Rock engravings on the island of La Palma

The proposed cultural property is a serial nomination that includes all the rock engraving stations recorded on the island of La Palma (Canary Islands, Spain).

The rock engravings on the island of La Palma —Be­nahoare, in the indigenous language— are one of the most abundant, attractive, and interesting manifestations of La Palma’s pre-Hispanic period, which spanned from its first settling at the beginning of the Common Era until its conquest by the Crown of Castile in 1493; that is, about 1500 years. These original settlers were Amazighs of North African origin who evolved in total isolation, developing their own divergent island culture, with the cave engravings being one of their most unique and exceptional expressions in the context of the prehistory of the islands.

These exceptional engravings were first discovered in 1752 in the Belmaco Cave. Since then, new discoveries have followed one after another, especially from the 1970s onwards, increasing the number of known stations to as many as 520. Both the high number and density of sites are aspects to be regarded as attributes of the nominated property, especially since they are constrained in an island with a territory of 708 km2, out of which some 40 km2 are covered by historical volcanic eruptions. Furthermore, the number keeps increasing constantly with new discoveries, and also because there are areas, mainly in the high moun­tains, where dense shrub vegetation covers large areas in which many rock engravings have remained hidden until, due to fires, firebreaks or land clearance, they have been uncovered.

They are distributed across the island’s orography, from the seashore to the summits. However, there are differences in density according to altitude ranges: whilst they are scar­ce at lower altitudes, their density increases in the midlands (200-500 m above sea level), where most pre-Hispanic human settlements were, and they are still abundant at higher altitudes without stable human settlements, such as laurel forests, pine forests, and high mountain areas, which reach a maximum altitude of 2,400 m above sea level.

On the island, there is a greater abundance in the northern half (Paleopalma) than in the southern one (Neopalma), chiefly because most of the volcanic eruptions over the last 500 years have taken place in the latter, where volcanic cones and lava fields have covered a significant part of the territory. In this northern half of the island, the distribution of rock engraving stations shows differences in density, location, and group size.

There is an outstanding concentration of engravings in three territories. The first one is the northwest sector, which today mainly constitutes the municipality of Garafía, where just over 40 per cent of all the sites as well as some of the most spectacular and complex groups are located, such as La Zarza-La Zarcita, Fuente del Sauce, Calvario de Santo Domingo, or Buracas. The second one is the high mountain that borders the Caldera de Taburiente by the east, where some of the main summer grazing grounds of the indigenous population used to be. A third area with a high concentration of rock engraving stations is the southern slopes of the Caldera de Taburiente, a ridge overlooked by Pico Bejenado.

The size of the rock engraving stations varies. Whereas some have a single panel—an engraved rock surface—the largest (Lomo de Tamarahoya) comprises 135 panels spread over 300 m at the top of an interfluve. In total, 1,855 panels have been registered.

The surfaces on which they were engraved are subre­cent volcanic rocks, mostly basalts but also phonolites, trachytes, tuffs, and others. The predominant supports are escarpments, rock outcrops, loose blocks, isolated or grouped stelae and, less frequently, dykes, rocks and others. These formations are usually located in the upper part of interfluves, ravine slopes, ‘cabocos’—waterfalls in ravines—or on the outside of caves.

Stone tools were used for their execution. In some cases, it was discovered that the motif was first designed by means of a gentle incision or scraping. The engraving was then carried out through direct and indirect percussion, often followed by a process of abrasion to smooth the groove.

The subject matter of the engravings is geometric motifs—spirals, concentric circles and semicircles, mean­driforms and, to a lesser extent, radiating circles, fretwork, arches, ovals, and reticulated or linear traces. They can be simple or highly complex, such as spirals with internal changes of direction, meandriforms with long and intricate paths, among others. It is common to find a combination of motifs, particularly meandriforms ending in spirals, double spirals and twinned spirals. The size of the motifs is usually several tens of centimetres, although some are larger than a metre and, exceptionally, some are barely 6-7 cm.

