Teguise Town Council, through its Heritage department and by means of an agreement with the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria/Fundación Canaria Universitaria de Las Palmas, is collaborating on the National Research Project “Protohistoric colonisation of the Canary archipelago: anthropological, cultural and environmental parameters”, continuing a long history of cooperation between the two institutions.
The research and scientific documentation of Teguise's rich archaeological heritage, carried out by a multidisciplinary team of archaeologists made up of researchers from both Canarian universities and led by the ULPGC Professor of Prehistory, Pablo Atoche Peña, has consisted of excavation work at two sites in the municipality of Teguise.
Work has been carried out on the consolidation, conservation and protection of the El Bebedero and Buenavista sites, with a 3D scan of the latter that has provided very precise information about the constructional characteristics of the buildings it contains, along with the possibility of producing planimetric surveys, virtual reconstructions and 3D visits.
During the excavation work, in addition to constructional structures**, numerous interesting finds have been recovered, among them imported objects from the Roman cultural sphere**, whose association with indigenous material contexts strengthens the hypothesis that emphasises the interest that the Mediterranean cultures of late Antiquity had in the Canary Islands and their resources.
Numerous samples have also been collected for C14 analysis, which will broaden and reinforce the existing chronological series, which place the beginning of human colonisation at the start of the first millennium BC. In addition, different types of studies will be carried out (DNA, stable isotopes, phytoliths, etc.), essential for improving our knowledge of the indigenous communities and of the significant environmental changes that affected the island of Lanzarote over the last three thousand years.