Script mixing on ancient Fuerteventura and Lanzarote

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Inhaltsverzeichnis
(der kompletten Print-Version)
Franz Trost
Erzählungen der Twareg am nächtlichen Lagerfeuer ......................................... 7
Alain Rodrigue, Francis Auvray, Jean-Pierre Levallois & Mado Villet
New rock engravings at Imaoun (Morocco) .................................................. 45
Enrique Gozalbes Cravioto & Helena Gozalbes García
Nuevos datos sobre el círculo megalítico de Mezora (Marruecos) ................ 55
Hans-Joachim Ulbrich
Script mixing on ancient Fuerteventura and Lanzarote ............................. 69
Andoni Sáenz de Buruaga & Mark Milburn
Documentation of burial practices around the
Tingefuf E-1 goulet (Dougaj, West Sahara) .................................................. 87
Pablo Martín-Ramos, Jesús Martín-Gil, María del Carmen Ramos-Sánchez,
María Teresa Periáñez-Ramos & Francisco Javier Martín-Gil
Sobre las puntas de flecha procedentes del noroeste
del Sáhara (especialmente, aterienses y neolíticas) ..................................... 101
Marcos Sarmiento Pérez
Las investigaciones de Richard Greeff en Lanzarote en 1866-1867 ............ 113
Susan Searight-Martinet
Nomenclature of engravings of axes in Moroccan protohistoric rock art .....131
Hans-Joachim Ulbrich
Canarian "pyramids" revisited – are they pre-Hispanic or recent? ............. 139
Georgia Lee, Paul Horley, Paul Bahn, Sonia Haoa Cardinali,
Lilian González Nualart & Ninoska Cuadros Hucke
Secondary applications of rock art at coastal sites
of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) ........................................................................ 157
Hartwig-E. Steiner
Eine Kult-Höhle auf der Osterinsel
am Kratersee ›Rano Aroi  / Rapa Nui, Polynesien ...................................... 211
•
68MMALMOGAREN 46-47/2015-2016
Ulbrich, Hans-Joachim (2016): Script mixing on ancient Fuerteventura and
Lanzarote.- Almogaren 46-47 / 2015-2016 (Institutum Canarium), Wien, 69-86
Zitieren Sie bitte diesen Aufsatz folgendermaßen / Please cite this article as follows:
ALMOGAREN 46-47/2015-2016MM69
Almogaren 46-47 Wien 2016 69 - 86
Hans-Joachim Ulbrich
Script mixing on ancient
Fuerteventura and Lanzarote
Keywords: Canary Islands, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, late antiquity, Berbero-Latin,
epigraphy, rock inscriptions
Abstract
On the eastern Canary Islands of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote one can observe several
ancient scripts engraved and punched into the rocks: Libyco-Berber, Latino-Canarian and
probably Neo-Punic. Striking is that there exist lines which combine or mix Libyco-Ber-ber
and Latin characters in different ways. The aim of the paper is to describe these vari-ations
and to propose a name ("Berbero-Latin") for this category of Canarian epigraphy.
Resumen
En las Canarias orientales Lanzarote y Fuerteventura pueden observarse diversas inscrip-ciones
antiguas rayadas o piqueteadas en la roca: líbico-bereberes, latino-canarias y presu-miblemente
también neopúnicas. Llama la atención la existencia de líneas de inscripciones
que, de diferentes maneras, combinan y/o mezclan signos latinos y líbico-bereberes. El
objetivo del presente artículo es describir estas variantes y proponer una denominación
("bereber-latín") para esta categoría de la epigrafía canaria.
Zusammenfassung
Auf den östlichen Kanarischen Inseln Fuerteventura und Lanzarote kann man mehrere an-tike
Schriften beobachten, die in die Felsen geritzt oder gepunzt sind: Libysch-Berberisch,
Latino-Kanarisch und vermutlich auch Neo-Punisch. Auffallend ist, dass Schriftzeilen exis-tieren,
die auf unterschiedliche Weise lateinische und libysch-berberische Zeichen kombi-nieren
bzw. vermischen. Ziel des Aufsatzes ist es, diese Varianten zu beschreiben und einen
Namen ("Berbero-Latein") für diese Kategorie kanarischer Epigraphik vorzuschlagen.
Introduction
Scripts which influence one another are well known for antique North Africa.
The high grade of script manipulation, however, which we will discuss here
has only faint parallels on the continent: for example the Libyque de Bu Njem
from Tripolitania, a rare version of an early Libyan script influenced by Ro-man
writing (Rebuffat 1992; for changes of writing directions see Ghaki 2013:
22). Also for Libya Kerr (2010) describes Punic texts in Latin script (including
two extra signs), the so-called Latino-Punic, formerly Latino-Libyan. Fur-
70MMALMOGAREN 46-47/2015-2016
thermore in the Constantine area there was used Greek script for Punic texts
(Greco-Punic). On the southern Iberian Peninsula we find the libiofenicio
(Span.) with Latin influenced Punic/Neo-Punic on coins (Solá Solé: 1980) and
the Greco-Iberian alphabet in the region of today's provinces Murcia & Ali-cante,
a Ionic script variant modified for Iberian use (de Hoz 1998). These
different methods of adapting scripts to a local situation – considering politics,
geography, ethnics, commerce, communication, social affairs etc. – was also
applied in a very special way to the eastern Canary Islands, as we will see.
"Mixing" means therefore, regarding Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, not only
to mingle graphemes of different scripts but also to implement own writing rules