A significant part of the stations is in areas directly related to indigenous livestock farming—goats, sheep and pigs—such as the summer grazing fields in the high mountains or those in laurel and pine forests. There is a recurring connection between the engravings and old paths, especially those that go from the midlands up to the summit, likely of indigenous origin, which continued to be used by historical shepherds until grazing was banned in forest areas in the mid-20th century. Another connection is with water points, a scarce commodity, particularly springs. Finally, there are engravings in some places where archaeo­logical excavations have shown that livestock were stabled, such as large caves and ‘cabocos’. There is therefore a clear relationship between geometric rock engravings and the pastoral world, although it is not the only one.

The study of the Benahoarite rock engravings inevitably leads us to connect them with many other aspects of the island’s ancient culture. Some are directly linked to other types of vestiges of a possibly magical-religious nature, such as the piles of stones and the sets of channels and cupmarks. Likewise, pottery, which underwent an interesting stylistic evolution, was at times densely decorated with the same motifs as the engravings, as were some stone objects such as spheroids—polished stones with spherical or ellipsoid shapes whose surfaces are carefully engraved with meanders and other motifs.

Therefore, the symbolic content of the engravings extended to other material expressions, which suggests that these graphisms were of utmost importance in their culture. There are numerous theories about the meaning and function of the petroglyphs of La Palma. The most wides­pread among researchers is based on the references made in the chronicles of the Castilian conquest to rituals directed at astral divinities to ask for rain. According to this theory, meandriforms, concentric circles and other motifs could be representations of water, while spirals and radiated circles could be astral symbols, especially of the sun. They were intended to ensure water resources and, consequently, plant cycles, the maintenance and reproduction of livestock and, of course, human beings. The connection between many engravings and fountains and small watercourses reinforces this hypothesis.

The visual appeal of these engravings, their scientific interest, abundance and wide distribution on the island make them one of the main attractions for the knowledge and enjoyment of the local population and a draw for cultural tourism. Many of the sites are easy to visit because they are in the immediate vicinity or next to the island’s network of footpaths, which has more than 1,000 kilometres of trails. The interest they arouse is evidenced by the influx of visitors to the La Zarza and Belmaco Parks.

The rock engravings of La Palma with geometric motifs from among the group of spirals, concentric circles, me­andriforms and other forms constitute a set of remarkable human creations that reflect the processes of abstraction in the graphic and symbolic expression of an island culture that evolved in isolation for at least 1,500 years from a settlement of North African Amazigh origin. They are thus the westernmost expressions of rock art associated with this ancient culture.

Figurations of this type have been frequent and recurrent since the Neolithic period, both in Europe and other parts of the world, and their mark has a global reach. Nonetheless, La Palma stands out in that it includes a set of extraordinary cave paintings nourished by the cultural sediment associated with these manifestations from the Maghreb and which, moreover, for the first time developed and evolved in an island environment. Therefore, this set of graphisms with complex symbolic content is of exceptional value from a dual perspective. On the one hand, these expressions had their genesis in the Amazigh rock art from the beginning of the present era, uncontaminated by later historical processes in the region. On the other hand, they illustrate a divergent cultural process that gave rise to gen­uine expressions that evolved from these roots, and which bear witness to the creative genius of an isolated island society. These two premises give it a unique character.

This island has the highest recorded density of this type of cultural expression in island territories. The number of rock art sites is exceptional. In the 708.32 km² of island territory, there is a number of engravings similar to—and in some cases greater than—those found in many European and African archaeological sites, or others in America or Asia with substantially larger geographical extensions. It is remarkable that the first settlers of a small island developed this rich cultural heritage, something that did not occur on the other islands of the archipelago, which also constitutes a paradigm in the field of island rock art on the planet.

The authors of the engravings improved their style and techniques until they reached a degree of originality and complexity that did not exist on the African continent, from where they had come. The graphisms of La Palma are exceptionally detailed compared to those of neigh­bouring African and European regions. Many panels are extraordinarily variegated, with innovative design variations and careful engraving techniques. Equally unusual are the associations between different motifs, sometimes forming intricate combinations, as in La Zarza and other stations.

