Naveta des Tudons

The naveta is a monument type found only in Menorca: a collective tomb built of dry-laid stone in the shape of an upturned boat, and Es Tudons is the largest and best preserved, about fourteen metres long and four high, built in the second millennium BC and used for burials over centuries, with excavation recovering the remains of around a hundred individuals along with bronze bracelets and pottery. Its two internal chambers, one above the other, are reached through a small doorway. It is among the oldest buildings in Europe still standing with a roof. UNESCO inscribed Menorca Talayotica, a group of nearly thirty prehistoric sites across the island, in 2023, and Es Tudons is its best-known monument.

History

Menorca and Mallorca hold several dozen navetas, houses and tombs built before the Talaiotic age; they were described early in the 19th century, named by Dr Juan Ramis in 1818 for their likeness to upturned boats, and excavated only in the 20th. Es Tudons, the largest and best preserved funerary naveta on Menorca, served as a collective ossuary between about 1200 and 750 BC, the lower chamber holding the bones of the dead and the upper one probably used to dry the bodies; it was listed as heritage on 3 June 1931 and excavated and restored by Lluís Pericot García in 1959-1960, who found the remains of at least 100 people, one with a trepanned skull, along with bronze bracelets and bone and pottery buttons now in the Museu de Menorca (Wikipedia, Naveta d'Es Tudons).

The main sights

• The boat form - a dry-stone tomb shaped like an upturned hull.
• The two chambers - stacked internal spaces used for collective burial.
• The corbelled roof - stone laid to close the structure without mortar.
• The Talayotic landscape - one of nearly thirty sites in the UNESCO group.

When to go

April to June and September to November; the site is small, open ground with no shade, and Menorca is hot in July and August. It closes on Mondays and keeps a midday break in summer.

What to expect

The monument is a single structure and the visit takes twenty minutes. Entry to the interior is not permitted. There is little interpretation on site, so context helps considerably.

Nearby

Ciutadella lies five kilometres west; Torre d'en Galmes and other Talayotic sites are across the island.

Key facts