On September 21, 1571, Lanzarote once again looked to the sea with fear. Seven galleys from Salé and about 400 landing troops, under the command of the corsair Dogalí, known as "El Turquillo," arrived on the island and disembarked in Arrecife. From there, they advanced towards Teguise, then the political and administrative center of Lanzarote, without encountering resistance capable of preventing their advance. The town was sacked and its parish church burned. The raid lasted until October 7 and, according to historical documentation, left numerous captives.
This September 21, 2026, exactly 455 years later, history once again has an appointment with Lanzarote. But this time, no galleys are arriving from North Africa. Archaeologists are arriving in the south of the island. San Marcial de Rubicón begins its seventh excavation campaign today, five weeks of research aimed at continuing to uncover one of the fundamental sites for understanding the beginning of permanent European presence in the Canary Islands.
The coincidence of dates allows us to look at two completely different moments in the island's history. In 1571, Lanzarote was a vulnerable island to corsair raids. In 2026, the same island becomes a research territory to reconstruct, through archaeology, how a new era of its history began.
A landing that once again demonstrated Lanzarote's vulnerability
Dogalí, nicknamed "El Turquillo," had organized an expedition in Salé consisting of seven galleys and around 400 men. On September 21, 1571, they disembarked in Arrecife and set off for Teguise. Historical research documents that the expedition remained in Lanzarote until October 7.
The episode occurred just two years after another traumatic attack. In 1569, Calafat of Salé had attacked Lanzarote with an even larger force. The succession of raids made evident the island's defensive fragility and caused a deep sense of insecurity among its inhabitants.
When Dogalí arrived in 1571, the population's response was to seek refuge. The Count of Lanzarote, Agustín de Herrera y Rojas, retreated with some of his men to the Guanapay Castle in Teguise. Other inhabitants sought protection in places like the Cueva de los Verdes.
The attackers managed to reach the Villa de Teguise, sack it and cause significant damage. The expedition returned to the sea on October 7th with captives and goods obtained during the raid.
The attack also changed the history of defenses
The episode of 1571 cannot be understood in isolation. Lanzarote had suffered previous attacks and would suffer them again later. Corsair pressure forced a rethinking of the island's defense and increasing attention to its main access points.
Arrecife thus acquired ever-increasing strategic importance. The port, which would eventually become the main urban and commercial hub of Lanzarote, also had to be protected against incursions from abroad.
The history of Lanzarote was marked for decades by this contradiction: an island open to the Atlantic and, at the same time, exposed by that same ocean to attacks, raids, and captures.
And long before Dogali there was Rubicón
When "El Turquillo" landed in Arrecife in 1571, San Marcial de Rubicón had been part of the European history of the Canary Islands for almost 170 years.
The enclave located in the current municipality of Yaiza is linked to the expedition of Jean de Bethencourt and Gadifer de La Salle, who arrived in Lanzarote in 1402. Archaeological and documentary research considers San Marcial de Rubicón the first permanent European settlement in the process of the conquest of the Canary Islands. The enclave later achieved city status.
That foundation turned the southern tip of Lanzarote into one of the decisive scenarios of the transformation that the archipelago would undergo during the 15th century.
There lie the traces of a society that began to form from the contact between the indigenous inhabitants of the islands, the Europeans who arrived with the conquest, and populations from North Africa.
That is why Rubicón is not just an archaeological site in Lanzarote. It is a place from which the birth of a new Atlantic society can be studied.
A city that begins to appear underground
Excavations carried out in recent years have identified different structures related to that settlement: a tower-fortress, a church, wells, residential areas, and a necropolis.
The methods used are not limited to opening trenches. The research combines historical documentation, stratigraphic excavation, surface prospecting, geophysics, and underwater archaeology.
In previous campaigns, geophysics made it possible to locate buried structures and subsequently verify some of them on the ground. Among the findings, masonry structures, 15th-century occupation levels, aboriginal and colonial ceramics, hearths, and a section of a wall almost two meters thick related to what historical sources call the Castillo del Rubicón were identified.
