Hike Roque Bentayga, Gran Canaria, Spain

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The Roque Bentayga is a beautiful and spectacular basaltic python that has left the geology in Gran Canaria, rises 1404m inside the volcanic caldera of Tejeda. In the vicinity of this, we would have the town of Cuevas del Rey and Roque Camello, important aboriginal settlements made up of several groups that together suppose more than a hundred caves that integrate rooms, silos, burials and other elements of difficult meaning. Undoubtedly the most important part of Roque Bentayga is at its base in the nascent part and is what we call the "almogarén del Bentayga". It is a curious construction excavated in the square-shaped rock, with bowls and channels, which has been interpreted as a place of worship. The base of the Roque is surrounded by a stone wall that runs along the East and South sides, which may be delimiting the space for sacred use or could also be used for defensive actions. Recently, two literary-Liberian-Berber literary rock engraving stations were announced, although in one of them there is doubt about its authenticity. In the same set we find several cavities that served the ancient Canaries to deposit their dead. Many of them preserve the dry stone wall that served to seal the caves. This almogarén was first investigated by O. González where he found some interesting alignments with an element of the almogarén for the equinoxes and with the Roque Nublo (important geological element in the Gran Canaria landscape) for La Luna, which later tests have suggested could be treated of a solar and lunar observatory, among other functional uses.

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