Archaeological settlements at Hoya del Paso and Fuente del Sao

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Memory · Subcategory: Archaeological sites

The settlement at Hoya del Paso is located in the municipality of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, on the left hand side of the Guanarteme ravine, opposite the urbanization of Las Torres and next to the military zone. Access is via the neighbourhood of Los Giles. It is made up of natural and man-made caves, distributed in various groups, some of which are difficult to get to. In one of the caves here, there are diverse areas documented as cooking areas (with domestic fires) where there are a large amount of archaeological remains related to food preparation. As well as evidence of marine and land fauna, there is a presence of carbonized wheat grain, one of the cereals cultivated by the islanders, found inside a pan. 

Linked to this enclave was a funeral mound which is no longer evident, made up of a coffin structure surrounded by a ring of stones. The remains of a single male body were discovered here.

Another settlement nearby to the one at Hoya del Paso is the one known as Fuente del Sao, a group of natural and artificial caves for dwelling and for funeral use, whose place name is related to a fresh water spring that no longer exists. It used to provide water supplies at times when the ravine bed ran dry. The domestic caves are laid out on two levels and display different conditioning elements such as galleries, cupboards and silos. In the funeral area, which has been disfigured due to the caves falling in, there were three burials found whose remains were wrapped in shrouds made out of reeds.

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