Artificial caves in the Balearic Islands

Artificial Cueva (scheme from Sant Vicenç, Mallorca)

Cala Sant Vicenç II fireplace. Access to a side niche visible on the left

Cult cave of Son Ferrer

Entrance from Son Boronat

The artificial caves on the Balearic Islands , known in Spanish as Cuevas (caves), are grottos carved into rock. They have been around since around 3000 BC. Created by the first settlers of the archipelago . Usually it is a cigar-shaped room, which is equipped with an anteroom, a fire pit, bench altars and a different number of near the head niche or near the entrance.

The elongated cueva, rounded at the end like an apse , was transferred to open-air architecture in the subsequent Naveta culture . It was made from 1400 BC. Largely abandoned by the Talayot culture , but reappeared on Menorca with the Taulas and Hypostyloi . Cuevas only have a low entrance opening that can only be crawled through. They were initially described as caves in which people were later buried. As an example, the natural cave Son Boronat ( Mallorca ) is given, where wooden coffins were found. Artificial and natural caves on the Balearic Islands seem to have long been used for cults.

Cults in caves on Menorca

In the 1990s, unique archaeological discoveries were made in the natural caves of Es Càrritx and Es Mussol in the west of the island of Menorca . About 90 m from the cave entrance a hiding place with wood, metal and ceramic objects was found, including wood and horn cylinders with human hair dyed red. A number of wood carvings were found in a small chamber inside the Es Mussol cave, in particular two human heads. The caves were used between 2000 and 800 BC. While creative power initially showed itself primarily under the female sign, it took place around 1200 BC. In the context of the economic and social change on the island, there was also a shift in beliefs. In the Es Mussol sanctuary, a hybrid , half animal, half human, assumed a dominant position.

Although the origins of the first Neolithic settlers, around 4000 BC, BC came to the islands, it is unclear, the shape of the artificial Cuevas points towards the south of France , where the area around Arles enables the most precise architectural comparison. Six kilometers from the Rhone are five artificial caves on the slopes of the Montagne de Cordes at Arles, including the imposing 25 m far driven into the rock, but without findings remained Feengrotte . Another counterpart, albeit in a simpler form (without side niches), was found in the Etruscan necropolis of Mattonara near Civitavecchia .

The Bronze Age "cave sanctuaries" in the Balearic Islands

The Bronze Age of the Balearic Islands differs from that of the Iberian mainland, it can be more closely associated with central Mediterranean islands such as Sardinia and Corsica . Especially on the larger islands of Mallorca and Menorca there was a pronounced Bronze Age culture, while on Ibiza and Formentera a stronger settlement only seems to emerge towards the end of the Bronze Age. Mallorca and Menorca have been settled since the Neolithic , in the Copper Age the dead were collectively buried in natural caves. This custom was also preserved in the Early Bronze Age , but artificial caves were also created, these are called Cuevas .
The oldest of these caves are round and have no passage. Somewhat later caves are then larger with a passage, but still of a rounded shape. After that, elongated chambers with corridors are created. These can be divided into the older caves with a short passage and the younger caves with a long passage, a central ditch and benches carved into the rock face. The youngest caves are elongated chambers laid out with a passage or atrium, which have side chambers or niches.
The rounded caves date back to the Early Bronze Age, which still clearly shows the influence of the Copper Age. Characteristic finds are incised ceramics and V-shaped buttons. The elongated caves show a different range of finds, especially ceramics and riveted daggers, which can be dated to the Middle Bronze Age. The pioneering ceramics cannot be compared with the Iberian mainland culture; parallels can be found more on the central Mediterranean islands. The latest caves are related to the Late Bronze Age, i.e. the Talayot culture . The talayotic culture begins as early as the Middle Bronze Age, as the construction of navetas and prototalayot began here, which in part continued until the Roman settlement. This post-Bronze Age period is called the post-Talayotic period. In the Late and Late Bronze Age, in contrast to the wraparound vessels, spherical vessel shapes and vessels with standing bases predominate, which can be easily distinguished from the round-bottomed early ceramics. Bronze finds are mainly flat hatchets, in the late period small hatchet, tang and riveted daggers, swords and animal sculptures. The finds and the architectural complexes show very little influence from the Iberian Peninsula; a closer relationship seems to have existed with the cultures of other Mediterranean islands and southern France. A brisk shipping traffic, especially between the Balearic Islands and Sardinia is assumed.

