Recipient Dr. Roger Blench
Date 01 February, 2021
Amount £770 (Travel Grant)
Summary The settlement of the Canary islands is generally thought to have been by Berbers from the Maghreb. However, from which part of North Africa, and when, remains hotly disputed.

Moreover, the archaeological material culture from each of the seven islands is strikingly different. This variability remains unexplained though it has been partially mapped in local museums. The author has explored the sites and museums of Gran Canaria, and is seeking funding to visit the other islands and museums to put together a more plausible and coherent model of the relations between the archipelago and the North African coast.

There is, moreover, a thriving culture of local publication in Spanish on each island, and in many cases these books are not represented in UK libraries. An additional function of the trip would be to build as comprehensive a collection of these books as possible to assist in evaluating the variability in material culture.