The engravings of La Palma express the symbolic occupation of the territory by people trapped between the sea and the sky. This is attested by their presence in essential landmarks in the landscape, such as locations offering great visual control and along communication routes, particularly decisive in a very rugged and politically fragmented territory, where the control of private and communal grazing areas, as well as the access to them, was of paramount importance. The concentration of engravings in the arc formed by the highest peaks overlooking the island is especially significant. It was the closest terrestrial site to the celestial space where their astral divinities dwelt, and precisely where most of the stone piles are found, constructions that usually contain engravings and around which they performed religious rituals. High mountain pastures were also there, a last resort for foraging in the dry summers. The same is true of the peculiar concentration of engravings in the northwest of the island, which is related to an occupation of the territory with a greater concentration of forage and water resources, especially in summer.

These engravings carry a strong sense of identity. The current population of the island has adopted these petroglyphs as emblems of their collective identity, an appropriation that has gone beyond the limits of the island and has spread to the rest of the archipelago.

Criterion (iii): On the island of La Palma (Canary Islands) there are 520 known pre-Hispanic rock engraving stations distributed over a territory of just 708 km2. Their exceptional abundance, the universality of their subject matter, the technical perfection of their execution, the complexity and variety of the engraved themes, and the interrelation with other cultural expressions make the Benahoarite petroglyphs one of a kind in the world.

When the pre-Islamic Berbers arrived from northwest Africa to settle on the island, this type of graphic expression was in the process of being abandoned in their native lands. Here, they had to adapt to a very different territory—a small island with limited, unpredictable, and different natural resources from those they had known—facing catastrophic events such as drought, famine, and volcanic eruptions. In this drastic process of adaptation, they put into practice old knowledge that had already fallen out of use, such as stoneworking to replace metal tools and, of course, some ancient magical-religious mechanisms to confront these great new challenges. Among these was a form of rock en­graving, which they believed would help them adapt to their new life. What is unprecedented is that they perfected the engraving techniques of their continental ancestors despite no longer having metallic instruments, and they intensified and maintained the engraving practice for some 1,500 years, until the island’s conquest by the Crown of Castile.

The curvilinear geometric engravings of North Africa have similarities with others from the Neolithic and Bronze Age of Atlantic Europe and possibly originated from the same historical processes. In the neighbouring continent, they continued to be made for more than a millennium after they had disappeared in Europe and, when they were beginning to fall into disuse, they were revived by the Berbers who populated La Palma, where they reached an extraordinary peak, thus becoming the last testimony of a cultural expression that had once united Europe and Africa.

Criterion (v): The rock engravings of La Palma are a worldwide refer­ence of the symbolic occupation of an island territory by the aboriginal populations, intimately tied to their beliefs and daily concerns. They are an outstanding example of human interaction with the environment. Their location is closely linked to the island landscape, whether in spots with a great visual dominance, with areas of great importance in their economic model, or with springs and small watercourses, on an island where water was an essential resource for the maintenance of its population, which is currently undergoing profound changes. Their connection to a landscape that undoubtedly takes on the characteristics of a cultural landscape is unquestionable.

The Benahoarita people were extremely knowledgea­ble about the island’s natural environment and knew how to make the most of all the resources necessary to guarantee their survival. One of their basic needs was certainly the provision of water and fodder resources for their herds of goats, sheep, and pigs, on which their subsistence was largely dependent. In order to ensure this supply on a regu­lar basis, they developed practical mechanisms from which the European population that settled after the conquest would learn and benefit. But they also resorted to practices in the magical-religious sphere, to which the engravings and other archaeological manifestations were probably related. The location of the engravings is therefore closely linked to the island landscape, whether in places of great visual significance, in areas of importance for livestock farming, or in enclaves associated with springs and watercourses.

There is a significant amount of scientific documen­tation in the form of scientific articles and monographs, which support the soundness of the proposed values of the property. This documentation is based on scientifically rigorous research carried out by renowned specialists from various Spanish universities and museums. The first works focused especially on the corpus, the stylistic char­acteristics and the parallels with cave paintings from other geographical areas. Since the 1990s and up to the present day, the corpus of stations has been greatly expanded, and notable advances have been made in terms of iconographic and technical systematisation, territorial implications, and the stylistic, technical and chronological evolution of the engravings. The reliability that these works deserve to the scientific community grants a high degree of veracity to these sources of information.

