Alone on that among the Canary islands that all favoured stock-breeding, Gran Canary's agriculture was dominated by plantations, with much of these being grains. The sheer size of the caves complex is witness to the importance of agriculture on Gran Canary, for subsistence but also for the society's socio-political structure and of the power of its governing casts. Īccounts dating from the Spanish conquest mention towers framing the caves. Within the site are found idols, paintings, ceramics, human bones and ashes, which are believed to have belonged to those who were guarding the granary. Their holes, as well as other grooves, were sealed in addition by an ashen mortar. A few stone slabs have remained and it seems that when wooden doors were used they received a seal ( pintadera) to indicate the owner. These are believed to have been made of wood, stone slabs or soft materials like textile or leather. The caves were shut with doors made of unknown material, which left traces. The steps excavated in the rock still exist and they may have been complemented with stairs or scaffoldings and ropes, of which there are no archaeological remains. The caves or silos are of varied forms and sizes, communicating somewhat with each other, and they are grouped on several superposed levels. The easy defence of the site, the natural shelter offered by a natural arch in the mountain and the conditions of temperature and dampness were making it ideal for its use. They were excavated with stone and wood tools in the soft tuff - cemented volcanic tephra - in the north-west face of the mountain known nowadays as Mountain of the Galician (" Montaña del Gallego"). Altogether with silos, rooms, caves and cavities, there are more than 350 storage places. The collective granary known as " cenobio de Valerón" is a complex system of caves on several levels: 298 compartments with surfaces between one and three square meters, distributed on 8 levels. The place was chosen for its easy-to-dig tuff, for the fact that it is hidden from the sea and for its extremely steep access slopes that make good natural defences. The site overlooks the San Felipe ravine, a north-orientated funnel-shaped valley crossed over by a large bridge for the GC-2 motorway. Galdar is about 4 km (2 mi) west in direct line. It is located 600 m (1,969 ft) (in direct line) south of the northern coast of the Gran Canaria island, on the small GC-291 road, near Las Palmas (23 km (14 mi) east) and Agaete (11 km (7 mi) south-west) (see § "Access" for more details). It is the largest pre-Hispanic collective granary built before Roman times and used by the island's inhabitants until the conquest of the island at the end of the 15th century.Ĭlose to Gáldar Painted cave, it is one of the emblematic sites of Grand Canary and is listed as a Spanish Property of cultural interest. Not bad to kill some time with.Valerón's "monastery" (in Spanish cenobio de Valerón) is an archaeological site on the Spanish island of Grand Canary, in the municipality of Santa Maria de Guia, on Valerón's cliff. They seemed a hell of a lot more interesting than that group of supermodels who came in later. Final comment: I wish the movie had revolved around the first cave expedition that is shown during the introduction titles. Being, as almost all horror movies these days, PG-13 to cash in on teenage kids' money, it does not show any gore besides some scratches and some ugly but very brief ceature shots. I do wish the movie had more gore though. The monsters are not that good but they are almost never shown completely, and in doing so they are acceptable. Although at times the caves are lit in ways that are impossible for the little flashlights to accomplish, the set is generally dark enough to be realistic. Why does every editor and/or director think that they are doing an MTV clip these days? Keep the camera still! If you think I can see what's going on in random. The editing was decent except for the action shots. Once again, nothing special, novel or interesting but not bad either. As for the movie itself: the action, plot (if there is any to speak of), effects and direction are OK, as is the acting. Oh well, we'll just have to suspend our thinking and just accept that actors have to be good looking these days, even if their roles completely rule out looking like a supermodel. Firstly: why is it that the entire team consists of hunks and babes? Even the scientists are good looking chicks. It isn't original, but it does nothing badly and is interesting enough to spend 1.5 hours with. This wasn't a bad movie if you like creature flicks.
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