Famous Gaunches Mummies Drenched In Dragons’ Blood Like A Stradivarius Violin

From 1494 to 1496, the island of Tenerife was beset by a military invasion. The conquerors and soldiers of the Castilian kingdom of Castile and Aragon deployed numerous troops to subdue the hardened inhabitants of the island: the formidable Guanches, who had been settled in all the Canaries Islands for thousands of years and whose total population has been estimated at about 100,000 inhabitants by that distant, and fateful, 15th century. Migrating from the neighboring African continent, and more specifically from its northern region, they arrived by their own means and by boats from areas of Western Sahara, Morocco or Tunisia.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 [Open in app]( or [online]() [Famous Gaunches Mummies Drenched In Dragons’ Blood Like A Stradivarius Violin]( Jul 26   [Share](   [The Guanche mummy from Barranco de Herques belonged to an adult male aged around 35-40 years old. ]( From 1494 to 1496, the island of Tenerife was beset by a military invasion. The conquerors and soldiers of the Castilian kingdom of Castile and Aragon deployed numerous troops to subdue the hardened inhabitants of the island: the [formidable Guanches]( who had been settled in all the Canaries Islands for thousands of years and whose total population has been estimated at about 100,000 inhabitants by that distant, and fateful, 15th century. Migrating from the neighboring African continent, and more specifically from its northern region, they arrived by their own means and by boats from areas of Western Sahara, Morocco or Tunisia. The mummy entering the scanner for a computerized axial tomography at Hospital Quirón, Madrid. (Image: Author Provided. [Hospital Quirón]( The recent production of the documentary Las momias guanches (The Guanche Mummies), co-produced by RTVE and Story Producciones, has shown in great detail the anatomy and ethnography of the best Guanche mummy preserved to date, of Mencey a Guanche chief, about 40 years old. A team of scientists and artists that include doctors, archaeologists, historians, sculptors and graphic designers used the most advanced techniques of computerized axial tomography to investigate the mummies.  For the past five years these unique specimens have been subjected to DNA tests, high-level radiological studies, carbon-14 tests, forensic reconstructions or ultraviolet light studies. Thanks to the study of these mummies, it has been possible to answer the many questions previously hidden about the Guanche culture. Where did they originate from before migrating to the Canary Islands? Why do they share physical features with northern Europeans? Did they have ties to Egypt? According to the documentary, the Guanches achieved a mummification technique so prodigious, studied and effective that many consider it to be equal to the Egyptian one. Facial reconstruction based on the computer images. (Image: Author Provided. Juan Villa / [Story Producciones]( Cave Of A Thousand Mummies In 1774 Anchieta, and Alarcón, wrote: "On a very high cliff is a cave in which, having gone with others from Güímar,  D. Luís Román, they entered a very large cave which they filled with more than two hundred wooden fire lanterns, to see well what was inside and they found many bodies of Guanches, which must have been the burial place there and that was around the sides of the cave, many like scaffolding, like tents, juniper sticks and on those scaffolds were the bodies of the Guanches lying, mirlados (mummified). One of these bodies, the most perfected that not even the tip of the nose lacked, was sent to a well-adjusted drawer with wool to D. Francisco Machado, alderman, son of Álvaro Yanes Machado and brother-in-law of the said D. Gabriel [Román, brother of Luís], who is at the Court, so that it can be seen how there are bodies preserved after so many years”. Reconstruction of a Guanche settlement of Tenerife ([Wouter Hagens]( BY-SA 3.0)]( The cave to which this historical quote refers is the mysterious, unknown, coveted and widely sought-after [Cave of a Thousand Mummies](. Located in the famous Barranco de Herques, which divides the Tenerife municipalities of Güímar and Fasnia, it has been searched for by hundreds of people, without much success. Its interior must have housed between 600 and 1,000 mummified Guanches. One may ask, is it literary fantasy, capital exaggeration, or a true Guanche communal burial and mummification cave? It is not the first time that large Guanche vaulted caves have been found that housed several dozen individuals inside, something that also occurs on the neighboring island of [Gran Canaria](. However, the Guanches cave is reluctant to reveal its location, even after hundreds of years have passed since a group of Spaniards stole the mummy that occupied such a magical place. - [The Fan Pyramid of Tenerife, A Guanche Stone Solstice Marker]( - [Ancient Guanche Solar Worship And Fertility Rites In The Canary Islands]( - [The Truth behind Christian Miraculous Preservation: How Mummies Become Incorruptible Saints]( The Herques ravine is home to countless caves and hollows, the most famous of which is the Cueva de las Calzadas (Calzadas´ Cave). Seen by some as a possibility for the ‘Cave of the Thousand Mummies’, but