in someone else's script system. Who were the people who acted like this?
Antiquity and especially its late phase on the islands of Fuerteventura and
Lanzarote (F/L) is most probably characterized by visits of North-African lichen
collectors and fishermen (the latter coming also from the south of the Iberian
Peninsula) who brought some previously unknown cultural goods to the islan-ders:
e.g. writing scripts and speaking new words belonging to certain Berber
dialects, to a part of the Roman language (1) and on a very small scale to Phoe-nician
too (Ulbrich 2004, 2015b) (5). These new words overlayered an older lin-guistic
stratum which came to the islands by the first, non-African colonists.
The mentioned lichen collectors (2) more than likely married into the ab-original
pelagic societies of F/L and advanced the formation of a kind of pid-gin
which was used in the daily life (Ulbrich 2004: 40). This mixture of diffe-rent
languages also shows up in a highly liberal use of characters (signs) and
writing rules. Parallel we find a wide variety of symbolic and iconic elements
in the rock art (Ulbrich 2015a) which had developed already earlier as part of
a largely old-Mediterranean culture with Neolithic remains.
The epigraphic situation on the eastern Canaries
On rocks of Fuerteventura & Lanzarote we find the following writing systems:
• Libyco-Berber, a summarizing term for North African and Canarian scripts
of different Berber (Imazighen) groups, prior to the mediaeval and modern
use of the Tifinagh script. Differences can be watched among Libyco-Berber
inscriptions of the Canary Islands regarding 'writing' (scratched, carved or
punched), writing direction (horizontally   or  / vertically   or ), chro-nology
(style of the signs) and statistics of the used signs. For their varying
graphical appearance on F/L see Table 2 in Ulbrich (2012), which shows that
not only one homogenous Libyco-Berber group was involved.
• Tifinagh (Tifina ), not Neo-Tifinagh. This script reached the Canary Islands
through Berber slaves, caught on the nearby African continent (15th-16th
ALMOGAREN 46-47/2015-2016MM71
centuries) to work as cheap helpers in households, agriculture and livestock
holding (herdsmen). Especially the latter – spending much time in the na-ture
– let strongly suppose that some Libyco-Berber rock inscriptions are
in fact Tifinagh. This compelling aspect of the Canarian Libyco-Berber epi-graphy
is by no means researched satisfactorily; and it seems that most
scholars are dismissing this because of a onesided afinity to antique Berber
origins. Nevertheless we have at least two clear cases of Tifinagh on Lan-zarote
(Ulbrich 1990: 105; Ulbrich 1998: 105, 115-116).
• Latino-Canarian (3), a special form of the Latin Cursive practised on F/L
(Tables 1-2). There it displays a remarkably free style of writing; either with
normal character pitch (Roman) or with notably slim signs (non-Roman),
including sudden changes of width and/or height within a word, using many
uncommon ligatures and allographs and gladly ignoring rules for writing
directions (Table 4 with Neo-Punic influence  ). We observe also graphical
dependencies between different signs (fig. 7). This points to three distinct
groups of authors which use either normal width (figs. 10-11), a mixed nor-mal/
slim style (figs. 4-6) or only a slim style (fig. 7). On the rocks we can
distinguish also three realization variants: written by scratching (superfi-cially)
(4), engraving (deeper lines) or punching (rare, fig. 11). Latino-Cana-rian
has normally a clear visual appearance, not using serifs and often avoi-ding
curves – not comparable to most Latin inscriptions of North Africa,
especially not to the monumental ones. Epitaphs etc. are missing on F/L.
• Neo-Punic. While the existence of Neo-Punic inscriptions on Fuerteventura
can be described as nearly assured, the presence on Lanzarote is discussible.
On both islands the occurrence is fragmentary and extremely rare. It seems
that the lichen collectors and fishermen who were familiar with Neo-Punic
applied more the Latino-Canarian script (e.g. for writing their personal names)
(5), thus influencing its graphical design towards a narrow ductus with high
graphemes (figs. 4-7, 9), used by several groups on F/L. The Phoenician/
Punic influence on both islands is still not researched fully.
• Berbero-Latin. This new category is proposed and discussed in this paper.
A certain number of inscriptions on Lanzarote (example in fig. 8) and to a
lesser extent on Fuerteventura is documented but not deciphered, due to
strange graphemes and uncommon writing styles. Maybe that there are waiting
some surprises for linguists in the future, when more inscriptions of these
types are found. Clearly regions besides North Africa have to be factored in.
What qualifies for Berbero-Latin?
The Latino Canarian (LC) and Libyco-Berber (LB) scripts interact so closely
on F/L that it is – in my opinion – downright necessary to describe this phe-
72MMALMOGAREN 46-47/2015-2016
nomenon more precisely. This interaction manifests itself, up to now, as follows:
(A) A horizontal or diagonal line of basically Latino-Canarian signs, including
vowels; at least one Libyco-Berber (or LB influenced) sign contained.  / 
(B) A vertical line of Latino-Canarian script (signs stay vertical), vowels used;
