The Orientations of the Burial Monuments of Menorca

Arazandi De T. , “Estudio antropológico de restos humanos de la naveta de Biniach (Menorca) explorada por Don Antonio Vives”, Bulletí de la Associació Catalana d'Antropologia, Etnologia i Prehistòria, i (1923), 134–40.

Florit Piedrabuena Guillermo , “Hallazgo en Ciudadela de una nueva naveta”, Revista de Menorca, 1962, 193–200.

Florit Piedrabuena Guillermo Consideraciones sobre la forma externa original de la Nau d'es Tudons”, ibid., Jan.-June 1966, 56–63.

Grinsel Leslie , “Navata of els Tudons (Menorca)”, Antiquity, lv (1981), 196–9.

Hemp W. J. , “The navetas of Menorca”, The Antiquaries journal, xii (1932), 127–35.

Hernández Sanz Francisco , Las naus o nauetas de Menorca (Barcelona, 1902).

Mascaró Pasarius José , “Navetas y navetiformes”, Prehistoria de las Baleares (in Corpus de toponimia de Mallorca, v/vi) (Palma de Mallorca, 1968), 2659–2704.

Murray Margaret , Cambridge excavations in Menorca: Sa Torreta (London, 1934).

Plantalamor Massanet Luís , “Algunas consideraciones sobre los sepulchros megalíticos de Menorca”, Sautuola, ii (1975–76), 157–73 (= Trabajos del Museo de Menorca, 1).

Plantalamor Massanet Luís ‘El sepulchro megalítico de Binidalinet (Mahón, Menorca)”, XIV Congreso Nacional de Arqueología, Vitoria 1975 (Zaragoza, 1977), 479–82.

Plantalamor Massanet Luís Pons López Antonio , “La naveta occidental de Biniac-Argentina (Alayor, Menorca)”, Noticiario arqueológico Hispánico: Prehistoria, xv (1983), 359–81.

Plantalamor Massanet Larrucea Cristina Rita Ma. Pons Orfila Margarita Espasa Sintes Guillermo , Enciclopèdia de Menorca: Arqueologia (in progress, Mahón, 1982; in Catalan).

Plantalamor Massanet Moll Sastre Jaime , “La naveta de Binipati Nou (Ciutadella)”, Meloussa, ii (in preparation).

Roselló Bordoy Guillermo Plantalamor Luís Massanet Pons López Antonio , “La sepultura megalitica de Ses Roques Llises”, in “Excavaciones arqueológicas en Torre d'en Gaumes, I”, Noticiario arqueológico Hispánico: Prehistoria, viii (1980), 71–138.

Santa-Olalla Martínez Julio , “La naveta occidental de Biniach y el estudio antropológico de algunos restos humanos por el Dr. Aranzadi”, Revista de Menorca, 1924, 195–205.

Serra Belabre Luisa María , “La naveta oriental de Biniac (Alayor, Menorca)”, Pyrenae (Instituto de Arqueología y Prehistoria, University of Barcelona), i (1965), 73–84.

Serra Belabre Bordoy Roselló Guillermo , “Excavación y restauración de la naveta meridional de Rafal Rubí (Alayor, Menorca)”, Noticiario arqueológico Hispánico, xvi (1971), 55–74.

Serra Belabre Bordoy Roselló Guillermo León Antonio Orfila Juan De Nicolás Mascaró Joan C. , Historia de Menorca, i: De los orígines al final de la Edad Media, I: Tiempos antiguos (Mahón, 1977), 23–78.

Souich du Philippe Botella Miguel C. , “Los materiales antropológicos de la naveta de Rafal Rubí y otros restos del Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes de Mahón (Menorca)”, Pyrenae (Instituto de Arqueología y Prehistoria, University of Barcelona), xii (1976), 7–34.

Veny Meliá Cristobal , “Excavaciones en Menorca: Naveta de La Cova”, Noticiario arqueológica Hispánico: Prehistoria, v (1976), 223–8.

Veny Meliá Cristobal “La naveta de Son Morell”, Noticiario arqueológico Hispánico, v (1976), 223–8.

Veny Meliá Cristobal “Anotaciones sobre la cronología de las navetas de Menorca”, Trabajos de prehistoria, xxxi (1974), 101–42.

Veny Meliá Cristobal “Las navetas”, Prehistoria de Menorca, José Mascaró Pasarius (Mahón, 1982), 177–312.

Veny Meliá Cristobal La naveta de La Cova (Menorca), (Madrid, 1982).

Michael Hoskin , “The talayotic culture of Menorca: A first reconnaissance”, Archaeoastronomy (supplement to Journal for the history of astronomy), no. 9 (1985), S133–51.

Michael Hoskin , “The orientations of the taulas of Menorca (1): The southern taulas”, ibid., no. 14 (1989), S117–36. Michael Hoskin Hochsieder Peter Doris Knösel , “The orientations of the taulas of Menorca (2): The remaining taulas”, ibid., no. 15 (1990), S37–48.

On hypogaeums see for example Luis Plantalamor Massanet and Ma. Cristina Rita Larrucea, “Tres cuevas de la Edad del Bronce en la zona occidental de Menorca”, Ampurias (Barcelona), xliv (1982), 1–16.

