The Styrous® Viewfinder: Las Taulas y los Talaiots de Menorca, Espaňa

June 17, 2022

Las Taulas y los Talaiots de Menorca, Espaňa

Thirty-three years ago this month I saw for the first time one of the wonders of the ancient world which is never mentioned, the monoliths, megaliths and structures on the island of Menorca, in the western part of the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Barcelona, Espaňa.

monolith

A talaiot, or talayot, is a Bronze Age megalith found on the islands of Menorca and Majorca forming part of the Talaiotic Culture or Talaiotic Period. Talaiots date back to the late second millennium and early first millennium BC. There are at least 274 of them, in, near, or related to Talaiotic settlements and the Talaiotic chamber tombs known as navetas.

Naveta

Some Talaiots are thought to have had a defensive purpose, the use of others is not clearly understood. Some believe them to have served the purpose of lookout or signalling towers, as on Menorca, where they form a network. Talaiots pre-date the megalithic structures known as taulas (each stone of these structures weigh tons) which are usually found nearby.

taula

The Spanish word for table is mesa; Taula is the Catalan version, although, only a gegant (link below) would be comfortable sitting at one of these.

Taulas can be up to 5 metres high and consist of a vertical pillar (a monolith or several smaller stones on top of each other) with a horizontal stone lying on it. A U-shaped wall often encloses the structure.

They were built by the Talaiotic culture between 500 BC and 300 BC. Their exact cultural meaning remains unknown, but they probably had religious and/or astronomical purposes. Most of the taulas face south, which seems to suggest some astronomical meaning.

The word megalith was first used in 1849 by the British antiquarian Algernon Herbert in reference to Stonehenge and derives from the Ancient Greek words "mega" for great and "lithos" for stone. Most extant megaliths were erected between the Neolithic period (although earlier Mesolithic examples are known) through the Chalcolithic period and into the Bronze Age.

While "megalith" is often used to describe a single piece of stone, it also can be used to denote one or more rocks hewn in definite shapes for special purposes. It has been used to describe structures built by people from many parts of the world living in many different periods (link below). The most widely known megaliths are not tombs. However, there are some on Menorca that are underground.

Humans have been known to exist on Menorca since at least 2000 BC, perhaps even earlier. Some experts suggest the first seafaring people to arrive were of the eastern Mediterranean, such as the Minoans in Crete. The period during which their culture would flourish and evolve would become known as the Talayotic period of Menorca. The Talayots would thrive there for thousands of years until the arrival of the Romans in 123 BC.