Zanata Stone

The Zanata Stone (Spanish: Piedra Zanata), also known as the Zenata Stone, is a small stele with engravings. The tablet is presumably of Guanche origin. It was found in 1992 near a mountain known as Montaña de las Flores (Mountain of the Flowers) in the municipality of El Tanque, located in the northwestern part of Tenerife, Canary Islands.

Zanata Stone
The Zanata Stone
LocationArchaeological Museum of Tenerife (Tenerife, Canary Islands)
TypeGuanche Tifinagh stele
Dedicated toGuanche Berber religion

The Zanata Stone depicts a kind of fish. According to Rafael Gonzalez Antón, the director of the Archaeological Museum of Tenerife, its characters appear to be in Tifinagh. The latter alphabet is descended from the ancient Libyco-Berber script, and is used today by the Tuareg.[1]

The Zanata Stone seems to have been related to the magical-religious traditional faith of the Guanches. It has been dated to between the Fifth Century BCE and the Seventh Century CE.

Some Guanches of Tenerife were also known as Zanata or Zenete, or "those with a cut tongue". The Zanata Stone is currently in the Archaeological Museum of Tenerife (Santa Cruz de Tenerife).[2]

See also

References
  1. Mitchell, Peter (2005). African Connections: Archaeological Perspectives on Africa and the Wider World. Rowman Altamira. p. 177. ISBN 075911501X. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  2. The Zanata Stone (in Spanish)


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