You would think that nature would show some respect to a building that celebrates its history in Tenerife, but the half repaired paths, fencing and busy workman show that’s not the case. The Museo de la Naturaleza Y El Hombre (Nature and Man) has just reopened after floods coursed down Barranco Santos through Santa Cruz, leaving a trail of mud and damage. Thankfully after taking a detour to the entrance, I found the former Civil Hospital as grand and welcoming as ever.

The three storey building was opened as a museum in 2002 and immediately impresses with its spacious and airy layout fashioned around two large courtyards. The mini guide, available in English, Spanish and German, mapped out my route through the many exhibition halls starting at ground level. Good use of lighting and huge video walls made sure that the origin and nature of the Canary Islands sprung into life as I worked my way through. Volcanoes were the driving force as the islands emerged and they get plenty of attention in the early rooms. This was dangerous, I could start sounding intelligent if I took all of this in, I made a note of the words Geo-Morphological, must try and slip them in the conversation next time I’m down the pub.

Moving up through the central stairwell it was time for archaeology and natural sciences. The gallery that runs around the courtyards had lots of work stations for school parties, but these were not in use. I only saw four other visitors on my Thursday visit, still nearly twice as many as my Sunday call a year ago – and that was a free entrance day! I shall suppress my urge to rant about how ungrateful the public are and tell you about the exhibits.

The collections of fossils on the first floor are pretty stunning. Apparently there are no really valuable minerals in the Canary Islands but more than enough rock stratas to get an expert in a right old state of excitement. The displays of larger-than-life model sea mammals were pretty nifty too, and all the way through the rooms there were shelves of multi lingual guides.

Here I am trying to be educational and the real reason you have clicked this article is to find out about the crumbling skeleton. Hitting the top layer of this historical chocolate box I found the museum’s most famous inhabitants, the Guanche mummies. The aboriginal founders of life in Tenerife date back to between 100 BC and 1000 BC and tucked away in their own alcove six complete bodies bring the past dramatically to life. The bodies were discovered around the island, mainly in La Orotava and reading the notes on this proud warrior race it’s clear they had short and very hard lives. I found the bodies fascinating and not macabre but must admit to a chill of unease at the mummified internal organs, young children and even a foetus. Quite a way to end my two hour stroll through history.

FACT FILE

• Museum of Nature and Man, Fuente Morales, half way between the bus station and Plaza de España.
• Open Tuesday to Sunday, 9am to 7pm. Closed Mondays.
• Entrance, adults 3 Euros, children 1.50 Euros, pay with your Bono bus ticket for half price entry. All Sundays are FREE.

It is said that the more things change, the more they stay the same. It’s also true, that no matter how much we are separated by time, space or culture,  throughout history humans have invented and enjoyed telling the same kind of  legends. Tales of giants have been told down the ages across Europe, Latin America, much of Asia, India…

The 1760 publication ‘The Modern Part of an Universal History: From the Earliest Account of Time’  is a collection of essays by authors of the period. This passage, which describes  the memoirs of adventurer Sir Edmund Scorey, illustrates that  in long ago Tenerife, the Guanches also told tall tales of giant ancestors.  And according to the writer’s description of the desecration of the ‘corpse’, yesterday’s travellers showed no more respect for the culture of others than many do today.

The Guanches of Tenerife, in particular, were well-made, handsome, and robust; nay, in general, of a gigantic stature. There was, in Scorey’s time, the skull of one of them to be seen in the sepulchre of the Guimar kings, which had eighty teeth, and the skeleton of the body measuring fifteen feet; but Scorey does not pretend that he had seen it; and it is probable it was little more than the tradition of the natives, who might have such tales of their ancestors as are common among the vulgar of all countries.

Several gentlemen being one day employed in hunting a rabbit, the little animal run into a cave, and was pursued by one of the company, who, upon entering in a hurry, was terrified with the sight of a corpse of a gigantic stature. His cries alarmed the company; but, before their arrival, recollecting that it was a sepulchral cave of the Guanches, his fears were dissipated. Upon this, he cut off a piece of skin from the breast of the body, which your author had seen, and affirms was softer, smoother, tougher, stronger and more pliable, than the best-prepared kid-skin which probably was no other than the goat-fleece in which they wrapped the embalmed bodies.

We are the more confirmed in this opinion, because a sensible gentleman of the faculty, after residing twenty years in the island, had, with the utmost difficulty, access to the sepulchral caves. This is a favour scarce ever granted, and not attempted without leave, but at the risk of one’s life. He obtained permission, and was even conducted to the tombs, in consequence of the esteem of the people, which he had gained by several services he had done for them in the way of his profession. The following story, which he relates, seems, however, to corroborate the testimony of Scorey.

Related:

Tenerife Time Travel – El Pico Del Teide