Archaeology Across Mallorca: Son Fornes
I had the pleasure of visiting a very interesting site today called Son Fornes. Now Mallorca has a very unique prehistoric period known as the Talaiotic period because of these large towers/meeting places called Talaiots. This period is between 900 and 400 BCE and is followed by the Post-Talaiotic period and then the Roman conquest of Mallorca.
Son Fornes is one of the best preserved Talaiotic sites on Mallorca and it is really cool because it was occupied from this period through the Roman period. The even cooler part? The Romans even made their houses to look like the older ones on the site!
So now for some pictures.
This picture shows one of the talaiots and some of the houses.
This is the inside of the talaiot not pictured above. Basically, they are circular towers with one single column in the middle. Archaeologists think that these were religious of politic meeting spaces because of the large amount of drinking cups found in them.
Most of these buildings have side entrances, the one above does not because it was filled in (something to do with structural integrity) so this one was entered from the top by stairs (which you can see on the left).
Here is the entrance to the other one for reference. The space is not tall enough for me to stand in (I'm 5'7") and I think this really brings to mind the pedras formosas of mainland Spain. Maybe this doorway was deliberately small so that it was a ritualistic gesture to enter the enclosed space (yes, these would have been taller and would have had a roof).
Now this is the Roman house and though the gravel is new just look at the preservation of these houses! They are so well preserved we can see the stove, the water cistern, the storage area and the central hearth and pillar! This is amazing!
So if you have some free time check out some of the artifacts from the Talaiotic period! You won't be disappointed!