Therefore, there is sufficient scientific support to corrob­orate the authenticity of the proposed property in relation to conditions fulfilled, such as form, design, or their possible meaning. The characteristics of territorial features, location, supports, morphological features of the engravings, macro and micro-evidence on the techniques used for engraving, weathering processes, formation of patinas, etcetera, are well-known. All of these reinforce the authenticity of all the components of the proposed serial property.

These engravings carry a strong sense of identity for the island’s population, a feeling that has spread to the rest of the archipelago. Thus, they reclaim the Berber roots of the first islanders and, therefore, of their present-day descendants.

In terms of integrity, the proposal encompasses the totality of engravings in the different environments. Conse­quently, since all existing and known engravings are includ­ed, the sample is of adequate size and has all the necessary variants to constitute the complete representation of the elements, characteristics and processes that convey its Outstanding Universal Value, as examined in sections 1 and 2 of this proposal.

These properties are in a good state of conservation and the protective measures in place have prevented any potential adverse effects from development, public and private works, and, above all, vandalism.

In terms of protection, it is important to note that all the rock engravings on the island have had BIC status (‘Bien de Interés Cultural’, or Property of Cultural Interest) since their discovery. This is the highest level of protection granted by Law 11/2019, of 25 April, on Cultural Heritage of the Canary Islands, and by Law 16/1985, of 25 June, on Spanish Historical Heritage.

Moreover, the island of La Palma has succeeded in preserving its natural spaces—both forest and geologi­cal—in good condition, which have been largely exploited in a rational and environmentally sustainable manner. The authorities have also committed to the preservation of both natural and cultural assets, so that today the island is home to various territorial protection instruments, such as the Canary Islands Network of Protected Natural Spaces, the Natura 2000 Network, the World Biosphere Reserve, and Special Protection Plans for cultural assets.

This has made it possible to preserve a cultural herit­age—archaeological, ethnographic, and architectural—that is unique in many ways, both in the Canary Islands and at national and world level. This preservation has been facili­tated by a fairly sparse settling and certain conservationist tendencies of the people of La Palma. For all these reasons, it should come as no surprise that, in 1993, UNESCO recognised part of the island as a World Biosphere Reserve, and in 2002 the whole island was recognised, with the rock engravings being considered as an element that adds value to the Biosphere Reserve.

For more than three decades, the Government of the Canary Islands, the Island Council of La Palma, the Caldera de Taburiente National Park, some local councils, and the Island Association for Rural Development have committed to the protection, preservation, and enhancement of the rock engravings. This collaboration has led to the creation of the Parque Cultural de la Zarza (1998) and the Parque Ar­queológico de Belmaco (1999), the first two archaeological parks in the Canary Islands to be open to the public. In 2018, the ‘Benehauno’ Petroglyph Interpretation Centre was also opened to the public. Twenty archaeological sites scattered across the island have been made accessible to visitors, with certain barriers, protection, and information panels. Seventeen of them are rock engraving stations, namely Buracas, El Calvario de Santo Domingo, Barranquera de La Castellana, Cercado de Vicente (Garafía), La Erita (Santa Cruz de La Palma), Lomo Muerto (Puntagorda), Cabeza del Guanche (Tijarafe), Roque Teneguía (Fuencaliente), Lomo de Tamarahoya VI, Lomo Gordo I and II, Lomo del Estrecho I, II and III, La Fajana, El Verde, and Llano de Los Alcaravanes II (El Paso).

Forty-five percent of the island’s territory is part of the network of Protected Natural Spaces, including the Caldera de Taburiente National Park and nineteen spaces with the categories of Protected Landscapes, Integral and Special Nature Reserves, Natural Monuments, and Sites of Scientific Interest. A good proportion of the rock engraving stations are in these sites.