Article published in Portal Menorca 2018 magazine

Written by Natasha Were

Menorca has a wealth of prehistoric remains that date back 4000 years. Archaeologist Irene Riudavets shares some insights into the earliest civilisations and suggest the best sites to visit. 

Although talaiots and taulas are often found together, archaeologists believe they were built during different periods. The dome-shaped talaiots, built between 1200 and 550 BC, came first, and most likely marked territories and were used as lookouts. An excellent example, Irene says, is the huge Talaiot de Trepuco just outside Maó, which once covered an area of 5000 m2. 

Compared to elsewhere in the Mediterranean basin, Menorca’s human history is really very short. The first settlers did not arrive until around 2200 BC and would have come to the island by boat, Irene says, bringing with them everything they needed – livestock, seeds, tools - to start a new life here. 

Despite having sailed here, evidence suggests the earliest inhabitants had little love of the sea and did not build boats, fish or live near the coast. All the known pre-historic settlements on the island – of which there are some 1500 - are located inland; the only archaeological site at the coast is Cales Coves, but these caves dug into the cliff face were used to bury the dead. 

The taulas, made from massive slabs of stone, some weighing over ten tons, and placed in a T shape, would have been built sometime between 550BC and the Roman conquest in 123BC. The five-metre tall taula at Torralba d’en Salort is managed by Nurarq, an organisation co-founded by Irene, that works to promote Menorca’s archaeological, cultural and historical heritage.

“During the excavation of the site, archaeologists found remains of fireplaces, an altar and a bronze figure of a bull,” Irene says. “This evidence confirms the long-held theory that taulas were built for religious worship.” In order to help people better envisage what life 2000 years ago might have been like, Nurarq put on a re-enactment at Torralba d’en Salort during the summer months. Actors in costume take the audience on a tour of the settlement which has been recreated as the experts believe it would have looked at the peak of the talaiotic period. 

As no paintings or written records from this period have been found, theories as to why and how these structures were built are based purely on evidence uncovered during archaeological digs. There are no doubt many more ancient monuments still to be discovered and, as the excavations continue, more secrets of Menorca’s past will be revealed.