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Caves of Valeron
native name: Cenobio de Valerón ("Monastery/convent 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

| subdivision_name = Spain | subdivision_type1 = Autonomous Community | subdivision_name1 = Canary Islands | subdivision_type2 = Province | subdivision_name2 = Las Palmas | subdivision_type3 = Island | subdivision_name3 = Gran Canaria

Valerón’s monastery is an archaeological site located on the 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.

Description

The collective granary known as "cenobio de Valerón" is a complex system of caves on several levels: 298 compartments between one and three square meters, distributed on 8 levels. They were excavated with stone and wood tools in the soft tuff - cemented volcanic tephra - in 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.

Origin of the name

The name of “ monastery ” comes from the Roman belief that herein 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 its real use was recognized as being obviously similar to 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 :

• the King's caves (Cuevas del Rey) and Roque Bentayga, in Tejeda
• Cuevas del Pósito, in Temisas, Agüimes
• Cuevas Muchas, in Guayadeque, Ingenio
• Cuevas de las Palomas, in Tabuco, Ingenio
• Cuevas del Draguillo, in El Gamonal, between Telde and Ingenio
• Cueva de la Audiencia, in the Cuatro Puertas complex, 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 of 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 town hall, being inscribed in the Municipal Inventory of Built Properties, and in the Land registry of Property of urban nature.

Nowadays the site is open to the public as archaeological park, included in the Network of archaeological parks of Grand Canary (Red de Parques arqueológicos de Gran Canaria), composed with the archaeological sets of Arteara's necropolis in Fataga, El Maipés de Agaete’s necropolis in Agaete, the Cañada de Los Gatos 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.

See also

• Museum and archaeological park of Cueva Pintada (Painted Cave)

External links

   Wikimedia Commons holds multimedia content on Valerón monastery

• Official website of Valerón monastery
• List of archaeological Heritage sites, Grand Canary

Notes and references

Notes

References

[[Category:Caves of the Canary Islands|Valeron [[Category:Gran Canaria|Valeron [[Category:Show caves in Spain|Valeron [[Category:Archaeological sites in Spain|Valeron [[Category:Prehistoric sites in Spain

(Aide-mémoire provisoire :)

Check categ "Show caves in Spain"

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9BherUCUBY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BILh5l38_fM

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

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

• User pages with script errors