These facilities house an archaeological interpretation centre, thanks to the discovery in April 1972 by the shepherd Salvador González Alayón of an archaeological site on the El Monte estate, belonging to the Alfonso Calzadilla family, which was called the ‘Guargacho ceremonial and housing complex’. Initially, studies concluded that it was a place of worship and ritual, related to rites of a propitiatory or gratifying nature, with animal sacrifice and collective banquets. Subsequent research has interpreted it as an aboriginal housing complex. In 2011, the Guargacho Interpretation Centre opened its doors, an area of 150 m2 which reproduces quite accurately how a pre-Hispanic site may have been configured. From the beginning, the aim of this centre has been to make known the archaeological remains discovered by the shepherd by chance, and which later passed through the hands of the Director of the Archaeological Museum of Tenerife, Luis Diego Cuscoy. Currently, in the Archaeological Interpretation Centre you can see remains of pottery, fragments of vases, necklace beads, obsidian (tabonas) and basalt instruments, bone awls and needles, as well as samples of terrestrial and marine fauna. The space is completed with a glassed-in area where informative panels and videos have been incorporated. This centre is an indisputable point of reference for its cultural, archaeological and heritage wealth, as well as for the importance of this project at an island level, as it is one of the first Archaeological Parks in Tenerife.