no, one or two Libyco-Berber sign(s) contained; to be read from top to bot-tom
or from bottom up.  / 
(C) A vertical line of Latino-Canarian script (signs stay vertical), no vowels; to
be read from top to bottom or from bottom up.  / 
In other words: It is problematic to describe particularly the Berbero-Latin
Types B and C as 'normal' Latino-Canarian script (see Tables 5-7).
To write the denomination of one of the three Berbero-Latin variants it is
suggested to put it like this: "Berbero-Latin-A" etc.
Not included here is an apparently Punic influenced LC-style with no LB
signs, fully or partly consonantic and with an – in some cases – unclear writing
direction (left/right or right/left); see also Table 4. Examples:     and    
(Lanzarote);     ,     and      (Fuerteventura). Nevertheless the example for
a Latin name – "Titus" in Note (1) – is clearly written from right to left.
Graphical, statistical and semantical observations
The width of the BL signs normally resembles the one in LC lines which
can be compared with the letter-spacing of the Latin Cursive as written in the
Roman Empire. But several LC lines change to or exist of signs with small
width and bigger height. This shows in figs. 4-7 & 9-10. For this slim LC or BL
type a Neo-Punic influence was proposed by Ulbrich (2004: 36; 2013: 17).
The most replaced Latin sign in BL lines is S because it is sometimes writ-ten
in Latin and antique Berber very similarly (Latin   ↔ Berber  ); see Tables
1, 3 & 6-7. Neither Latin /z/ nor the various Berber sibilants seem to have played
any role in the LC/BL inscriptions. This looks like a kind of condensation of
the sibilants towards one sign (a general agreement of the community ?).
Main signification of the ca. 20 BL phrases are personal names or abbrevi-ations
of these. I emphasized the existence of short-names in various papers,
the last time elaborately in Ulbrich (2012). The languages used in BL are Ber-ber,
Latin and perhaps Phoenician too. Words of the substratum cannot be
excluded. Some lines are not yet transcripted securely; not to speak of secure
translations which are up to now only possible in one case (L009).
Some texts have Berber u[w]/ua[wa] – "son of ...", "...x's son", "the one
from..." – as prefix or suffix; here L003, L004, L008, L010, F002, F005, F007,
F008, F010, F011. This underlines their meaning as personal names and possibly
as a geographical denomination. Phrases with ua-/-ua could be bilingual.
ALMOGAREN 46-47/ 2015-2016MM73
The generally lax handling of the antique scripts on F/L reflects too in the
way the various Berbero-Latin lines were executed. Horizontal mirroring of
graphemes, the use of newly invented ligatures, the gladly application of allo-graphs
and last but not least the combination of signs of different scripts in
one line shows that rules were not taken seriously or were simply ignored.
Conclusions
The above mentioned list of the "Berbero-Latin" variants shows that this
term is less the name of a single script but rather the name of a category of
script using. It is apparent that the cursive Latin script on F/L has been influ-enced
partly by Neo-Punic people and parallel or sometimes subsequently by
Berbers too, resulting in Berbero-Latin.
Judged by the number of Berber elements in the epigraphy of Fuerteventura
and Lanzarote (LB, LC, BL) there arrived more Berber people in antiquity
than visitors of Punic origin. This aligned the lexicography on both islands
towards a Berber dominated vocabulary which contains Latin and Phoenician
words only in second place. This indicates also that no genuine Romans were
involved in a significant dimension! Additionally some cultural traces of the
truly aboriginal, non-Berber/non-Punic settlers have survived (not a topic here).
All this implicates that the ancient entrepreneurs who sent the lichen col-lectors
to F/L put emphasis on a communication among the labourers which
based on the Roman script and language (1) – quasi a "Berufssprache" (Ger-man),
a "job language" or jargon. And we can deduce that these businessmen
had their main office in a port of the Roman North African coast or at least
near it. Such activities can be placed chronologically in the first half of the
first millenium CE (Ulbrich 2015b: 62).
Without doubt the forms of mixing and modifying scripts, described here
as "Berbero-Latin", are rare if not unique in the Mediterranean/Northwest
African context. Linguistic liberality seems to have been the general motto.
This newly formed, in parts Berber oriented culture on Fuerteventura and
Lanzarote was the one which the first Europeans came upon in the 14th century.
Notes:
(1) Most of the lichen collectors seem to have been Romanized Berbers and
Punics, as several Roman words in the old-Canarian toponymy of Lanzarote
indicate (Ulbrich 1995). Furthermore we have LC inscriptions on Lanzarote
which could well be Roman names: On the Montaña Tenezar we find    	 
[rianu] = "Arrianus" (Ulbrich 1996: Fig. 49) and on Las Peñitas near Las
Breñas       [  titu] = "Titus". Latin -(u)s in Punic/Neo-Punic inscriptions is
often unconsidered (examples in Röllig 1980: 292-293; Jongeling & Kerr
74MMALMOGAREN 46-47/2015-2016
2005). Another Roman word was found by Pichler (1995: 33) in the Barranco
del Cavadero, Fuerteventura:  	 

