The nerve centre of Tendal Archeological Park is an enormous cave in which a score of Benahoritas (aborigines from La Palma) lived for at least a thousand years. Five excavation campaigns have been carried out under the direction of Ernesto Martin Rodriguez and Juan Francisco Navarro Mederos that have helped provide abundant cultural information about ancient Palmerans.
These digs have allowed us to discover and study thousands of remains of household items (ceramics, stone tools, utensils made of bone and shells etc) as well as everyday activities (gathering of plants, seeds, chacoal, bones of domesticated animals, evidence that fish and sea-food were eaten here etc) of the people who lived in this cave. Some of these objects form part of the exhibition.
In the Visitor Centre you can find information not only about the research conducted in Tendal Cave but also of the ancient district of Adeyahama (now San Andres and Los Sauces), with special emphasis on the inhabitants’ harnessing the natural environment, their magic-religious beliefs (cave engravings, stone cairns and sets of groves and hollows) and funeral customs.
The exhibition is complete with original archeological pieces, explanatory boards and audiovisuals, whose highlights include a scientific documentary, various short fiction, and video mapping exclusive to General Archeological Park.
