Puntos de Interés
Culture
Old Threshing Floor
Tenerife's cultural and ethnological heritage is immense. On the last stage of the Anaga-Chasna Nature Trail you will reach an area where you can admire the remains of some of the places used in the traditional agriculture of the area.
This is the case of the threshing floor. As you approach the hamlet of Ifonche, and up to the end of the path, you will find several examples of circular threshing floors. These are circular, cobbled plots of land where the cereals were threshed and then winnowed to obtain the grain.
This type of site was usually built close to cultivated areas, as is the case here, and on a slight slope. This prevented these structures from becoming waterlogged during the rainy season. For this purpose, small, thick walls were also built to surround and protect them. Normally, this space was paved and, for this purpose, a variety of materials were collected, mainly medium-sized pebbles, although slate slabs or tiles could also be used.
High places were perfect for this type of construction, as farmers could take advantage of the gentle and constant winds that facilitated their work when separating the grain from the straw, once the threshing was finished.
Although the procedure for threshing the ears of grain could be done by hand, animals were usually used to help crush the straw. They tended to be oxen or horses attached to each other. The farmer was in charge of guiding the animals, which sometimes had to drag a wooden board with stone slabs, pebbles or even small metal saws.
After threshing the grain from the ear, it was then separated from the chaff. This was done by taking handfuls and throwing them into the air on windy days. By doing so, the grain would fall in the same place, while the straw flew away thanks to the wind.