GUIMAR TENERIFE

On the border between the green north and the dry south, Guimar lacks charm but is an authentic Tenerife community with few tourists. Up the slope behind the town stand six curious large mounds, the enigmatic Tenerife step pyramids. Ancient Guimar was a place of importance to the Guanches; it's certain that the chieftain at Guimar had high status, for that was still true when Spanish colonists first began to settle here.

First studied in 1990 by Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl, the six rectangular mounds were once deemed to be no more than piles of volcanic stones cleared from nearby fields by the locals. However, Heyerdahl's excavations showed that the structures are carefully built, arranged in large steps, with a smaller staircase climbing to a ceremonial platform on top. They are aligned with the summer and winter solstices, and closely resemble similar structures in Egypt and Mexico. This adds evidence to the theory that the Guanches were Berbers strongly influenced by ancient Egypt, but more tentatively suggests the Canaries were part of a prehistoric transatlantic route.

The pyramid area is now enclosed within an ethnographic park, with a visitor centre, Casa Chacona. One pyramid has been restored and visitors can decide for themselves what to make of the mystery, which archaeologists are still studying.