GIAP (ICAC) Researcher Francesc C. Conesa is presenting today in Tenerife (Canary Islands). He will talk about his recent investigations into the historical network of fire beacons on the island of Tenerife. For centuries, the beacon signalling network was the island’s first line of defence against pirates, privateers or Crown enemies. The beacon network was set in place during the early colonial period in the 16th century. It lasted until the arrival of modern cable communications through the 19th century, and it primarily used fires and smoke signals.
Over the last year, a joint team of ICAC and the University of La Laguna explored the Anaga Mountain range and the hills around Santa Cruz and La Laguna. To locate the visible remains of the beacon network, the team employed remote geospatial analysis on high-resolution orthophotos and historical maps, combined with the quantitative study of textual sources.
The talk is part of a three-day workshop series hold to celebrate the 127th anniversary of the Semáforo de Igueste, a unique building in the Canarian archipelago that dates back to the end of the XIX century that was used as the central communication station between the ships at sea and the harbour of Santa Cruz for decades.
See more here -> https://icac.cat/en/actualitat/noticies/2021/giap-investigates-a-network-of-historical-fire-beacons-in-tenerife-canary-islands/
Francesc C. Conesa is a Beatriu de Pinós postdoctoral fellow with the project Automated detection and monitoring of endangered archaeological sites at global scales using Big Earth Data, cloud-computing workflows and Artificial Intelligence. (2020 BP 00203). Beatriu de Pinós, Agaur, Generalitat de Catalunya.