 [vetus] = Engl. old, experienced etc.
Pichler thinks of "the old (man)". A LC inscription near a libation channel
on the top of the Montaña Guardilama, Lanzarote, shows       [diu] = Lat.
"divus", Engl. god (Ulbrich 2002b: 47). See also here fig. 3 with a LB
inscription influenced by Latin and line L009 in Table 6. Possibly a potsherd
from Fuerteventura contains LC script (Muñoz Amezcua 1995: 614).
(2) The discovery of higher quantities of shells of Stramonita haemastoma
sea-snails and of some Roman pottery on the Isla de Lobos (between Lan-zarote
and Fuerteventura) led to the discussion if there existed a production
of purple, besides the collecting and processing of lichens. In my opinion it
is not cleared if this species – compared to the classical Murex sea-snails of
antiquity – could deliver enough purple dye to maintain a professional pro-duction
place.This sea-snail could well be used as nutrition, thus building
up a 'normal' shell midden (Span. conchero). By contrast dying lichens can
be harvested not only at coasts but everywhere on F/L. Moreover the Lobos
island shows up to now neither rock inscriptions nor any rock art.
(3) The German term "Latino-Kanarisch" (Latino-Canarian) was coined by
the late Werner Pichler, researcher of the Institutum Canarium (Pichler
1994). Pichler thought that it would be helpful for linguists to be able to
name a script which was different to the other known forms of cursive Latin
because of its special design found only on F/L. Contrary to that Canarian
scholars use the term "líbico-canario" for the Latino-Canarian script which
is an unfelicitous denomination because the basic Latin character is not
expressed and because it can be misunderstood as if being solely used by
Berbers (líbicos), what is definitely not the case (Ulbrich 2013) (5).
4) In deeper carved lines the patina may look darker, dependent of the micro-climate
directly at the panel and of certain biological processes. For
example, on Lanzarote we have scratched LB and LC inscriptions with a
comparatively bright patina which are definitely not faked. So the patina is
not always a reliable indicator for the relative age of inscriptions on rocks.
(5) On Fuerteventura we find for example       (anibal) = "Hannibal" (Pichler
1994: 208-209, 215); and on Lanzarote     (fau) = "Fau", a masculine Car-thaginian
personal name (Ulbrich 1999: 67-68 / if not Lat. "Faustus").
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76MMALMOGAREN 46-47/2015-2016
        	
