Guanche mummy of Madrid

Guanche mummy of Madrid.

Guanche mummy of Madrid or Guanche mummy of Barranco de Herques, is a mummy of an ancient Guanche individual, which is now on display at the National Archaeological Museum of Spain in Madrid, Spain.

It is a person of masculine sex only for its excellent state of preservation. Is believed to date from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries AD, and belongs to a man between 30 and 34 years and, according to experts, would be the best Guanche preserved mummy in the world. The mummy was found in Barranco de Herques, south of Tenerife, between the towns of Fasnia and Güímar. He arrived in Madrid in the eighteenth century as a gift to King Charles III of Spain.^[1] It was initially placed in the Royal Library and subsequently in the National Museum of Anthropology. Since December 2015, the mummy was moved definitively National Archaeological Museum of Spain.^[2] The mummy, is the centerpiece of the space dedicated to the Canarian prehistory of the museum.

Just as happens with other antiquities, as the Lady of Elche, the Lady of Baza or outside Spain with the bust of Nefertiti, the Rosetta Stone or the Parthenon Frieze, both the Government of the Canary Islands and the Cabildo de Tenerife have he claimed unsuccessfully since 1976 and repeatedly return to Tenerife this mummy.^[3]

Mummy data

• Gender: male.
• Age: 30 to 34 years or so.
• Culture: Guanche.
• Type of mummification: ceremonial mummy.
• Type of burial: burial cave.
• Location: Barranco Herques between the current municipalities of Fasnia and Güímar.
• Shown at: The National Archaeological Museum of Spain.
• Interesting facts: is considered the best Guanche mummy found to date.

See also

• Guanche mummies of Necochea
• National Archaeological Museum of Spain

References

1. La última momia guanche
2. El Museo Arqueológico Nacional expone la momia guanche
3. El Congreso rechaza pedir el traslado a Tenerife de la momia guanche