Josefa Hoque, a Spanish photographer, took pictures of them and, soon after, they were found dead.

Ms Hoque, 39, is the first documented case of “human sacrifice” in the Americas and there is a lot of debate about whether human sacrifice was common in the American colonies before Columbus arrived.

But that wasn’t what drew her to the burial at La Vergne – instead, she found a grave that was more in line with the beliefs of Indigenous people.

“The first thing I wanted was to see if there were bones lying around in the ground – what were they for – because we are the Indigenous people,” she told the Guardian.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A stone in the ground at La Vergne, north of Barcelona. Photograph: Youssef Belkacem

The Spaniards, with their high technology and the knowledge they were capable of bringing over – they wanted to discover the new world for themselves

“I think this case should convince the country that they, as European, were not alone in this new frontier.”

But while it has garnered a lot of attention, it’s also sparked a lot of debate around the new indigenous practices and beliefs at La Vergne.

While the Spaniards, with their high technology and the knowledge they were capable of bringing over, wanted to discover the new world for themselves, many in traditional indigenous communities do think the Spaniards were at best inhumane and at worst racist.

La Vergne

La Vergne is an isolated area of Spain’s Canary Islands, close to the Caribbean. With limestone hills and cliffs, it’s a serene setting and the beach is often an important spot for families.

According to locals, the majority of La Vergne’s residents are indigenous and many of the more prominent families are associated with the Zapotec and Zapotec Zapatista communities from north-western Mexico.

The area was inhabited by hunter-gatherers before the arrival of the Spanish in the 1500s, when settlers began to colonise the area, according to one resident who asked not to be named.

“There is no such thing as ‘the Spanish’ in this area. The Spanish were people from the Old World who arrived here,” he told the BBC.

“If you go into La Vergne, you will see people dressed in traditional clothes. The traditional