The Bronze Age caves in Mallorca

In his work from 1968 Veny names 27 natural caves that were used in the Bronze Age, a number that has surely increased today. The Vernissa cave near Santa Margarita is particularly interesting . Undecorated pottery, an ornate sherd and a triangular dagger were found there. The burials lay in rows, separated from each other by stone slabs under a coarse plaster with the ceramics next to the heads. The dagger was found in the bottom layer. Spherical pots, which characterize the somewhat more developed forms of the artificially created caves, are completely absent, instead a hemispherical shape dominates. Conical and double-conical pots are also represented here, which are rarely found in the artificial caves. The Sa Canova cave is also worth mentioning here. A large number of ornate shards, nine daggers and fourteen bronze stakes were found here. The caves of Cas Hereu near Lluchmayor , Trispolet near Artá, Es Rosells near Felanitx and Cometa des Morts near Lluch brought a particularly large number of finds, especially on bony buttons. Many of these caves continued to be used in Talayotic times, which is shown by the finds of more recent pottery. Particularly important are the three caves in the Deyá region in the northern mountains of Mallorca, which provided some C-14 data. The cave of de la Muertos near Gallard contained burials from different times, these end, according to excavator William Waldren, with a cremation custom in lime. The bottom layer yielded a number of Becker-era sherds together with a conspicuous short-headed skull and some bones that are C-14 dating to 1840 ± 80 BC. BC provided. Nearby, further C-14 dates were made in the Marroig cave , on human remains identified here as secondary burials , found together with simple Bronze Age pottery and a blunt-conical vessel of black color and incisions on the rim. These remains date to 1520 ± 80 BC. The Abri of Son Matge yielded skeletal remains of the Myotragus balearicus the Dama de Son Matge (Lady of Son Matge) and a date to 1870 ± 120 BC. Chr.

There are only a few caves that can be considered residential caves. The caves of Cova Calenta , Coll de Sa Batalla, Confessionari dels Mors, El Bous and Son Torrella are known as dwelling caves because they contained numerous bone and flint tools. Artificial caves seem to have rarely been used as dwelling caves; more natural caves with this range of finds were found.

The construction of tombs carved into the rock for communal burials is a custom that was widespread in the Mediterranean world and will have reached the Balearic Islands relatively early. The two islands of Mallorca and Menorca have a remarkable density of caves, which are probably so numerous due to the geological conditions. Most of them were broken into later, looted or even reused.

The use of natural and man-made caves falls outside the context of the Talayot culture. It has been recognized that they are largely attributable to a pre-Talayotic culture and are also referred to by some authors as the "Balearic Cave Culture" . This pretalayotic can be further subdivided. The natural caves were already used as dwellings and burial sites in the Neolithic, and in the Copper Age (or Eneolithic) artificial caves were cut into the rock. The material from the caves used to be compared to the El Argar culture on the Spanish mainland. In addition to the simple bronze forms, it was above all the kink-walled ceramics that was considered characteristic of the El Argar culture. Today it is clear, however, that the El Argar culture is limited to the south-eastern region of Spain and that the articulated wall material appears a little earlier in many western countries than in Spain itself. Contacts between the Balearic Islands and the mainland may have existed, but the Balearic ones Chronology seems to have remained relatively unaffected by mainland Spanish culture.

Buckled wall ware and flint tools are the characteristic finds of this early epoch. In the 1960s there were some doubts about the existence of this phase, as until then there was only one broken wall fragment from the Bous cave near Felanitx on Mallorca that could be associated with the bell-cup culture . Since then, however, the level of research has improved immensely. Through many excavations in the caves of z. B. Sa Canova near Ariany in the Mallorcan plain and many other sites in this region, the excavations in the caves of Soller and the exploration of the northern mountains yielded extensive ceramic material. The analysis of this ware with its careful decoration, reminiscent of Sardinian and Ligurian ceramics, allows us to assign it to an advanced Eneolithic . Decorated ceramics are losing their dominance and there are undecorated or simply decorated goods, mostly spherical in shape, but also conical or bent-walled. At the same time, bronze came into use. For a further chronological subdivision, the archaeologist G. Roselló Bordoy , who has excavated many caves on Mallorca, developed a three-phase system of the caves themselves. He distinguished a first phase in which the natural caves, which mainly occur in the northern mountain region, were used in which mainly decorated or undecorated ceramics were found, the shape of which the Spanish archaeologists call "blunt-conical". In the second phase, the ceramics are undecorated and there are no conical shapes. In this context there are probably some simple artificial caves. The complex artificial caves are Roselló Bordoy’s third phase, often combined with other caves to form whole necropolises, such as Son Toni Amer and the necropolis of Cala Sant Vicenç . The material here is more complex.

A distinction is made between three types, the third type is again divided into two phases, and a final phase is assigned to the Talayot culture.

Type I The first phase consists of artificial caves with small round chambers without corridors, such as Pont den Cabrera and natural caves such as Son Torrella and Cueva dels Bous. The typical finds are ornate ware and blades made of flint and not bronze.

