MAB – Where the Benahoaritas Come to Life

Anyone visiting the petroglyphs of La Zarza, the pottery of Mazo or the Belmaco cave and wanting to understand more – anyone looking for context for all the stone and buried remains left behind by La Palma’s original inhabitants – should start at the MAB. The Museo Arqueológico Benahoarita in Los Llanos de Aridane is the most modern and complete museum on La Palma’s prehistory: not a cabinet of display cases, but a reconstructed way of life.

The MAB doesn’t just show finds – it tells a story. In well-designed rooms with interactive displays and reconstructions, it answers the question: how did the people live who came to this island more than 2,000 years ago and stayed until the Spanish conquest in 1493? What did they eat, how did they live, how did they bury their dead?

What the Museum Shows

Archaeological Original Finds

The centrepiece is the original finds from excavations across the whole island: pottery made using the characteristic coil technique (without a wheel), stone tools made of obsidian, bone implements, remnants of leather. As modern comparisons show, Benahoarita pottery changed hardly at all over more than 1,500 years.

Burial Rites and Mummies

One of the museum’s most striking chapters is devoted to the burial customs of the Benahoaritas. The indigenous people buried their dead in caves, sewn into animal skins – a technique that led to natural mummification. The MAB displays genuine mummy and skeletal finds from cave graves, complemented by explanations of Benahoarita social structure and worldview.

Diet and Daily Life

Gofio – roasted, ground grain that remains a Canarian staple to this day – was also central to the Benahoaritas’ diet. Alongside it: goat’s milk and meat, seafood (limpets), wild fruits and berries. Using reconstructions and experimental finds, the museum shows what the indigenous people’s everyday cooking looked like.

Why Visit the MAB Before the Archaeological Sites?

The sites themselves – Belmaco, La Zarza y La Zarcita – show what the Benahoaritas left behind: stone, spirals, silence. The MAB provides the interpretive framework. Anyone who visits the museum first and the sites afterwards sees more there: you know who lived in these caves, what they ate, how they thought. The recommended order: MAB first, then Belmaco or La Zarza.

Practical Tips for Your Museum Visit

Parking in Los Llanos

Ideal Starting Point for Archaeological Discoveries

Allow Time for the Visit

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

The Benahoaritas and Their Society

The Benahoaritas lived in a society without rigid hierarchies—there was no monarch, written law, or standing army. Decisions were made by councils of elders, land was communal property, and personal belongings were limited to individual items. The goat herds that populated La Palma’s slopes were their most important asset.

The transition to adulthood was marked by ritual: young people were initiated in caves and had to pass tests that proved their strength, endurance and knowledge. The MAB explains these initiation rites using archaeological finds and comparisons with other Canarian cultures.

What Came After the Conquest

The Spanish conquest of La Palma in 1493 marked the end of Benahoarita culture as an independent society. Most survivors were enslaved, forcibly baptized, or absorbed into the lower strata of colonial society. Within a generation, the original language, Benahorí, had nearly died out. What remains are the petroglyphs, the pottery and the genes – genetic studies show that a significant proportion of today’s La Palma population has Benahoarita ancestry.