Four Doors cave site, Telde
The Four Doors (in Spanish Cuatro Puertas) site, also known as Montaña Bermeja, 'Vermillion Mountain', is a complex of caves in the south of the municipality of Telde, Gran Canaria.The Cuatro Puertas site is named after its most spectacular cave, the most emblematic of Gran Canaria due to its uniqueness and location.The Cuatro Puertas hamlet, situated near the top of Montaña Bermeja, is of easy access: the GC-1 highway and Gran Canaria airport are only 6 km east.[4] Numerous deliberate arrangements have been recently made to the tuff walls and floors of the Four Doors cave with the aim of achieving a correct orientation to observe the summer solstice.But because of the type and position of the location, the cave's monumental aspect, the closeness of the almogarén, and the descriptions of other similar sites in the ethnohistoric chronicles of the conquest, most archaeologists believe that it may have been a sacred place where the worship and rituals were carried out directly by the faycán[4][note 1] and the harimaguadas (virgin priestesses under the authority of the faycán, daughters of the nobles).[3] The Pillars' cave (cueva de los Pilares) site is the heart and main part of the troglodyte village of Montaña Bermeja.[2] The cave of the Audience (cueva de la Audiencia) has been used for various functions such as sleeping quarters, kitchens, silos, granary and others.Basalt on the other hand is an igneous rock made of cooled lava; its matter has been fired and thus has a much higher structural integrity than tuff.[14] The site is among a zone of dark-coloured pyroclasts of varying sizes, dating from the Pleistocene era, made of basanite and nephelinite.[14] The site has suffered a notable deterioration due to the natural erosion from wind and water, but also to human actions since up to recently the majority of the caves were used and modified to stable goats and sheep.For the filming of one of the scenes a large tuff maquette was realised of the Four Doors cave, generating great deteriorations to the original archaeological space.
Signs engraved in the
tuff
at the rituals place
Papers' cave
( cueva de los Papeles )
( cueva de los Papeles )
Pilars cave
( Cueva de los Pilares )
( Cueva de los Pilares )
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