Menorca is much more than a beach destination or a strategic enclave for gastronomy and bio-sustainable tourism. The Balearic island continues to stand out, and it does so for different reasons. One of them is because this is one of the most powerful archaeological sites in the world with unique prehistoric constructions. This was certified by UNESCO in September 2023, when it included Talayotic Menorca on its world heritage list. Unsolved mysteries and hundreds of theories to be devised, and to this day, sites continue to be discovered, studied by the best professionals in the world, and which bear witness to the occupation of the island by prehistoric communities.
The structures dating from the Bronze Age (1600 BC) and the Iron Age (123 BC) show the evolution of a “cyclopean” architecture of large stone blocks. We are referring to medium-sized stones fitted together dry, without the aid of mortar. We cannot understand the history of the island without giving due value to the stone. In fact, it is the relationship with this element that shapes the history of the Balearic Islands. “In the Mediterranean, in places where there is cattle, there is a very easy-to-use instrument to control it with stones, and we are referring to slings,” explains the professor of Archaeology Margarita Orfila Pons. “The Talayotic people made very good ropes, as remains have been found that attest to this. The chroniclers of the time already referred to the fame of the Mediterranean and Rhodes slingshot throwers, who stood out above all the armies. The Carthaginian army, in particular, always recruited people from the Balearic Islands. They trained from a young age and could throw as much as three football fields.” In fact, “ba’lé yaroh”, In Punic, it means “to throw”. Thus, the origin of the name Baleares translates as “the masters of throwing”. Classical authors such as Pliny the Elder or Diodorus Siculus have referred to them countless times in their chronicles.
However, it is the island nature that marks the cultural development in both Menorca and Mallorca. In total, we are talking about 1,600 prehistoric sites including talayots, navetas, tablestombs… Of all of them, the talayots are the ones that best represent the island’s prehistoric culture. But what does this enigmatic construction consist of? They are circular dry masonry buildings that can reach 10 metres in height and whose function is still not very clear. Some archaeologists believe that they had a defensive function and when this was no longer necessary, their use for burials began to be outlined.
Of the prehistoric sites in Menorca, these are the ones that historian and archaeologist Martí Carbonell highlights, and are a must-see on any trip around the island.
Torralba d’en Salort
Torralba d’en Salort It is made up of two talayots, one table (table), a unique hypostyle hall, several prehistoric houses, a cyclopean wall, silos and hypogea dug underground. Astronomer Juan Antonio Belmonte Avilés highlights the connection with Egypt through the sky. “It must be noted that Sirius, the brightest star towards which the table “The Torralba statue was a major seasonal landmark in Egypt, for example, where it was also an avatar of the goddess Isis. The discovery of Egyptian pieces in the excavations is suggestive, but we cannot go much further,” he concludes.
Galmés Tower
Galmés Tower It is one of the most complete structures on the island and the largest settlement in Menorca (66,240 square meters). Talayots dotting the landscape and a table facing the sea and the Southern Cross. Nearby is a dolmen that evokes past migrations: Ses Roques Llises. Its privileged location, on top of a hill, made it an ideal place to maintain territorial control of a good part of the southern Menorcan coast.
Naveta des Tudons
It owes its name to the shape of an inverted ship. This type of construction is the best preserved in Menorca and one of its archaeological icons. Added to this was the discovery in the 1960s of hundreds of skeletons that were buried with their personal belongings and trinkets using curious rituals, which has made the Naveta des Tudons the best-known funerary monument on the island.
Talayotic settlement of Trepucó
Very close to the city of Mahón, the talayotic village of Trepucó It is emerging as one of the most majestic villages, with a talayot and a table of large dimensions. It was reused until medieval times and the buildings were adapted to Roman fashions. This is one of the sites that was excavated around 1930 by Margaret Murray, a British archaeologist and pioneer of scientific research into the prehistory of Menorca.
Calescoves
Prehistoric necropolis very picturesque with about 90 caves dug into the rock of the cliff walls and the coast in an impressive natural setting. Used as an anchorage (especially between the 4th century BC and the 6th century AD), it is essential for understanding the world of the dead. It was also a place of pilgrimage.
They are Catlar
Talayotic settlement delimited by an imposing defensive wall, to the west of the island.
Centaurs and strange phenomena
“The astronomical orientations and visual interconnections between prehistoric structures indicate the existence of networks with possible cosmological meanings,” concludes UNESCO regarding Menorcan archaeological heritage. Astrophysicist Michael Kosher has been fundamental in understanding this connection, as he believes that these enclosures have a strong interrelation with Osiris and the Centaurus constellation. Prehistoric people believed that it was these hybrids that began to evolve, to think and to identify plants that helped with certain ailments. This creature was called Chiron.
The sky was observed and known a lot in prehistoric times and is somewhat mysterious because the stars change their position over the years. Today, in order to study the past, astrophysicists have to restore the firmament of that time. A milestone of the Talayotic period that can still be observed is the archaeoastronomical phenomenon of So Na Caçana, which consisted of the celebration of the winter solstice, which would mark the end of the wheat sowing period on the island. During the shortest days of the year, the sun’s rays illuminated the area in front of the pillar on which the deities were placed.
“The phenomenon is now perfectly observable,” says archaeologist Irene Riudavets. “We observed it during the winter solstice of 2020, when this part of the building was covered with opaque plastic, recreating the roof that the building would have had originally, in order to generate the necessary darkness. The ray of light became very clearly visible.”
The hotel that has created the talayotic menu
Mahón can be a perfect starting point for the route and thus be able to explore a multitude of sites scattered throughout the island. To celebrate the UNESCO designation, the Cristine Bedford hotel, together with the young promise of Menorcan gastronomy Pau Sintes, has created a very original Talayotic menu (on request) that pays homage to the first settlers. He is only 24 years old, but Sintes can already boast of having been crowned the Best Young Chef in Europe 2022 with a simple dish, but with strong local roots: stuffed aubergine.
You can try a starter called “Tiro con honda” (Slingshot), which consists of a stone-shaped cheese fritter with capers from the island. This first course, cooked using a primitive fire technique, is followed by “Ancestral Roast Lamb.” For dessert? “Apple Dry Wall,” a tribute to Menorcan architectural style.
Understanding the archaeological monuments, rising majestically from every corner of Menorca, must also be understood as an artistic manifestation that inspires all disciplines, including gastronomy. Menorca never ceases to surprise and inspire.
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