Type II The second phase; with the typical finds of decorated goods and flakes as well as bronze pentagonal daggers in caves with large round chambers and simple corridors as in Son Suner IX.

Type III Phase a Caves with elongated chambers without burial ditch and short passages or shafts represent this phase in which undecorated ceramics as bowls and pots, as well as bronze awls , triangular daggers and arrowheads occur. Examples are the Sa Tanca and Son Mulet caves.

Type III phase b This includes most of the caves of the necropolises of Son Suner, Son Toni Amer and Sa Mola. These have elongated chambers with a central moat, grave benches and long corridors with double vestibules . Undecorated ceramics in all shapes and unworked chips, as well as bronze awls and daggers can be found as material legacies.

Type III Phase c The last and youngest type denotes caves with outside atria, long corridors with double vestibules, as well as elongated chambers with high ridges, as well as side chambers and niches in the walls. The main finds are undecorated pottery. The caves of Cala Sant Vicens belong to this phase.

Cave 7 of Cala Sant Vicenç is one of the greatest examples of the caves in Mallorca. A very small corridor leads into a small vestibule (the so-called double vestibule), another small corridor leads into the vestibule, on which secondary chambers were created on both sides, and the main chamber adjoining the vestibule. A narrow strip protrudes just below the " barrel vault " ceiling and runs along almost the entire side walls.

The top layers of some caves contained Campanian , Roman and gray pottery from a more recent period. So there is a reuse of the old site in a later time.

The material legacies

The main finds are ceramics, incised decorations are a particularly important element and can be compared very well with the decorations of the cup culture. Undecorated ceramics of the pretalayotic culture could be divided into different forms:

Round-bottomed pots with or without handles, with a flared rim
Bottles with a high shoulder bend and a concave neck
Bowls with a strong belly crease and a flared rim
simple battles
simple bowls
spherical pots
almost conical mugs and cups

File outweigh the rounded shapes, and the articulated wallware comes second. All vessels are made of a coarse clay, more or less gray in color.

Stone finds are mainly axes and rectangular arm protection plates, typical of the cup cultures. Tees and arrowheads complete the picture. Flint blades are quite common, they are often very long and retouched on both sides, they are made of sheet silex, which was probably available on the islands.

Perforated shells, bone beads and disks as well as V-shaped perforated buttons are very well preserved in some caves. The buttons in particular are common and typical of the Praetalayot culture. There are also triangular, prism-shaped, pyramid-shaped, conical and round buttons with side and other perforations. The v-shaped perforations are also found in Catalan, Sardinian and other coastal regions of the Mediterranean and show close connections with these cultures. The prism-shaped and pyramidal-shaped ones occur mainly in the natural caves of the northern mountains and are therefore probably the oldest. The other forms emerge mainly in the artificial caves in the plain. Bone tips also occur mainly in the mountain caves.

Awl can be mentioned above all on bronze finds. Necklaces were found in the Coveta dels Morts. Bronze arrowheads and shafted knives were found in the more recent phases, but it is mainly the daggers that allow a connection between the Balearic Islands and other Bronze Age cultures in Europe. The daggers appear in different shapes: broad-handled, pentagonal or triangular.

The caves in Menorca

There are fewer known caves in Menorca and not nearly as well explored as the Mallorcan ones. In general, as in Mallorca, the caves are cut into the stone, there are different entrance situations, different antechambers and also elongated main chambers with side chambers. Sometimes rock pillars were left within the caves. Especially on the cliffs of the island there are many caves, some of which are natural and some are artificial. They can be primarily associated with the talayotic culture and occur in groups. The caves near Ciutadella also contained some depots that reveal a ritual use of these places in the Talayot period.

The shapes of most of the caves are slightly more developed than those of the Vortalayot period. As a rule, they have a rectangular corridor that leads into them, which is always less than two meters. The chambers are usually irregularly round (between five and ten meters in diameter) and have a central column or side pilasters . A few transverse ribs run from the floor to the middle of the ceiling, which seem to separate the 2 m high room into individual “compartments”. There are also some caves that are very similar to the Mallorcan oval caves, but almost all have these subdivisions of the main chambers into individual areas. Often these caves were interpreted as dwelling caves, since no finds could be made in most of them. There are only a few mentions of former burials, as well as human remains, which make a function of the caves similar to that in Mallorca very likely. Recently, two caves were discovered on Menorca that had remained untouched since their time of use, they provided some spectacular finds and important insights into the use of the caves.

