Holidays To Tenerife Experience The Mystery Of The Pyramids Of Guimar

In Tenerife, the biggest island in the Canaries in the Atlantic Ocean, is a charming town called Guimar. As part of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife province, it is situated at the southeast area of the island. It can be reached via the new TF1 Motorway superhighway. It is also connected with the older highway that also links up Arona and Santa Cruz City.

What is so unusual about Guimar that makes it a worthwhile destination when enjoying holidays to Tenerife? Well, Guimar, especially the district of Chacona, is the site where the enegmatic Pyramids of Guimar. Distinct from the pyramids of Egypt, the Pyramids of Guimar is a variety of six rectangular terraced structures that are constructed out of lava stone without using mortar. Locals said that these structures are used for agriculture thousands of years ago. But modern excavations and studies have proved that they might be more than just structures for agriculture.

The Pyramids of Guimar were first earnestly studied by Thor Heyerdahl, an adventurer and publisher. He explained that since the Guimar pyramids posses a similar architecture to the pyramids in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, the Guimar pyramids may be a structure used for ceremonies.

After a year, Canary Institute of Astrophysics archaeologists Juan Antonio Belmonte Aviles, Antonio Aparicio Juan, and Cesar Esteban Lopez had a separate study. They observed that the longer sides of several of the terraced pyramids pointed to the direction of the planet's solstices. They also observed that by setting foot on the highest point biggest pyramid at daytime during the summer solstice, one may see a sunset twice on the same day. An individual standing on the pyramid's platform can see the sun go down behind a mountain summit, emerges from the side of that mountain, then goes down the second time around behind a neighboring mountain. Other pyramids have stairs that point to the place where the sun goes up on both solstices. Therefore, they guessed that the structures were old apparatus of some sort for astronomical observation and study.

Then in the years between 1991 and 1998, excavations just near the structures revealed old remnants of potteries. Therefore, they believed that the pyramids were once old markets where sellers display their items.

What were these pyramids actually for? As of now, their purpose remains a mystery.

Don't forget to see the Pyramids of Guimar in Tenerife when enjoying cheap holidays to Spain.