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Image Credit: Santana et al., PLOS One (2026)
Canary Islands Site Reveals Specialized Medieval Marine Processing
A new archaeological study has identified evidence for specialized marine-resource processing at Playa Chica, a coastal rock-shelter site on Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands. The research focuses on the site’s latest Indigenous occupation phase, dated to the 11th–13th centuries CE, and uses a multiproxy approach to understand how marine foods were collected, processed, and possibly preserved.
The Canary Islands were settled by Berber-speaking communities from Northwest Africa during the first millennium CE. Playa Chica, located on the northwestern coast of Gran Canaria, preserves a long Indigenous occupation sequence from the 6th to the 13th centuries CE. The study focuses on Phase 5, the best-documented occupation level, where excavation revealed dense deposits of marine remains, tools, hearths, and plant materials.
Researchers recovered a large faunal assemblage dominated by molluscs and sea urchins, along with fish bones, fish scales, and crustacean remains. The abundance of fish scales, especially within activity deposits, suggests that fish were processed on site rather than simply consumed there. The identified fish include garfish, parrotfish, sardines, salema, bogue, and other coastal species.
The study also documented tools linked to marine processing. These include worked goat horn cores and hundreds of horn flakes interpreted as tools for removing fish scales. Small fishhooks made from pig canines were also recovered, showing that animal materials were adapted for fishing technology.
Combustion features provide another important line of evidence. Archaeologists recorded 29 hearths in the Phase 5 deposits, many of them representing repeated use of the same fire areas. Plant remains and charcoal analysis identified smoke-prone and low-intensity fuels, including Euphorbia, Cyperus rhizomes, and elements of Canary Island pine cones. These fuels are consistent with activities such as drying or smoking fish.
The study also found plant remains from cultivated crops, including barley, durum wheat, and fig. Pottery was scarce and appears mainly connected to cooking, while stone tools were abundant and mostly made from local materials. Together, these finds point to a specialized activity area focused on preparing and preserving marine resources.
The results suggest that Playa Chica was not simply a domestic settlement or shellfish-gathering spot. Instead, it likely formed part of a wider coastal-inland exchange system, where preserved marine products could have circulated between communities. The site therefore offers important evidence for the role of coastal economies among the Indigenous communities of Gran Canaria before European colonization.
Published on: 12-06-2026
Edited by: Abdulmnam Samakie
Source: PLOS One
