Insects in the far West: Burial practices on El Hierro Island (Canary Islands, Spain; ca. 6th-11th centuries) reconstructed via funerary archaeoentomology

Abstract

The Canary Islands were first settled by North African groups in the first millennium CE and, after a few centuries of interconnections with the mainland and between islands, remained isolated until the late medieval European expansion into the Atlantic. El Hierro is a small island located in the westernmost part of the archipelago that was inhabited by the bimbapes from the 2nd century CE until the 15th century European conquest. The archaeological records, including marine food processing sites and cave burials, illustrate their adaptation to the environment: the dependence on marine resources for its economy owing the island's isolation and the scarcity of arable land and the use of the natural landscape to dispose of deads. La Lajura Cave, a collective burial site used from the 6th to 11th centuries CE, revealed significant anthropological and entomological findings. The archaeoentomological analysis of the sediment samples revealed 5816 insect remains, primarily Diptera and Coleoptera, with relatively small numbers of Hymenoptera, Heteroptera, Lepidoptera, and Arachnida. These findings shed light on decomposition processes and funerary practices as well as the distribution of the cadaveric entomofauna present in the western limit of the Palearctic region before the modern era. This study highlights the role of insects in cadaveric decomposition and their ecological behaviors, offering valuable insights into the funerary practices of Bimbape society in a unique ecological context.