Massanet Plantalamor L. , “Algunas consideraciones sobre los sepulchros megalíticos de Menorca”, Sautuola, ii (1975–76), 157–73.

Hoskin , op. cit. (ref. 2), 136, ref. 10.

A taula consists of two stones, a massive flat upright slab that forms its base, and a ‘horizontal’ slab placed on top of the upright, so that the two form a letter T. The upright always has the side facing the entrance carefully dressed, while the other side is often undressed, and sometimes has a vertical rib, or occasionally a pilaster placed against it. In addition, the view out through the entrance always faces towards lower ground (or the sea), while the view in the opposite direction faces first the precinct wall, and then in many cases the adjacent talayot. For details, see the papers cited in ref. 2.

Dr R. G. Abrahams and Mr Owen Sichone of the Department of Social Anthropology at Cambridge University state (private communication) that the Winamwanga of Northern Zambia bury their dead to face the region from which they believe they originated.

Coll G. Coll Rosselló B. Pasarius Mascaró J. , “Premier dolmen découverte à Majorque: Son Bauló de Dalt (commune de Santa Margalida)”, Bulletin de la Société Prehistorique Française, lix (1962), 180–6; Bordoy Rosselló G. , “Excavaciones en el círculo funerario de Son Bauló de Dalt, Santa Margarita, Mallorca”, Excavaciones arqueológicas en España, no. 51 (1966).

Fernandez Jorge H. Massanet Plantalamor Luis Celia Topp , “Excavaciones en el sepulchro megalítico de Ca Na Costa (Formentera)”, Mayurqa, xv (1976), 109–38. Dr Fernandez kindly informs us (private communication) that the orientation was carefully measured by compass, but that it refers to magnetic north. At epoch 1980.0 the magnetic variation at the site was exactly 4° west, and at the time of the excavation it was about 4 ½° west.

Hoskin , op. cit. (ref. 2), S131.

See the works cited in ref. 2.

This will be discussed in our final section.

On the various navetas, see the Bibliography. Some account of navetas is included in the general (and now somewhat dated) book on Balearic archaeology, García Pericot L. , The Balearic Islands (London, 1972). A good introduction to navetas is in Parts 1–3 of the Arqueologia section (by Luis Plantalamor Massanet and others) of Enciclopèdia de Menorca (Mahon, 1982-), a partwork currently in progress; though written in Catalan, this work will present few linguistic problems to those who know either French or Spanish. Until Dr Plantalamor's doctoral thesis is published, the best survey of navetas is Cristobal Veny Meliá, “Las navetas”, in Prehistoria de Menorca, ed. by Pasarius Mascaró José (Mahón, 1982), 177–312.

Private communication. See also the Enciclopèdia de Menorca (ref. 13).

See the Enciclopèdia de Menorca (ref. 13).

Veny , “Las navetas” (ref. 13), 247.

Cristobal Veny , La necrópolis protohistórica de Calas Covas, Menorca (Madrid, 1982).

It is very remarkable that the same range of azimuth has been found in the orientations of recumbent stone circles in Scotland: “The orientations of the principal axes are highly clustered in azimuth (between SSE and WSW), a highly significant general trend which cannot be explained either by orientations upon a particular terrestrial feature or by the local topography” ( Ruggles C. L. N. , “Recent developments in megalithic astronomy”, World archaeoastronomy, ed. by Aveni A. F. (Cambridge, 1989), 13–26, p. 20).

For example, “In Igloonik, men are buried facing the east and the dawn, women facing the unlucky south from which the winds bring storms and bad weather”, according to Pearce Susan M. , “Moon Man and Sea Woman: The cosmology of the Central Inuit”, to appear in the proceedings of the Oxford 3 Conference on Archaeoastronomy, St Andrews, September 1990, ed. by Ruggles C. L. N. (in preparation).

According to Du Souich Philippe Botella Miguel C. , “Los materiales antropológicos de la naveta de Rafal Rubí y otros restos del Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes de Mahón (Menorca)”, Pyrenae (Instituto de Arqueología y Prehistoria, University of Barcelona), xii (1976), 7–34, the bones of men, women and children were found in one of the navetas.

Hoskin , op. cit. (ref. 2), S123.

Hawkins Gerald S. Rosenthal Shoshona K. , “5,000- and 10,000-year star catalogs”, Smithsonian contributions to astrophysics, x/2 (1967).

Perhaps the best introduction to the nuraghi is Giovanni Lilliu , La civiltà nuragica (Sassari, 1982).

Ibid. 12.

Pericot , The Balearic Islands (ref. 13), 79.

See for example Hoskin , op. cit. (ref. 2), Figure 2.

Lilliu , op. cit. (ref. 23), 12. These periods differ from those given by Lilliu in earlier works, an indication of just how uncertain is the dating of tombs of giants.

Proverbio E. Romano G. Aveni A. , “Astronomical orientations of five megalithic tombs at Madau, near Fonni, in Sardinia”, Archaeoastronomy (supplement to Journal for the history of astronomy), no. 11 (1987), S55–65.

Idem, “Astronomical orientations of ‘Tombe de giganti’ in Barbagia (Sardinia)”, Atti del Collóquio Internazionale di Archeologia e Astronomia [held in Venice, 1989] (in press).

The results of the investigations by Proverbio and Hoskin in 1989 and 1990 are not yet published.