A place in the dunes. Opportunistic use of a coastal space during the pre-European period on the island of Gran Canaria (circa 8th-11th centuries AD)

This paper presents the results of a multidisciplinary research at a pre-European site located in the Special Natural Reserve of the Dunes of Maspalomas (Gran Canaria). It is a seasonal settlement, without permanent habitation structures, but in which a combustion structure over the surface of the dune sand has been exceptionally preserved. The site was occupied at the transition from the 1st to the 2nd a millennium AD, a stage for which there are few parallels in the archaeology of that island. At the site, activities related to the seasonal exploitation of pastures and marine resources were developed, reflecting an opportunistic and austere pattern of behavior; as evidenced by the simplicity of the archaeological remains recorded.