    
                  
           
       
	         
                 

  
   	     
       	   
       
             
                                             	   
             
        
  
         
                         
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Ulbrich, Hans-Joachim (2002a): Eine bedeutende Felsbild-Fundstelle auf Lanzarote
(Kanarische Inseln): Argana Alta bei Arrecife.- Almogaren XXXII-XXXIII / 2001-
2002 (Institutum Canarium), Vienna, 251-274
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Vienna, 7-24 (PDF available too)
Ulbrich, Hans-Joachim (2013): Ostinseln – Benennung der altkanarischen Schriften.-
IC-Nachrichten 95 (Institutum Canarium), Vienna, 16-17 (PDF version)
Ulbrich, Hans-Joachim (2015a): Design elements of the prehispanic rock-art of Lan-zarote,
Canary Islands (revision 2013).- Special Publication 3 (Institutum Canarium),
Vienna, 39 p. (PDF)
Ulbrich, Hans-Joachim (2015b): Communicating with the gods: superstition on Fuerte-ventura
and Lanzarote.- Expression 10 / December 2015 (ATELIER Centro di ricerca
per l'antropologia concettuale), Capo di Ponte (Brescia), 62-65 (PDF)
=      @    
  
       
ALMOGAREN 46-47/2015-2016MM77
  (1x)
  (only in ligatures)
lib.-berb.: -us/Vok. ?
A
  (4x)
   
      (only in ligatures)
 
lib.-berb. -us/Vok. ?
A
A
N, h, (LB) z
The Latino-Canarian signarium – graphemes & allographs
Transcription both islands (F/L) only Fuerteventura only Lanzarote
A
E
I / Y
O
U / V / b
L
R
M
N
p
B
D
T
G
K
F
S
        	 

 
 

  
     
 
   	

     

 
     
         
     
   
  	 
    
 
  unverified
   


         
 
       
     
   
 
   
   
 ! "       #
$
 
 
      %
         
&      
'
!
  "
        (
) * ! " #  $
#
$
%   & ' '
Extreme allographs and "exotic" signs:
Transcription Fuerteventura Transcription Lanzarote
Table 1
Remarks: There are strong hints that the Latino-Canarian signs 
 (normally /u/ or /v/), % and  
were used in certain words for a fricative which fluctuated between /v/, / / and /f/. 
 can appear
as   when scratched into a panel while bent downwards over the upper edge of a rock (see also
Table 4).   can appear as 	 when   was mirrored vertically, what is possible on F/L (dito  	).
        
$
   $
78MMALMOGAREN 46-47/2015-2016
AU, AN
AN
ait / aet
NA / nt
TU, A
MU
AR
RU / su
mt/auta
ta/ti
UT, A, uf
AM
AMA, ana, aua
AT
ATU
NB (prob. NiB)
UA / na
uan / ma
MA
MAN/mau/nau
UD
UN
unt/nut
UR
US
At/ax/a
ir
( ) &
*
+
, - ' .
- (
/ 0 1
2 +
3 )
*
4
5 6   
+
7
,
8
9 :
;
< (3 x)
,&
Transcription both islands (F/L) only Fuerteventura only Lanzarote
- fragmentary
.
=
>
? unverified
   
/ 0
@ A B
C
	
1 D
2
 
3
E F
Table 2a The Latino-Canarian signarium – ligatures
        
ALMOGAREN 46-47/2015-2016MM79
AL
AUT
tutu
en, an, uta / nt
um
tumu
et, n
DM
- I
J unverified
K unverified
L
M
N
  
 
.
Table 2b The Latino-Canarian signarium – ligatures (continued)
Transcription both islands (F/L) only Fuerteventura only Lanzarote
:;< 6789
Transcription both islands only Fuerteventura only Lanzarote
Libyco-Berber signs in Berbero-Latin texts
S
Y
(probably vowel)
M
K
R
O 4 P
  5
 
