The Gaunches
The “Gaunches” were generally cave dwellers living in existing caverns in the ravines and slopes of the mountains when this was not possible they would dig a deep hole and surrounded it by a wall of stones and at ground level a roof would be constructed by using flagstones and then covered by doughy earth to keep out any water, these dwellings have been given the name of deep houses. Another type of construction was the ovoid floor house with large walls of round stone called a “Tagoror” and could have been a place of worship some were tiled and had arched doorways made from natural stone like the walls.
With respect to the lifestyle and customs of the Gaunches little is really known.
It is known that the reduced size of the settlements and the non-existence of polyandry (each family only having one male) that the Gaunches were a struggling civilization. They were dedicated to farming and brought with them their goats and live stock to a very baron land but farmed as best they could in a very nomad way. They seemed to forgot any thing they knew about navigation and the sea fearing ways of life as no vessels have ever been found to say they lived a life at sea. But it is known their diet contained some form of shellfish mostly limpet and mussels giving rise to the shell beds on the north coast of the island.
The old Gaunches at their own wishes were left to die alone, after bidding their family farewell they would be carried to the sepulchral cave, nothing but a bowl of milk being left for them, The Gaunches embalmed their dead, the process of embalming seems to be varied. In Tenerife and Gran Canaria the corpse was simply wrapped up in goat and sheep skins, while in other islands a resinous substance was used to preserve the body, and then left out in the sun to dry out for a few days then it was placed in a cave difficult of access, or buried under a tumulus. The work of embalming was reserved for a special class, women for female corpses, and men for male.Embalming seems not to have been universal, so not all bodies were embalmed some bodies were just simply hidden in caves or buried.
As to their religion little is known but it is believed they were a very religious race there was a general belief in a supreme being, called Acoran, in Grand Canary, Achihuran in Teneriffe, Eraoranhan in Hierro, and Abora in La Palma. The women of Hierro worshipped a goddess called Moneiba. According to tradition the male and female gods lived in the mountains from where they descended to hear the prayers of the people. A belief in an evil spirit was general all over the isalnds. The demon of Teneriffe was called Guayota and lived in the peak of the Volcanoe at Mount Tiede and was the hell called Echeyde. The Gaunches of Fuerteventura believed Mount Tindaya to be sacred and carved the phodamorphs (feet) into the mountain so they faced mount Tiede and to ward of the evil spirits and demons that lived in the heart of Tiede.
Gaunches wore clothing made of goat skins or woven from plant fibers, which have been found in the tombs of Grand Canary. They had a taste for ornamentation, necklaces of wood, bone and shells, worked in different designs. Beads of baked earth, some cylindrical and other shapes, with smooth or polished surfaces, mostly coloured red or black, They manufactured rough pottery, mostly without decorations, or ornamented by making fingernail indentations.
Descriptions from the first conquistadors described the Gaunches as people of low stature and stocky build and with fair and curly hair.Some accounts fix the population of Gaunches at the conquest at about six hundred inhabitants. We see a population in regression, because of their Berber origins and their cultural knowledge of the use of metals that could not be put to good use in an environment as poor as that of Fuerteventura.With the conquest came the massacre of many Gaunches not wanting to be taken as slaves, and the surviving few fornicating with the Spaniards to save their lives led to the Gaunche civilisation being lost.
With respect to the lifestyle and customs of the Gaunches little is really known.
It is known that the reduced size of the settlements and the non-existence of polyandry (each family only having one male) that the Gaunches were a struggling civilization. They were dedicated to farming and brought with them their goats and live stock to a very baron land but farmed as best they could in a very nomad way. They seemed to forgot any thing they knew about navigation and the sea fearing ways of life as no vessels have ever been found to say they lived a life at sea. But it is known their diet contained some form of shellfish mostly limpet and mussels giving rise to the shell beds on the north coast of the island.
The old Gaunches at their own wishes were left to die alone, after bidding their family farewell they would be carried to the sepulchral cave, nothing but a bowl of milk being left for them, The Gaunches embalmed their dead, the process of embalming seems to be varied. In Tenerife and Gran Canaria the corpse was simply wrapped up in goat and sheep skins, while in other islands a resinous substance was used to preserve the body, and then left out in the sun to dry out for a few days then it was placed in a cave difficult of access, or buried under a tumulus. The work of embalming was reserved for a special class, women for female corpses, and men for male.Embalming seems not to have been universal, so not all bodies were embalmed some bodies were just simply hidden in caves or buried.
As to their religion little is known but it is believed they were a very religious race there was a general belief in a supreme being, called Acoran, in Grand Canary, Achihuran in Teneriffe, Eraoranhan in Hierro, and Abora in La Palma. The women of Hierro worshipped a goddess called Moneiba. According to tradition the male and female gods lived in the mountains from where they descended to hear the prayers of the people. A belief in an evil spirit was general all over the isalnds. The demon of Teneriffe was called Guayota and lived in the peak of the Volcanoe at Mount Tiede and was the hell called Echeyde. The Gaunches of Fuerteventura believed Mount Tindaya to be sacred and carved the phodamorphs (feet) into the mountain so they faced mount Tiede and to ward of the evil spirits and demons that lived in the heart of Tiede.
Gaunches wore clothing made of goat skins or woven from plant fibers, which have been found in the tombs of Grand Canary. They had a taste for ornamentation, necklaces of wood, bone and shells, worked in different designs. Beads of baked earth, some cylindrical and other shapes, with smooth or polished surfaces, mostly coloured red or black, They manufactured rough pottery, mostly without decorations, or ornamented by making fingernail indentations.
Descriptions from the first conquistadors described the Gaunches as people of low stature and stocky build and with fair and curly hair.Some accounts fix the population of Gaunches at the conquest at about six hundred inhabitants. We see a population in regression, because of their Berber origins and their cultural knowledge of the use of metals that could not be put to good use in an environment as poor as that of Fuerteventura.With the conquest came the massacre of many Gaunches not wanting to be taken as slaves, and the surviving few fornicating with the Spaniards to save their lives led to the Gaunche civilisation being lost.
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