Prehistory and history of the Balearic Islands: Minorca

Amidst the waters of the western Mediterranean Sea lies a small, remote island that is an entire world of its own—full of wildlife, history, legends, mysteries and conflicts: Minorca. It is one of the four Balearic Islands, the others being Majorca, Ibiza and Formentera, along with many minor islands and islets close to the biggest islands, such as Cabrera, Dragonera and S’Espalmador.

Megalithic constructions of Minorca date back over 4 millennia into the past, and range from dolmens to the pre-Talaiotic, Talaiotic and post-Talaiotic cultures—times of which barely no written sources exist, and ruins are virtually the only testimony. During the Archaic Period, the Phoenicians that sailed near Minorca to reach their colonies could see bonfires shining from the top of the defensive towers, called talaiots, that littered the Minorcan landscape. Minorca is unique in its primeval quality, due to the tremendous amount of magnificent megalithic and cyclopean ruins, like navetas, taulas and talaiots, which always seem to blend in so harmoniously with its surroundings.