Naviforms
Naviformes (older names Navetiformes and Wohnnavetas , Catalan navetes d'habitació ) are Bronze Age residential buildings with a horseshoe-shaped floor plan that were found on the islands of Mallorca and Menorca . Radiocarbon analyzes date most of the Naviformes between 1420 and 1110 BC. The section of the Balearic prehistory of the same name (around 1600 to 1050 BC) is named after the Cyclops- style buildings .
Construction
Naviformes are elongated stone houses that have an apse at one end . The entrance is on the narrow opposite side. The houses are double-walled, with the outer wall carefully piled up from large, irregularly shaped stones. Significantly smaller stones were used for the inner wall. The space between the two walls is filled with rubble. The total wall thickness is often two to three meters. The houses are usually between 12 and 25 meters long and 5 to 7 meters wide. Most of the excavated naviformes have an undivided interior and a centrally located rectangular fireplace. Their roofs usually consisted of a structure of branches, small stones and earth, rarely of stone slabs supported by polylithic (multi-stone) columns. Naviformes could stand individually or share walls. They often formed small settlements of up to 20 houses.
Archaeological evidence
The first naviform houses were built around 1600 BC. When serious developments took place in the societies of Mallorca and Menorca. This concerns a further development of pottery , changed burial rites and the construction of megalithic structures. Naviform settlements emerged in all habitats, but especially in the lowlands, where arable farming became increasingly important. Excavations in the houses unearthed fireplaces and stone benches, grinding stones , ceramics, bones, remains of food and residues of metallurgical processes. While the area at the entrance was used for working and cooking, the living area was in the rear part of the building (in the apse). The central fireplace was in between.
history
In the 19th century, all the buildings with a horseshoe-shaped floor plan found in the Balearic Islands were thought to be tombs and were called Navetas because the best-preserved examples, like the Naveta des Tudons , resemble upside-down hulls . It was only in the second half of the 20th century that it became apparent that this term was used to name two different types of buildings, so that a new name had to be found for the residential buildings among them. For a short time they were called “inhabited navetas”, but scientists soon called them navetiformes or modern naviformes.
Sites
Important sites of Naviformes are Closos de Can Gaià , Son Oms , Can Roig Nou and S'Hospitalet Vell on Mallorca and Son Mercer de Baix , Cala Blanca and Es Coll de Cala Morell on Menorca .
See also
literature
- Vicente Lull, Rafael Micó, Cristina Rihuete Herrada, Roberto Risch: The Bronze Age in the Balearic Islands . In: Harry Fokkens, Anthony Harding (Eds.): The Oxford Handbook of the European Bronze Age . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2013, ISBN 978-0-19-957286-1 , pp. 617–638 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
- Antoni Nicolau Martí, Elena Sintes Olives, Ricard Pla Boada, Albert Àlvarez Marsal: Talayotic Minorca . The prehistory of the island. Triangle Books, Sant Lluís 2015, ISBN 978-84-8478-640-5 (English).
- Mark Van Strydonck: From Myotragus to Metellus . A journey into the prehistory and early history of Mallorca and Menorca. LIBRUM, Hochwald 2014, ISBN 978-3-9524038-8-4 , p. 136 (Dutch: Monumentaal en mysterieus - Reis door de prehistorie van Mallorca en Menorca . Leuwen 2002. Translated by Jürgen K. Schmitt).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Rafael Micó: Radiocarbon Dating and Balearic Prehistory: Reviewing the Periodization of the Prehistoric Sequence . In: RADIOCARBON 48 (No. 3), 2006, pp. 421-434