Ancient culture and archaeology

The habitat of the wider Aboriginal canarios was the cave, which were of both natural and artificial construction. In Lanzarote, however, the predominant habitats in populated areas were places of rooms, grouped in villages.

More than twenty-one such areas have been located. These are very peculiar features in the archaeological context of the Canary Islands. These are called “deep houses” because the ground is dug so that half or more of the room would be below ground level. Besides being used as homes, some were used as volcanic stays, mostly on a casual basis.

The main Aboriginal settlement area corresponds to the central area of the island, known as El Jable. Zonzamas highlight the site, one of the largest indigenous populations of the Canary Islands. The last resident king of Lanzarote was in El Jable, and the area remained quite occupied after the conquest. Other archaeological sites include the village called The Great (now Teguise), Ajey (now St. Bartholomew) and the Lomo de San Andres.

As for the world of beliefs, it seems clear that they were a chronically monotheistic people. In the rest of the islands, there is also a widespread devotion to gods, with a tendency toward two major partners in general, usually relating to the sun or the moon. Besides these, there are a large number of sacred sites, as well as symptoms of cult elements of nature such as mountains and water.

Chronicles refer to Majos cults asking for rain, which made sense given the semi-arid climate of the island. A striking finding was of anthropomorphic figurines and evidence of rituals associated with animals being interpreted as idols.

Among those idols is one called Zonzamas, which is a subject with certain stylistic similarities to the Phoenician Punic sculpture. Worshipping took place in circular temples where rituals and offerings were made.

There have also been links with certain rites to the “cheese”, which are sets of grooves on the artificial volcanic tuff that might have served for the spilling of milk and other products. The Majos honored their dead, who were buried in caves or in mass graves, along with a funeral layette consisting of pottery, stone tools, shells and ornaments.

Their material culture is rich in ceramics prepared without winch, obsidian knives, stone mortars and bakeries. Objects and personal ornaments were made of stone, bone and shell materials.