Guanche Art

Aboriginal art can be appreciated through the stone engravings and in the ceramic creations with geometrical designs, that were used as domestic utensils, as well as decorative objects. The most representative dish is known as a gánigo (a typical clay dish of Guanche craftsmanship that can be found in the Museum of Nature and Man and the Archaeological Museum , both in Tenerife), other less abundant ceramic forms are the plates, terracotta knives, tabonas (objects made with black stones in the shape of flagstones that were used to cut, lance and flay).

As to personal adornments, the most outstanding are the baked clay beads, in different tones and hues, beads made out of bone and shells, ceramic necklaces with shells, pieces of bones, wood or vertebrae. They manufactured materials out of jonquil, vegetable fibre or palms. They made figures representing their idols in baked clay, bone, or stone. From their rudimentary art there are thousands of engravings, known as panels, done with different techniques such as scoring and ‘piquetado’, among others directly carved into the rock.

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