 
Q
 
Table 3
R
:;< 6789
.
S
Table 4 Writing directions of Latino-Canarian inscriptions
Horizontal Horizontal Diagonal Diagonal Vertical Vertical
)          
      ' 
 
  
        =    3#  
 
                
    
       	   
         
        
       +    
         
  ,* =        
        
          ,   

    
           +   
 
           
  ,      
 
      
 +          * 
➜
➜
➜
➜
➜
  +   
                  
 
 
 +  #  * *   +      
  
                 *
  +   
                  
 
 
 +  #  * *   +      
  
                 *
 "
 "
 "
 "
 "
:;< 6789
 "
 "
 " ➜
:;< 6789
Table 5 Writing directions of Berbero-Latin inscriptions
Horizontal Horizontal Diagonal Diagonal Vertical Vertical
➜  
 
  +     
     
           *
  +     
     
           *
➜   
➜
➜
   
   
➜ 
 
➜ 
 
 
"
" 
" 
" 
80MMALMOGAREN 46-47/2015-2016
Inscription Transcription Location
 
  AI   Las Peñitas (Las Breñas)
 
  AI   Las Peñitas (Las Breñas)
    A.Ua
/ AVe   Peña de Luis Cabrera (Mña. Guenia)
    IA.Ua   El Castillejo (Mña. Tenezar)
      R/0 ikisit   Barranco de las Piletas (El Mojón)
  Q 	 T MASENT   Los Roques (Las Breñas)
 
  NB   or BN   Los Roques (Las Breñas)
   	   UA E ?   +  El Castillejo (Mña. Tenezar)
Table 6 - Berbero-Latin inscriptions from Lanzarote
Nr.
 
 
BL-type
Remarks:
L005 - This line is either no script, an unknown script or very hastily executed Berbero-Latin,
judged by the sloppy appearance on the rock (Ulbrich 1990: 112-113, 179). A similar
fragmentary style from Fuerteventura can be seen in W. & P. Pichler (1995).
L007 - NB could be /ni / (see here Remarks/Table 1, Table 2a and Ulbrich 1996: 289, 314, 320)
L008 - This is not the only case on Lanzarote with a mixed writing direction.
L010 - See also fig. 9.
L001
L002
L003
L004
L005
L006
L007
L008
L009
L010
B
B
A
A
A
A
C
A (?)
B
B
	1
 
 Q
  FELIS (Latin "Felix") Cueva Palomas (Femés)
. 
 
 
  UA.RK [sign on top LB] Barranco de Manguia
[sign at the bottom LB]
:;< 6789
Fig. 1 - In the foreground
Los Roques* southwest of
Las Breñas and in the back-ground
the Ajaches Moun-tains**,
two rural regions
of Lanzarote which are a
treasure chest for research-ers
of rock art and rock in-scriptions
(photo: Hans-
Joachim Ulbrich). *L006,
L007 - ** L009.
ALMOGAREN 46-47/ 2015-2016MM81
Fig. 2 - Barranco del Cavadero*, north-eastern
Fuerteventura (photo: Werner
Pichler). Under monument protection,
Bien de Interés Cultural, since 2008.
*F008, F009, F011.
Inscription Transcription Location
        SALUFI   Morro Pinacho
    MY.UA / YM.UA   Montañeta del Sombrero
       IUFAS   Cuchillete de Buenavista
       IUFAS   Cuchillete de Buenavista
     Tn.UA   Morro de Montaña Blanca
ASKA   Montes de Valle Corto
UA.IFA   Montes de Valle Corto
UA.YR   Barranco del Cavadero
Barranco del Cavadero
Table 7 - Berbero-Latin inscriptions from Fuerteventura
Nr. BL-type
F001
F002
F003
F004
F005
F006
F007
F008
F009
A
A
A
A
A
B
B
B
B
        	 
  

  
 
 
     
   
 
    
  
