Valeron [[Category:History of the Canary Islands [[Category:Gran Canaria|Valeron [[Category:Show caves in Spain|Valeron [[Category:Archaeological sites in Spain|Valeron [[Category:Prehistoric sites in Spain [[Category:Agricultural buildings in Spain [[Category:Buildings and structures in Gran Canaria [[Category:Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in the Canary Islands [[Category:Visitor attractions in the Canary Islands

Aide-mémoire provisoire

Sp. art. : https://es.wikipedia.org/Cenobio_de_Valer%C3%B3n

http://www.grancanaria.com/patronato_turismo/51981.0.html

http://www.salutilescanaries.com/musees-et-visites-dinteret/gran-canaria/cenobio-de-valeron/ opening times

http://www.grancanaria.com/patronato_turismo/17367.0.html

http://www.arqueologiacanaria.com/Arqueologia_Canaria/Cenobio_de_Valeron.html

http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cenobio-de-valeron

http://archive.archaeology.org/online/features/canary/cenobio.html

http://www.showcaves.com/english/es/caves/Cenobio.html geology

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