Las Calzadas does not correspond either by its structure, nor by its entrance design (very narrow and at ground level) compared to the wide entrance of the ‘Cave of the Thousand Mummies’, reproduced in certain illustrations and publications of the time. According to the 2018-article by Teresa Gómez Espinosa of the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid, José Vieira y Clavijo (1772-1773) a Catholic priest, historian, biologist and writer, dates the discovery of the cave to 1763-1764 and places it between Arico and Güímar, pointing out that its access was very difficult and that hundreds of mummies were found there, no less than a thousand. He described how the mummies were arranged wrapped in finely stitched skins, five or six being found wrapped around some bodies, and on beds arranged in rows, some on scaffolding or an uncorrupted wooden cot. He also referred to the arrangement of the arms of the deceased, the males with their arms spread over their thighs and the females with their hands clasped on their bellies. In July 1764 the most perfect mummy of all was sent to the court addressed to the regidor Don Francisco Javier Machado, packed in wool inside a transport box so that it would not suffer any damage. The large rocky outcrop on neighboring island Gran Canaria into which caves and cavities were dug out. (Image: Courtesy: Ioannis Syrigos) The Mummy Travels To Europe According to Gómez Espinosa, from the National Archaeological Museum, Madrid: “On August 23 of the same year it arrived at the Madrid Customs House and from there to the councilor's house, where it remained until December 16, 1766. On this date it was transferred to the Cabinet or Museum of Antiquities of the Royal Library by Don Bernardo Iriarte following the instructions of Regidor Machado, who had gone to occupy a position in New Spain. Ten years later, on September 28, 1776, through a Royal Order, it was determined that the body of the Guanche and everything else related to natural history that the Royal Library conserved be delivered to the Royal Cabinet of Natural History, founded by Carlos III in 1771, where the mummy entered on October 3 - two other Guanche mummies would arrive at the same place, one in 1776 and the other in 1777. In 1815 the Cabinet was renamed the Royal Museum of Natural Sciences and changed its name again until in 1913 a Royal Order gave it its current name, the National Museum of Natural Sciences. According to news from Barras de Aragón, there were up to five Guanche mummies in this Museum, six were exhibited there in 1865. No documentary evidence has been found about what happened to the other specimens”. In 1878 the mummy travelled to Paris, to the Universal Exhibition in Paris, where it was labeled “Mummy of a Guanche. Office of Natural History of Madrid”. In 1910 this mummy became part of the collection of a new museum inaugurated in 1875, the Anatomical or Anthropological, thanks to the personal involvement of Dr. González Velasco. And, finally, the Guanche mummy became part of the MAN (Museo Arqueologico Nacional, Madrid) in 2015, where it is admired by hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. The finished model of the Guanche chief that lived in Tenerife between 1160 – 1260, as it would have looked in real life. (Image: Author Provided. Juan Villa / [Story Producciones.]( Characteristics Of An Extraordinary Mummy What emerges from the study carried out by the doctors and technicians of the Quirón Hospital, and the archaeologists of the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid, is that the deceased, a male between 35-40 years old, living between 1160 and 1260, surely must have been a local chief (Mencey), a nobleman or an important person in Guanche society, possibly a shaman, soothsayer, doctor, counselor or something similar. This elite Guanche stands out for his manicured hands with almost perfect nails, a complete set of teeth without any defect, and he is described as follows by the great collector of Guanche culture, the doctor Juan Béthencourt Alfonso: “Guanche mummy. Stretched out; hands under the outer part of the iliac (hips), with the hands stretched out on the outer front part of the thighs. Big toes of the feet attached by a strap. He appears mummified by desiccation. Yellowish skin color. His head as if lying on the right shoulder. Arms outstretched and attached to the body following its shapes. Joined ankles (the right one higher than the left); knees joined, but left higher than right; apparently very large penis.” [Full body computer tomography image of the best preserved Guanche mummy. (Image: Author Provided. Museo Arqueologico Nacional, Madrid.)]( Full body computer tomography image of the best preserved Guanche mummy. (Image: Author Provided. [Museo Arqueologico Nacional, Madrid.]( Other anatomical characteristics extracted from the Hospital Quirón- Museo Arqueologico Nacional study, are:     • Great stature: he is currently 162 centimeters tall, he was able to reach a height of 170 centimeters (5.57 feet) in life.     • Head / Skull: leaning over the right shoulder. The skull shows characteristic masculine features: supraciliar prominence's (prominent eyebrows) and occipital (skull base), quadrature of the orbital morphology and mandibular angle close to 90 degrees.     • Original hair: it is not preserved but made up of independent strands, glued together by means of one or more adhesives, which make up a brown wig with reddish hues. It seems these curly locks have nothing to do with the scarce remains of straight hair preserved in some of the Guanche mummies. [Close up view of the head of the Guanche individual found mummified at “La Cueva de las Mil Momias” (the Cave Of a Thousand Mummies, Tenerife South). (Image: Author Provided Museo Arqueologico Nacional, Madrid.)]( Close up view of the head of the Guanche individual found mummified at “La Cueva de las Mil Momias” (the Cave Of a Thousand Mummies, Tenerife South). (Image: Author Provided [Museo Arqueologico Nacional, Madrid.](     • C14 dating of the hair of the “wig” indicate that they are natural and from the same period as the mummy in question (in the chronicles that relate the Guanche mummification there are references to mummies that preserved the hair and even the beard).     • Brain: dried remains present in the skull.     • Jaw: powerful muscle attachments.   • Mouth: large in which the teeth can be appreciated through the narrow opening of the lips, apparently well-preserved teeth, complete teeth, without dental wear or loss of bone pieces. Thick lips     • The complete teeth set indicate a good diet, low in sugar and some oral hygiene. Compared with some studied Egyptian mummies the difference is remarkable as the Egyptians present very poorly preserved teeth.   • The Guanche diet included: meat (goat, pig and sheep), dog on a few occasions, as well as sporadically birds and reptiles (large lizards – Gallotia sp.). Dairy (milk and cheese), vegetables (cultivated or wild, especially laurel forest fruits) gofio (cereals such as ground wheat and barley) and marine resources (fish, mollusks and shellfish).     • Maxilla / mandible: 16 teeth each.     • Tongue: normal in the oral cavity.     • Eyes: remnants of the optic nerves and ocular globules.     • Abdomen: concave due to extreme desiccation, accentuating the hip bones notably (subpubic angle of 70-72 degrees, typically male). [Guanches men. ( Gran Enciclopedia Virtual de las Islas Canarias )]( Guanches men. ( [Gran Enciclopedia Virtual de las Islas Canarias ](   • The liver and kidneys are clearly identified in the abdomen. There are two more hypodense structures, one enveloped by the liver, which seems to correspond to the gallbladder and another, on the left side, larger, which may correspond to the stomach.   • Thoracic cavity: desiccated lungs and heart, with the heart presenting a fragmentation in the transverse plane in its middle third.    • Thorax: large patch of skin attached to the mummy, it is a finely tanned skin with an irregular profile that could be ovicaprid.     • Genitalia: both the penis and the testicles are well preserved, despite the drying process, relatively large in size.     • Legs: straight parallel, one slightly higher.     • Feet, juxtaposed and extended, are preserved almost intact, except for some small gaps in the skin of the plant caused by insect attack, most of them concentrated on the toes. A thin strip of leather, or tendon, has been preserved, joining the toes, as in the case of the mummy preserved in the Museum of Archeology & Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, in which there are more ligatures. These same types of straps, or some wider straps, could be used to maintain the position of the limbs. • In ancient Egypt, and as in many Egyptian mummies, they also show these cords holding the big toes of the foot. These ties had the function of preventing the soul / spirit (maxio in the Guanche language) from leaving the body / mummy (xaxo in the Guanche language) of the deceased. Cultural parallelism between both groups, Guanches-Egyptians?     • Large hole in the area of the anus: it is thought perhaps due to the removal of the intestines through here. Another hypothesis points to an accelerated deterioration process due to the disintegration / putrefaction of the bacteria in the intestine, creating such an opening that it would be filled with crushed (not pulverized) rocky materials. Or perhaps a way of filling conservation materials, such as pumice stone or crushed stone, as a drying / stuffing agent?     • Spinal column: mild degenerative processes and discs, lumbar scoliosis (curvature in the lower back).     • Rest of the body: presence of goat hairs on the buttocks, legs and soles of the feet. The mummy was found wrapped with four layers of goat skins (two of the inside ones were tanned) covering it completely and wrapped around it. [A not so well preserved mummy of San Andrés, in the Museo de la Naturaleza y el Hombre (Tenerife, Canary Islands). (Cardenasg /CC BY-SA 2.5)]( A not so well preserved mummy of San Andrés, in the Museo de la Naturaleza y el Hombre (Tenerife, Canary Islands). ([Cardenasg]( BY-SA 2.5]( The Gaunches Mummification Process Once the person died, the body was delivered to the embalmers by the relatives of the deceased. The body handlers (mirlado or mummified) were called Iboibos in [Guanche language]( and normally wore their hair shaved (they were not allowed to grow it, since long hair was a symbol of power and nobility, as it was worn by local chiefs - Menceyes - and warriors etc.) The