Quest for Atlantis: Lost Kingdoms, Buried Treasures and Mysterious Artifacts

The Guanches were the first known inhabitants

of the Cary Islands, of the coast of Northwestern Africa,

but their true origins have long been a mystery

to archeologists.

They were accomplished astronomers

and for some their mummification rituals linked them

to the ancient Egyptians.

Whilst for others their legends suggest they could even be

surviving inhabitants of Atlantis.

New scientific evidence may have found the truth about these

mysterious people.

Recently, archeological excavations revealed

that the inhabitants of the Canary Island traded with Rome

and new DNA evidence has shed some light on the origins

of the population.

The Canary Islands are an autonomous community

of Spain consisting of an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean,

southwest of the Iberian Peninsula,

and 76 miles off the coast of Morocco.

The eight main islands are Tenerif flight of Ventura,

grand Canaria, Lanzarote, la Palmer lag

El Hiro and lag.

The Canary Islands are volcanic islands

and are essentially the peaks

of a huge volcanic mountain range now partially submerged.

The first historical record of the islands

so far discovered is from the first century Roman

writer Pliny The Younger.

An expedition to the islands was apparently sent by Dubber

ii, the Roman Klein king of NewMedia

and Mauritania in around 30 BC

under the Roman Catholic Republic and Empire.

NewMedia consisted of a part of Africa north of the Sahara,

corresponding roughly to the modern Western Tunisia

and Eastern Algeria.

It was during this expedition

that the islands got their name of the Canary Islands

because of the multitude of large dogs found there.

The Roman word Canis meaning dog.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, we hear nothing

of the islands for hundreds of years until

around a thousand AD where the Arabs landed

and traded with the inhabitants of Grand Canaria.

In 1150 AD the Arab geographer Mohammed Al Idrisi

compiled the first official account of the population

of the islands, which consisted of short descriptions

of sailors and accounts.

At the time, during the 15th and 16th century, Spain

and Portugal began colonizing the Americas

and Africa stopping off at the Canary Islands.

Along the way, when they arrived on the Canary Islands,

they encountered a culture

that resembled the neolithic cultures of prehistoric Europe.

Complete Spanish conquest

of the islands was completed in 1496

and they became a vital Spanish base on sea

roots to the Americas.

As a result of Spanish colonization, the diseases introduced

by the European conquerors

and the slave trade by the native Ches

of the island chain were decimated losing

much of their culture.

In the process. By the 19th century,

the Canary Islanders had even lost their language as it came

to be replaced by Spanish.

There are still, however, some reminders

of the once thriving culture of the Gans

of the Canary Islands.

The Ches, the Ches were the first known inhabitants

of the Canary Islands, the indigenous people.

When the Spanish arrived there in the 15th century,

they lived mainly in natural caves

or occasionally built low stone huts

and small fortifications.

The Ches lived off farming

and herding had a diet which included milk, goat, pork,

and fruits and dressed mainly in goat skin, leather, tunics,

and vests made of plated rushes.

Archeological research suggests

that they were organized in a tribal society ruled

by chieftains or kings.

The goche were not skilled sailors, and

therefore the culture of each

of the Canary Islands developed differently.

In Tene, for example,

the Gus civilization was divided into nine small kingdoms

each led by a ruling.

Mensey caves were also used for grain storage

and as temples and some are still preserved today

and demonstrate the sophisticated astronomical

knowledge of the Goche.

The most impressive of these structures is risk.

Al-Qaeda, a vast cultural site covering

around 18,000 hectares on the island of Grand Canaria.

The archeological site consists

of 21 caves containing significant rock art believed

to relate to magical or religious beliefs

and fertility rituals.

One of these caves has a small opening in its roof

where light enters from the summer solstice to autumn,

allowed sunlight and moonlight to enter the caves

and illuminates symbolic engravings on the walls.

Because of this, many archeologists think

that risk Qaeda could have been used

by the prehistoric inhabitants as a primitive,

astronomical clock.

Over the years, there have been a number

of fines made in the Canary Islands,

which suggested some sort of contact with the Roman world.

In 1964,

the Roman amphora storage jar was discovered in waters off

Lanzarote, and since that time,

other examples have been found underwater.

None, however could be securely dated.

A few years ago, however, excavations on the island

of Lanzarote uncovered the first securely dated evidence

of Roman trade with the islands.

Investigations at the prehistoric settlement of El Berro

yielded around a hundred Roman pot shards, nine pieces

of metal and one piece of glass.

The artifacts were found in archeological levels,

which indicate that they dated between the first

and fourth centuries ad legends of Atlantis

and ancient Egypt.

There are numerous legends surrounding the native people

of the Canary Islands.

Some believe they were somehow related to the Celts

or perhaps even the Vikings, others,

that the cones were descended from the inhabitants

of the mythical land of Atlantis.

In this theory, Cape Verde, the Azores, Madeira

and the Canary Islands would be the remains

of this legendary sunken continent.

A more recent theory connects the first settlers

of the Canary Islands with the Burber Canary tribe.

The Gus have also been linked to ancient Egyptians, perhaps

as a colony of that civilization

because of their habit of mummifying their dead.

It is a fact that the Goche use similar methods

to the ancient Egyptians when preserving the remains

of their high ranking citizens.

After the mummification process,

the bodies were buried underground or inside caves.

Unfortunately, many of these mummies were stolen

or looted by later grave robbers.

Though some have managed to survive, the mummy

of Madrid is perhaps the best preserved of the GU mummies

as its careful embalming kept its organs intact

and even preserved the man's hair.

The man who died during his early thirties was mummified

between the 11th and 13th centuries ad just a few centuries

before the Spanish invaded the Canary Islands

new DNA evidence.

In June, 2019, it was announced

that DNA studies had resolved many

of the outstanding questions

regarding the origins of the gans.

Dr. Linus Gerland Flink, a researcher at Liverpool,

John Moore's University in the uk who was part

of the research team stated previous studies

of the ES relied on single genetic markers such

as the mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosomes.

These markers often lack the analytical precision needed

to resolve finer levels of population history.

By sequencing autosomal DNA, we gained unique insights

to the ancestry and origin of these populations.

The researcher team generated the genome wide sequence data

and mitochondrial genomes from 11 guang individuals

originating from archeological sites in grand area

and 10 leading author of the study Dr.

Ricardo Rodriguez Varella,

a researcher at Stockholm University, explain the results

of the team's fascinating study

by generating the first autosomal genetic data from these

populations, we can conclusively demonstrate

that the Gus were most closely related

to modern North Africans of Berber ancestry than

to any other population we included

for comparisons supporting previous studies,

but adding more detail and nuance.

The study was also able to show that the modern habitants

of Gran Canaria inherited between 16

and 31% of their genomic ancestry from the Ches,

the burber spread throughout North Africa more than 3000

years ago, occupying what is today the area from Libya

to the Sahara Rosa free girl,

a geneticist at La Laguna University

who took part in the research said of the results.

Thanks to DNA analysis we've been able to dispel the notion

that the Gus were practically vikings tall,

blonde and blue eyed.

Everything indicates that they came from North Africa

and were physically similar to the Berber white skin

with a tendency to an olive complexion

and brown eyes that could be light colored.

In some cases, cliches and legends.

Not withstanding the ancient inhabitants

of the Canary Islands were not so different from today's,

but the question is, if the original inhabitants

of the Canary Islands came from North Africa, how