Cova des Carritx and Cova des Mussol

In 1995 and 1997, two natural caves were discovered in Menorca in difficult to access terrain. In the Cova des Càrritx , in the southwest of Menorca, innumerable human bones and evidence of human activities have been discovered that had been untouched there for thousands of years. Among other things, one of the most spectacular finds from prehistory of the Balearic Islands was discovered in a part of the cave that is difficult to access; a depot sealed with a stone slab in which mainly very well-preserved objects made of wood and human hair were found. Only the 1997 find from the Cova des Mussol , located in the north-west of the island, could exceed this find. In a similar natural cave, difficult to access on a cliff high above the sea, a chamber was discovered that was closed by stone slabs, after these were moved to the side there was another depot with clay vessels and wood carvings, two of which had clear human features reveal.

The oldest traces of human activity in the two caves were determined by C-14 analysis from 1600–1400 BC. Chr. Determined. This time meant a time of change on the Balearic Islands, the navetas were built and the last forms of the man-made caves are around the same time. The two newly discovered caves provide an insight into the ideology of this time. In the front area of both caves, the remains of fireplaces were discovered. A number of different woods and plants were burned here, several of which burn badly but are fragrant. B. Rosemary. In the vicinity of the fire pits there were some edible animal remains that did not show any signs of consumption. Large ceramic vessels probably indicate a sacrifice of liquids. Micromorphological analyzes show that the caves were only visited from time to time, and the Es Mussol cave is so difficult to access that it can only be reached by sea in very calm seas. In Es Càrritx, about 100 m from the entrance, the remains of a fireplace were found on a rock slab in which only heather was burned, this does not provide a flame sufficient for lighting but a long-lasting embers. Small human bones, especially the hands and feet of different people, had been thrown into this embers. Nearby there were bones that looked like a complete human hand, but on closer inspection it turned out that one of the bones came from a foot and a hand was "simulated" here. The crevices had been filled in with broken stalactites and human bones. At the end of the cave, 170 m inside, a vase with two knobs stood on a stone pedestal, facing the visitor and reminiscent of a female figure.

Around 1400 the culture on the islands changed, the entrances to the caves were now used as burial places, while the rear parts were no longer accessible. Many caves were closed with a kind of wall. Some of these necropolises were used until the end of the Talayot period, which corresponds to a period of about 600 years. About 200 people were buried in Es Càrritx, an anthropological study found great similarities between the dead and suggests a small social unit of about 13 people living at the same time. Life expectancy for both women and men was between 40 and 45 years, and child mortality was high. It is astonishing that no pathological differences were found between men and women. The additions are just as uniform, especially V-shaped perforated buttons and, more rarely, bronze bracelets. The gifts were not with the dead themselves, but mainly behind the wall at the entrance to the cave. In the Cova des Mussol, another change in the use of the cave can be seen for the year 1200 BC. After the archaeologists had pushed aside the stone slabs from the entrance to the last chamber, they found the head of a zooanthropomorphic being on a rock. It had a human face with two small horns on its head. Another head of a human, presumably male, was found on the wall opposite. The C-14 dating dates the two heads to the 12th century BC. Some researchers believe they can recognize a figure with deer antlers in the zooanthropomorphic head and interpret the figures as part of a rite that was held inside the cave. A change of religion or society, from an originally matriarchal oriented (vessel with breasts) to a patriarchal (male head) is assumed.

In the late Talayot period , the caves were used differently again. From approx. 1050 BC. Changes in the settlement and burial structure can be recognized. Burials continued in Es Càrritx, but the additions changed. Instead of the v-shaped perforated bone buttons, concave buttons, bracelets, hair clips, brooches, needles, pearls , spirals and eyelet neck rings made of bronze were now worn. In addition, the dead were now treated differently. While before 1050 B.C. When the dead simply put the dead into the caves, in which they then decay, the heads were now separated from the body some time after death. The skulls were placed along the walls and partially stacked. The head now assumed a new meaning, because a depot inside the cave can also be seen in this context. A complex of finds made up of several cylindrical wooden, horn or leg containers which contained dark, wavy human hair, which showed clear cuts and remains of red paint. The hair was dyed red and cut off shortly after death. In addition, there were some vessels made of wood and ceramics (in one of which there was still a spatula) that had probably been used to prepare a certain substance. A wooden comb was found as a special piece. All these findings considered in context suggest a ritual in which human hair played a major role. In both caves were around 800 BC. Offerings of metal and ivory objects observed. A bronze “mirror” and worked ivory disks represent the most important finds; the caves were no longer used for burials, but as places for votive offerings. The two caves experienced three different phases in the course of their use: The earliest phase in which the caves were used ritually and bones of human individuals were filled into the crevices together with stalactites. A second phase in which the caves were primarily used for burials in the front area. Then there was a third phase in which the caves were considered a kind of sanctuary and various objects were placed as offerings.

literature

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