  
Remarks:
F003, F004 - These two inscriptions have clearly a context with the North African per-sonal
name IUVAS (CIL VIII, 7068); a correlation with the Mauretanian king Juba II. (ca.
50 BCE - 23 CE) may exist but is not imperative. See also here fig. 6.
F008 - The upper two signs are LB.
F009 - This is perhaps one of the few sentences in the epigraphy of F/L.
F010 A   	   TAK.Ua   Morro Pinacho
AUNA
 UGUM  
MUG.UA NUA  
F011 A    A T.Ua   Barranco del Cavadero
82MMALMOGAREN 46-47/2015-2016
Fig. 3
Inscription from Argana Alta III, Lanzarote (Ulbrich 2002a: 266).
Fig. 4
Inscription from Argana Alta IV,
Lanzarote (Ulbrich 2002a: 267).
This Latino-Canarian inscription
shows the typical swelling up of the
characters – most likely a Neo-Punic
influence. The transcription reads like
NAIUF, probably a personal name.
The writing direction is clearly dia-gonal
(see also Table 4).
This is probably the only case on Lanzarote where a Libyco-Berber inscription
is completed with a Latin A (therefore not classified as Berbero-Latin). Without
this vowel we must read the vertical line as consonantic PRS   or SRP   ( 
on Lanzarote most likely /p/ and not /f/). Including the vowel we could read
PARS   what could be interpreted as Latin pars (English part, piece, business
share, area, district, direction, clime, species, party, task, appointment etc.).
Perhaps this is one of the few non-name inscriptions of F/L. The sketch shows
the script a bit fuller than in reality to distinguish it from the linear-geometric
elements. For a suggestion of the term "Latino-Berber" it is too early.
ALMOGAREN 46-47/2015-2016MM83
Fig. 5
Inscriptions from Cuchillete de Buenavista,
Fuerteventura (Pichler 1992: 405).
10 cm
Two Latino-Canarian inscriptions
with significant differences in the
height of the signs. The last signs
right hand are twice as high as the
first signs left hand. The transcrip-tions
read like TIMAMASIR and
AUMAKURAN. See also fig. 4
and Table 4.
Fig. 6
Inscription from Cuchillete de Buenavista, Fuerteventura (Pichler 1992: 405).
10 cm
A Berbero-Latin inscription which
shows also signs of different height
within one line. The transcription
reads like IUFAS. See also Table 7.
84MMALMOGAREN 46-47/2015-2016
Fig. 7
Inscriptions from Morro de la Galera, Fuerteventura (Pichler 1992: 439).
The Latino-Canarian part of this panel [AVATI] shows the slim style consistently
in the entire line (read also p. 71). One can also see that 
   is slanted to the left to
fit to the right hasta of the  . This compact Canarian form of appearance of the
Latin Cursive is unique to the whole Roman world! In figs. 4-6 the slim signs
constitute only a part of the line. The vertical lines are Libyco-Berber script.
Fig. 8
Inscription from the Peña del Letrero, Lanzarote (Ulbrich 1990: 128).
5 cm
One of the enigmatic inscriptions from
Lanzarote. Perhaps – only at first sight
– belonging to the Libyco-Berber com-plex.
Engraved vertically in the rock  
(dark patina), but with their slant to the
right the two signs have supposedly to
be interpreted horizontally, like 2 .
Some neighbouring linear-geometric
elements are not shown.
10 cm
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Fig. 9 - The original situation of L010 on the rock, Barranco de Manguia, Lanza-rote
(photo: Hans-Joachim Ulbrich). Definable as Berbero-Latin-B* (Span. bereber-latín-
B*), see Table 6. [* = Type B of the Berbero-Latin script category]
86MMALMOGAREN 46-47/2015-2016
Fig. 10
Inscriptions from Montes de
Valle Corto, Fuerteventura
(Pichler 1995: 31).
This typical Berbero-Latin panel from
Fuerteventura shows not only two
vertical lines (ASKA, UA.IFA  ), but
interestingly also the horizontal Latino-
Canarian version of one of these. We
can suppose that all three lines repre-sent
personal names of old-Mediter-ranean
or old-Berber origin. See also
F006 and F007 in Table 7.
We can observe the normal width of
signs (e.g.  ,  ) in the vertical lines,
while the horizontal line shows – un-suspectedly
– the slim style ( ,   ). The
horizontal version of ASKA is written
with the typical Neo-Punic influence
which LC often shows, while the verti-cal
BL version is scratched under Ber-ber
influence.
10 cm
Fig. 11 - Small inscription from Los Roques
IV, Las Breñas, Lanzarote (Ulbrich 1996:
290, fig. 26). A Latino-Canarian line (IVI)
with "normal" width of the signs; this time
punched. A slim, scratched version of IVI
can be seen in Ulbrich (1990: 125).
On Fuerteventura this punched style exists
too (Pichler 1992: 385, 397, 399, 401;
Pichler 1995: 33-34).
2 cm