This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Archaeologists have analyzed insect remains preserved in the 7th to 9th centuries AD funerary cave of Cruz de la Esquina, Gran Canaria, and found that it was used by the island's Indigenous people for food storage before being adapted into a burial site. The findings have been published in the journal Antiquity.
Before the Spanish conquest in the 15th century AD, the Canary Islands were occupied by Indigenous people. Now, following colonial destruction, little is known about their culture and customs, particularly their unique burial practices. "It was already known that Indigenous communities in Gran Canaria used caves for funerary purposes, including the deposition of wrapped bodies," says lead author Pedro Henríquez-Valido of the University of Alcalá.
However, how soon after death these burials took place is unclear, and it was unknown whether the caves served a different purpose before being transformed into burial spaces. The "extraordinary preservation" of the Cruz de la Esquina cave in Gran Canaria made it an ideal site for research, as organic materials such as wood, rope and leather had survived. This meant the collection of preserved pest remains was also possible.
"Insects can provide valuable evidence for reconstructing post-mortem processes," explains Henríquez-Valido. "We aimed to determine whether the insect remains from Cruz de la Esquina could clarify the funerary treatment of the bodies." The team set out to identify insect taxa associated with funerary decomposition, reconstruct funerary practices and investigate whether the cave was also used for purposes other than burial. They found more than 8,000 preserved arthropod remains.
These spanned a range of species, reflecting different uses of the site. A significant percentage of the remains comprised storage pests, suggesting that large quantities of grains were present. The quantity of pests indicates that more cereals were present than would be expected if they had simply been placed with the bodies as funerary offerings, suggesting that the cave was used for food storage before being adapted for funerary functions.
The results also challenge previous interpretations of how the bodies were prepared after death. These interpretations suggested corpses may have been exposed to sunlight to decompose before being buried in caves. This research indicates that corpses were instead buried shortly after death.
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