Latitude 39.873607. Longitude 4.265410. About 1 mile to the south of
Mahon (Mao) at the far south-eastern side of the Island of Minorca
(Menorca) stands the ancient settlement of Talayot de Trepuco - with the
megalithic table-shaped
Taula monument in the middle of the
circular enclosure walls. This prehistoric village-settlement of Trepuco
is located less than 1 mile to the south of Mahon town and just a
little east of the ME-8 Carretera de Mao to Es Castell, and the through the Camí
Verd.
In the centre of the circular ancient settlement or village (Talayot)
a complex of excavated houses surrounded by a defensive wall and
watchtower, stands the tallest megalithic monument (Taula) on Minorca.
The whole site is thought to date back to the Bronze-Age 2,000-1,200 BC
although there is some uncertainty about this. The tall granite
megalithic slab-stone stands at 4 metres or 13 feet high with a second
huge retangular-shaped slab on top that is 3.75 metres or 12 foot 4
inches long by 1.84 metres or 6 feet wide. The monument is typically
shaped like a letter “T” and what looks to many like a table – perhaps
in the form of a table-tomb. More than likely it was set up as a shrine
or altar to the dead or perhaps rituals to the gods took place here. The
burials would have originally lain beneath or around the taula.
The
talayot settlement-cum-village is enclosed by low
defensive, drystone walls, but originally they would have been much
higher. A watchtower would have stood along the walls – this is now not
easy to make out. The site consists of a number of prehistoric houses
forming the settlement that have been excavated, as well as some grassy
mounds, that as yet, have not been looked at. There are five houses here
that are made of rough, un-mortered dry stone-walling and at intervals
tall slabs which acted as roof supports indicate their original height.
Each house is different in shape, layout and style. Today the rough
walls of these ancient buildings only stand to a quarter of their
original height. Also, two excavated rooms adjoin the houses and a
smaller talayot house is built onto the defensive wall. It seems obvious
that there has been much robbing-away of stonework over the centuries
here. The grassy mounds have not yet been excavated archaeologically,
and it is unclear what they are, but it is likely they are houses,
rather than for the burial of the dead. This will only be known when a
proper excavation is done.

