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Trepuco
talayot
near Mahon
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Torre
d'en Gaumes
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Son
Agusti Vell
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19 
Chapter - 3 Prehistoric Minorca
20
Talayots
Talayots sometimes occur in two
or threes as part of a prehistoric township, but are also found in isolation.
They are vast truncated cones of giant stones, as much as 10m high, with
a diameter of from 15m to 20m. Like the talayot at Trepuco just outside
Mahon, most appear to be quite solid. They are the only megalithic buildings
on the island of which similar ones exist on Majorca, although the latter
are much smaller, and of different design. Comparisons have also been made
with the giant Nuragh towers of Sardinia, but these could be distant 'cousins'
only. Minorca has about 200 talayots, so that they were clearly important.
While those on elevated sites, as
at the ancient township of
Torre d'en Gaumes (near Son Bou,
Alayor), were probably watch or defence towers, some had a central chamber
and could have served a double purpose as the residence of a Bronze Age
chief. An excellent example of this is at Son Agusti Vell (on a farm near
San Cristobal) where a corridor leads to a central chamber which has three
pillars and a corbelled roof of large stone slabs, with some original olive-wood
beams, possibly 3,000 years old. Talayots show no evidence of a superstructure,
though they could have had one of wood and wattle. If this were so, the
chief's dwelling could have been on top, the lower chamber being used for
animals and stores, as is common practice today in old Spanish farmhouses.
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