The Local Authority of La Orotava (Tenerife), through the Department of Cultural Heritage, has initiated archaeological investigations within the Teide National Park to ascertain the presence of skeletal remains belonging to individuals who faced repression by the Francoist faction during the Spanish Civil War.
This marks the inaugural occasion that the council, alongside a public institution, has spearheaded the quest for victims of the conflict in an area reputed in oral tradition as the site of these forced disappearances or, failing that, to confirm that these remains do not originate from the indigenous population, the City Council explains.
The study is being conducted in a site known as Llano de Maja (Bucio de Maja), with an allocated budget of 9,726 euros, entirely financed by the Cabildo de Tenerife.
The initiative, expected to last around six weeks, is organised into several phases, commencing with a literature review of the area to comprehend its morphological, archaeological, and historical traits, thereby consolidating all relevant information linked to previous archaeological and speleological studies conducted in the various cavities present on the site to accurately identify potential locations of disappearance.
Subsequently, a thorough examination of the oral accounts that identify this area as the site where those aligned with or affiliated to republican political parties were executed and disposed of in the volcanic tube will be undertaken, paving the way for a further exploration of the location.
The core phase of the research will commence once the wreck is recognised, at which point a speleological assessment of its interior will be conducted to seek possible skeletal remains, with no excavations anticipated.
Should remains be discovered, it will be essential to establish whether they pertain to individuals repressed during the Civil War or if they originate from the indigenous populations of the pre-Hispanic era.
Following the completion of the archaeological examination inside the volcanic tube, a conclusive report detailing the findings of the project will be compiled.
The initiative will conclude with a public disclosure of the results obtained, in collaboration with the Town Hall of Villa de la Orotava.
The research is also being approached from a gender perspective, as, according to the previously mentioned oral accounts, Franco’s repression similarly targeted women with republican affiliations in places such as La Laguna, Los Silos, Arico, and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Consequently, hypotheses have been proposed suggesting that their remains might be located within this area of Teide National Park.
A multidisciplinary team comprising experts in Archaeology, Speleology, and History is integral to this research effort.
The objective is to definitively identify the location where numerous oral accounts indicate the disappearances of individuals during the Civil War between 1936 and 1939.