Sant Agustí Vell
| Sant Agustí Vell Poblat talaiòtic de Sant Agustí | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Eastern talayot |
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Location in Menorca |
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| Coordinates | 39 ° 55 '43 " N , 4 ° 2' 6" E | ||
| place | Es Migjorn Gran , Menorca , Balearic Islands , Spain | ||
| Emergence | 850 to 123 BC Chr. | ||
| height | 72 m | ||
Sant Agustí Vell (full name Poblat talaiòtic de Sant Agustí , "Talayotic village of Sant Agustí") is the archaeological site of a prehistoric settlement attributed to the talayotic culture in the municipality of Es Migjorn Gran in the south of the Balearic island of Menorca . It was in its heyday between 850 BC. And the Roman invasion in 123 BC. One of the largest settlements on the island. Finds show that it was inhabited until the Middle Ages . There were no archaeological digs in the prehistoric settlement until 2015 .
location
Sant Agustí Vell is located about two kilometers southwest of the outskirts of Es Migjorn Gran, 150 m south of the Binigaus gorge. It is about 1.2 kilometers from the sea. The most convenient access is via the ME-18 to Sant Tomàs. Coming from Es Migjorn Gran, take the second gravel road to the right, where you will find an information board where you can park your vehicle. You can walk to the site in twenty minutes on an old dirt road. The way is not signposted.
The site is freely accessible. Information boards of the Consell Insular de Menorca give the visitor information.
At a distance of 550 m as the crow flies, but separated by the Binigaus gorge, there is another megalithic building , the Hypostyle Es Galliner de Madona .
description
On an area of about 2000 m² there are two talayots from the early Iron Age , the so-called talayotic epoch (850-550 BC), as well as other megalithic buildings such as residential houses from the post-Talayotic period (550-123 BC) .). The remains of the Taula sanctuary also date from this era .
The talayots
As namesake of the Talayotic epoch, talayots are formative structures of prehistoric architecture on Mallorca and Menorca. These are towers made of large stones without mortar, which in Menorca are mostly solid. Their function is not fully clarified. The majority of archaeologists assume that they were used to control a territory and to communicate between neighboring settlements.
Sant Agustí Vell has two Talayots, wherein particularly the eastern, which is also "Talaiot the Ses Bigues de Mara" well-preserved (talaiot with beams from Mastixholz is called), a special feature: it contains a circular internal space, the directed by a south Access can be entered via a 3.20 m long and 2.30 m high corridor. The ceiling made of stone slabs and original roof beams made - as analyzes have shown - the wood of an olive tree , which dates from around 880 BC. BC, is supported by two free-standing columns of the western Mediterranean polylithic type (stacked columns that taper downwards). The room has a diameter of 7.0 m and is 4.15 m high. On the east side of the talayot there is a buried second entrance, which probably led into a chamber above the interior, which is no longer preserved today. The outer diameter of the talayot is 13.20 m.
The western talayot is 59 m away from the eastern one and 7 m lower. It is built from concentric circles of stones and has a diameter of 18.20 m. He probably also has an interior. However, this is not accessible.
Even further west, there is a row of five sitjots (reservoirs of water carved into the rocky underground), which are filled with large stones for safety.
Eastern talayot. In the middle is the buried second entrance
Southern access to the eastern talayot
One of the polylithic columns in the interior
The ceiling of the interior with wooden beam
Western talayot
Sitjots
The Taula Sanctuary
Taula sanctuaries have only been found in Menorca. These are horseshoe-shaped areas with a slightly concave facade, in the middle of which two monoliths are superimposed in the shape of a "T". The supporting pillar fits into a recess in the capital . Ashes and animal bones have been found in the taula sanctuaries, suggesting that burnt offerings were made here. Taulas date from post-Talayotic times. While they are usually found near talayots, they came into being later than these.
The taula of Sant Agustí Vell is located about 150 m south of the western talayot, where the remains of residential buildings have also been preserved. The surrounding wall is no longer there, and only the pillar of the taula remains. This is 2.05 to 2.20 m high, 1.00 to 1.24 m wide and 24 to 36 cm thick.
In the immediate vicinity of the two talayots, an area was found that some archaeologists believe to be a second taula sanctuary. This is controversial, however, as the "Taula" standing here is very small and the existence of two Taulas in one settlement is very unusual. The question of whether this is a Taula sanctuary can only be clarified through archaeological excavations.
Post-Talayotic houses
The best preserved houses in Sant Agustí Vell are three monumental round houses (cercles) northeast of the western talayot. Two of them are relatively well preserved and show the round floor plan with an inner courtyard typical of Menorca's late Iron Age. The outer wall of such a house is double-walled, with smaller stones being used for the inside than for the outside. The house is entered through a lintel access that leads through a short corridor into the courtyard, which is usually bordered by five pillars. All rooms of the house are arranged around this courtyard.
Although the houses have not been excavated or restored, the outer walls of the Cercles are clearly visible. Some of the pillars and an entrance gate are still standing. An attached hall ( hypostyle ), which served as a stable or storage room, has collapsed.
Another four houses with an approximately triangular floor plan are built radially on the eastern talayot.
Hypogea
On the southern periphery of the settlement of Sant Agustí Vell three underground burial structures ( hypogea ) have been found. Two are from the Talayotic period, while the third, as yet unfinished hypogeum is dated to the last years of the Talayotic culture.
Monument protection
Sant Agustí Vell was declared a historical monument in 1931. The current registration number as a cultural asset ( Bien de Interés Cultural ) is RI-55-0000698.
The site is one of the 32 archaeological sites that Spain officially proposed on January 14, 2016 as " Talayotic culture of Menorca " for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List . The World Heritage Committee postponed the application at its 41st meeting in July 2017 and requested improvements.
literature
- 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 , pp. 228-233 (English).
- Lluís Plantalamor Massanet: Análisis evolutivo del Conjunto de Sant Agustí Vell (Es Migjorn-Menorca) (PDF; 6.82 MB). In: Complutum Extra 6, No. 1, 1996, (= María Teresa Chapa Brunet, María Angeles Querol Fernández (ed.): Dedicado a: Homenaje al profesor Manuel Fernández-Miranda , ISBN 84-7491-566-X ), p 179-189.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Information board at the site, as seen on October 7, 2015.
- ↑ a b c d Lluís Plantalamor Massanet, 1996.
- ↑ Talayotic Minorca , 2015, p. 68.
- ↑ a b Ferran Lagarda i Mata: The archeology of Minorca on the website www.arqueoguia.com (note: select “Prehistoric Archeology”, “Talayots”, “Sant Agustí Vell 1”), accessed on October 14, 2015.
- ↑ Ferran Lagarda i Mata: The archeology of Minorca on the website www.arqueoguia.com (note: select “Prehistoric Archeology”, “Taulas”, “Sant Agustí Vell”), accessed on October 15, 2015.
- ↑ Talayotic Minorca , 2015, p. 231.
- ↑ Talayotic Minorca , 2015, pp. 75f.
- ↑ Talayotic Minorca , 2015, p. 230.
- ↑ Sant Augustí talayotic settlement on the Menorca Talayótica website, accessed on October 15, 2015.
- ^ The monuments in the nomination on the website Menorca talaiòtica des Consell Insular de Menorca (English), accessed on October 29, 2017
- ↑ World Heritage Committee (Ed.): List of nominations received by February 1, 2016 and for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 41st session (2017) . (English, unesco.org [PDF; 427 kB ]).
- ↑ World Heritage Committee (Ed.): Decisions adopted during the 41st session of the World Heritage Committee (Krakow, 2017) . (English, unesco.org [PDF; 4.5 MB ]).