The research has also made it possible to study everyday objects that help reconstruct what life was like in that first European settlement.
Among the discoveries, a set of coins located during the 2021 excavations stands out. The scientific study of this finding considers it the first documented sample of the beginnings of monetary circulation in the Canary Islands.
Seventeen individuals and a story that can also be read in the bones
The Rubicón research has entered an even more revealing dimension in recent years: the study of human remains found at the site.
During the different campaigns, burials corresponding to the 15th century have been located. In 2023, ten individuals appeared; in 2024, three more were located, and during the sixth campaign, another four were recovered, bringing the total number of documented human individuals to 17 so far, according to information provided by the Yaiza City Council.
These remains are not just funerary testimonies. They allow for the study of chronology, diet, diseases, living conditions, kinship relations, and geographical origin.
Research published in 2026 on five individuals from San Marcial de Rubicón has also provided bioanthropological and paleogenomic information. The study identifies European ancestry in male individuals that can be related to Andalusian populations who arrived on the island during and after the conquest, while the studied female samples show North African ancestry compatible with Moorish populations transferred to the islands.
This is one of the great contributions of Rubicón: the history that for centuries had been told through chronicles and documents is now also beginning to be reconstructed through material and human remains.
Rubicón also looks towards the sea
The investigation is no longer limited to the land space.
Archaeological surveys have extended to the coast between Punta de Papagayo and Playa de las Mujeres, where underwater archaeology work has been carried out to investigate possible remains related to the Franco-Norman expedition that initiated the process of conquest of the Canary Islands.
The expansion towards the sea adds another dimension to the project. El Rubicón was not an isolated place: its existence was directly related to the ocean and to the vessels that transported the protagonists of that process to Lanzarote.
September 21, 2026: archaeology returns
Today, September 21, the seventh archaeological research campaign of San Marcial de Rubicón begins.
The work will last for approximately five weeks and will be carried out through the collaboration of the Government of the Canary Islands, the Yaiza City Council, the
University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and the University of La Laguna. The four institutions have also extended their agreement to guarantee the continuity of research for the next two years.
The objective is not simply to find new remains.
Every wall, every fragment of pottery, every coin, and every burial can provide another piece to reconstruct what that settlement, born in the early 15th century, was like.
The project is also advancing towards a future objective: to turn the enclave into a site archaeological park, with criteria for conservation, research, dissemination, and controlled visits.
Two September 21s, two ways of looking at history
In 1571, the sea brought Dogalí and his men to Lanzarote. The island suffered looting, fire, and captivity. The population sought refuge, and the authorities understood, once again, the need to reinforce their defenses.
In 2026, the same calendar brings archaeologists, researchers, and students to Rubicón. The difference could not be greater.
455 years ago, Lanzarote tried to protect what it had from those who arrived by sea.
Today, it tries to recover, precisely from its coasts, what time has hidden.
Dogalí arrived in Lanzarote to take part of its history. Four and a half centuries later, archaeologists return to Rubicón to recover it.
And perhaps that is the best way to understand this calendar coincidence: on September 21st, Lanzarote was the scene of an incursion that left destruction and captives; another September 21st, 455 years later, the island opens the earth to find the traces of how one of its most decisive stories began.
Sources:
• University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, historical studies on the incursion of Dogalí, "El Turquillo," in Lanzarote in 1571.
• Academic study on the North African invasions of Lanzarote during the 16th century. • Government of the Canary Islands, archaeological research project of San Marcial de Rubicón.
• Archaeology and Medieval Territory, study on San Marcial de Rubicón and the beginning of monetary circulation in the Canary Islands.
• Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, study of bioanthropology and paleogenomics of the population of San Marcial de Rubicón, published in 2026.
• Government of the Canary Islands, underwater archaeological surveys in the surroundings of San Marcial de Rubicón.
• Yaiza City Council / information on the seventh archaeological campaign planned for September 21, 2026.
• Government of the Canary Islands, results of the sixth campaign and future archaeological park project.
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