Iboibos formed family clans and the trade was passed on from father to son, and normally men and women mummified people of the same gender, as happened in ancient Egypt. This could point to another cultural connection. In Tenerife, the bodies were prepared, mirrored or embalmed, roughly as follows: First, the body was washed with cold sea water or with lukewarm water. Then an external treatment was applied: The butter of a goat's milk was mixed with aromatic herbs and this ointment was applied all over the body. Once the body was externally cleansed in this way, an internal treatment was performed: After making incisions in the abdomen, back or buttocks, a mixture of volcanic sand, picón and stones was prepared, which was introduced mainly into the abdominal cavity (some mummies have presented cuts in the body, others not). In [Egypt mummies]( were almost always gutted. One of the mummies has presented body filling through the anal canal.  The brain was never removed, as was practice in Egypt.  Other substances that have been found as fillers include finer sands mixed with plant materials, such as bark, resin and pine needles (Pinus spp), mocan (Visnea mocanera) seeds (astringent), dragon tree (Dracaena draco) sap (a powerful antioxidant) and heather bark. [While the funerary rites and customs of ancient Egypt can seem bizarre to some, the intricate mummification process was part of the complex vision of the ancient Egyptians as relating to death and the afterlife. ( Matrioshka / Adobe Stock)]( While the funerary rites and customs of ancient Egypt can seem bizarre to some, the intricate mummification process was part of the complex vision of the ancient Egyptians as relating to death and the afterlife. ( [Matrioshka]( Adobe Stock) Once the mummy was stuffed, it was put to dry in the sun for 15 days (45 in Egypt), on large slabs of stones or rock beds. These mirlado (mummification beds or stones of the dead), sometimes had grooves to better drain the body fluids of the corpses. Bonfires were lit at night to smoke the body, as smoke is a powerful preservative, preventing the proliferation of bacteria and micro-organisms. After 15 days a new exterior treatment was carried out: the mummy was varnished with dragon's tree sap. [A romanticized print of Antonio Stradivari examining an instrument (1921) (Public Domain)]( A romanticized print of Antonio Stradivari examining an instrument (1921) ([Public Domain]( Now it should be noted that the very famous Stradivarius violins, made by Italian genius, Antonio Stradivarius, were also varnished with the ‘dragons’ blood’. This is a powerful preservative preventing the attack of insects and parasites. Some experts believe that dragons’ blood gives a special sound to these instruments, which are priced at millions of euros. No one knows the exact proportion or the quantities used by the Italian genius since he took his master formula to his grave, but one wonders if Antonius Stradivarius (c. 1644-1737) had uncovered a secret recipe of 12th-century Gaunche Iboibos. [Gustavo Sánchez Romero]( a M.Sc. in Museum Science and Cultural Management from la Laguna University, Tenerife and he completed a course on Canarian Archaeology, Universidad de las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands. Driven by this profound interest in the Guanches, he has been exploring many “off the beaten track” archaeological sites on the island, specializing in the step pyramids that can be found in many corners of the Canaries. Top Image: The Guanche mummy from Barranco de Herques belonged to an adult male aged around 35-40 years old. (Image: Author Provided. Diario de Avisos / [Museo Arqueologico Nacional, Madrid.]( By [Gustavo Sánchez Romero]( References  Béthencourt, A. J.  1913. Costumbres canaries de Nacimiento Matrimonio y Muerte. Cabildo Insular de Tenerife Santa Cruz. Gómez Espinosa, T.; Carrascoso Arranz J.; Badillo Rodríguez-Portugal, S. 2018: La momia guanche del Museo Arqueológico Nacional de las fuentes históricas a la tomografía computarizada, Boletín del Museo Arqueológico Nacional “Las momias guanches”, The Guanches mummies, a documentary that reveals all the secrets of mummification in the Canary Islands. 2020. Produced by RTVE and Story Producciones, and directed by Regis Francisco López. Available at: [( Rodríguez M.C. (ed.) 1995. Bioantropología de las momias guanches. Proyecto CRONOS. (1989-1992). Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Museo Arqueológico y Etnográfico de Tenerife. Sánchez P.L., and Ortega, G. 1995. Análisis del material localizado en la cavidad abdominal de dos momias guanches», I Congreso Internacional de Estudios sobre Momias (Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife, 1992). I. Museo Arqueológico y Etnográfico de Tenerife. La Laguna: Cabildo de Tenerife. Tejera Gaspar, A.; Galloway Rodríguez, D.; García Pulido, D., and Delgado Gómez, J. F. 2010: La cueva de las Mil Momias. Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Editorial Herques. Vieira y Clavijo, J. de 2004 [1772]. Noticias de la Historia General de las Islas Canarias, Sta Cruz de Tenerife.Idea.   [Like]( [Comment]( [Restack](   © 2023 Ancient Origins 6 Abbey Business Park, Baldoyle Industrial Estate, Baldoyle, Dublin 13, D13N738, Ireland [Unsubscribe]() [Get the app]( writing]()