Torellonet Vell

Main article: Prehistory and history of the Balearic Islands: Menorca

The settlement is one of the largest of modern-day Maó. Sadly its extent is hard to appreciate due to farming and construction works on the norhtern part of an airport. The remains include two talaiots, talaiotic houses, a water collection system, and several hypogaea.

The water collection system was carved into the rock next to the talaiot's wall. It has two cisterns, one of which has two small cavities for decantation, and contained cremics of Iberian and Punic times. During the excavations in front of the talaiot, several houses were uncovered and evidence has been found that there used to be a bronze foundry. A 19 cm-tall figurine of a warrior bearing a Corinthian helmet was discovered near the base of the talaiot, now part of the Pons i Soler collection. An obsidian fragment was also found, which could have only originated in islands of the eastern Mediterranean Sea. In the same area, there is a much smaller and poorly preserved hollow talaiot with a linteled gate of polylithic pillars.

In 1971, quite by chance, an anthropomorphic tomb was found in the fields of Torellonet Nou, known as “es Pasatge”. It had a slab on top which conserved the remains of a human skeleton. Near this find there is a sandstone quarry where the remains of 9 or 10 more tombs can be seen.

Torelló d'en Sintes

Torelló d'en Sintes is a talaiotic house was found on the adjoining field of the talaiot Torelló 1. It has an apsidal floor plan, a flat façade and a double-faced wall. The best preserved part of the house is a courtyard and several rooms around it. In this house, a Roman treasure trove of over 300 bronze and silver coins of the Republican era was discovered.

The talaiot (Torelló 1)

Chronology

Talaiotic Ib (1150-1000 BC) — 700 BC (Talaiotic III)

Dimensions

Structure: 22-24.6 m (diameter) × 10 m (height)

Upper chamber: 6.4-7.2 m (diameter)

Gate: 0.9 m (width)

The most prominent structure of this settlement is a massive and spectacular solid talaiot, the largest and most well-preserved of the Balearic Islands. It is shaped like a truncated cone, more or less of a circular plan. It seems to have a stair against its outer walls that leads to the top.

One special feature is that it still possesses a beautiful linteled gate in its summit, oriented towards the south. This gate used to give access to a corridor connected with a central circular chamber that had radial dividing walls and was covered with large slabs. Today, it is almost completely disappeared, since it was destroyed to install a a geodesic point in the 1950s. Findings in the circular chamber suggest the talaiot had become a sanctuary during the Roman Imperial era, the excavations recovered oil lamps and fine walled pottery.