How an archaeologist and a goat stopped the construction of 350 million euro resort

The promoters of the Cuna del Alma tourist ‘village’ in El Puertito de Adeje on the south coast of Tenerife, have been given permission to continue with the works to urbanize 430,000m² of a ravine and one of the few beaches on the island that have managed to stay out of the reach of mass tourism, after work was stopped due to protests, an archaeological find, and a small goat.

The works, whose total cost exceeds 350 million euros, are continuing on 98% of the plot, but have been stopped in the remaining 2% by order of the Territorial Planning and Historical Heritage Directorate of the Tenerife Cabildo, who have confirmed that part of some archaeological remains has been destroyed after carrying out two inspections of the area.

Cuna del Alma plans to build more than 400 luxury villas, hotels, restaurants, swimming pools, beach clubs, spas, and other infrastructure such as a 20,000m² orchard next to the Adeje Protected Nature Reserve Site of Scientific Interest.

In addition, the beach is located in a protected marine strip, the Teno-Rasca Special Conservation Zone, with a very rich marine biodiversity, especially in cetaceans.

Behind this macro project, there are two Belgian investment families (Vandermarliere and Van Biervliet) who have "a strong portfolio of real estate projects, both in Belgium and internationally", according to the group the day the start of the works was staged, even though in reality the works had started at the beginning of May.

Sixto Domingo García, the president of the Tegüico Heritage Association, which filed the complaint that led to the precautionary stoppage of the works at Cuna del Alma, explained that he found some Guanche remains on the site “purely by chance”.

The discovery was made on May 14th, the day a demonstration, which was attended by about 500 people, was held on the El Puertito beach to protest against the construction of the tourism macro-project. After it had finished, García decided to walk along the cliffs near the beach with his pet, ‘an orphan goat.’

In the middle of the arid landscape of yellow rocks and cacti, he spotted something on the surface and said he got worried because right there in plain sight were some Guanche remains that would have been there for centuries, but no one seemed to have noticed their presence, or they had chosen to ignore them.

The team that makes up the Tegüico Heritage Association then made a report of the finding, explaining that everything was visible to the naked eye without any prospecting necessary, which they presented to the Cabildo, who ordered a precautionary halt to the works.

However, García doesn’t know exactly what has been destroyed by the ground clearing work, because the Cabildo hasn’t provided that information yet and the Canary Islands Government of the haven’t received the file from them.

Once these documents arrive, sources from the High Heritage Inspection of the regional Government explain, that it will be necessary to “review all the information and carry out an inspection of the area. Once there, we will have to check and assess the damage caused, and if applicable, an infraction would be processed accordingly.”

"We know that there are quite a few archaeological sites in that area," insists the president of Tegüico, “throughout the southern part of the island, but especially where Cuna del Alma will be located, there are remains such as stone engravings, structures such as cabin bottoms and surface material, such as ceramics, or obsidian artifacts, he explains.

Regarding the relevance of these vestiges, he is blunt: "For us, anything in the Guanche world is fantastic." Therefore, he says he does not understand that whoever carried out the initial inspection "did not take this finding into account."

The works of Cuna del Alma began with a license from the Adeje City Council and then it was Tegüico's complaint that forced the intervention of the Cabildo, which confirmed that part of a site had been destroyed. They also claim that the Cabildo knew of the presence of items of historical interest after two reports in 2014 and 2017 were unfavourable for the construction project.