Naveta des Tudons

Menorca: Archaeology of Naveta des Tudons

Towards km 40 of the road from Maó to Ciutadella, we find this naveta, which is one of the most characteristic monuments of the prehistoric culture of Menorca. It is a collective tomb from the pre-talayotic period, that is, from the beginning of the Bronze Age. Specifically, it acted as an ossuary. The bones were placed inside the naveta in two chambers, one above the other, accompanied by funerary goods (ceramics and personal items made of bone and metal).

The monument has an elongated horseshoe plan and a double entrance door, between which there is a small antechamber through which the upper floor is accessed. Externally, it has the shape of an inverted ship, which has motivated its name. It was excavated and restored at the end of the 50s. It is a type of monument unique in the Balearic Islands, although it has its parallel in the habitats of this same period: the habitation navetas or naviformes, which we find both in Mallorca and in Menorca.