Naveta d'Es Tudons

The Naveta d'Es Tudons, or Naveta of Es Tudons, is the most remarkable megalithic chamber tomb in the Balearic island of Menorca, Spain.It is located in the Western part of the island, on the Ciutadella de Menorca-Mahón road, approximately 3 miles out from Ciutadella, and 200 m south of the road. It stands on slightly rising ground in a sloping valley. Currently the Naveta d'Es Tudons is open to the public for visits . It is one of the main tourist attractions of Menorca.HistoryIn Menorca and Majorca there are several dozen habitational and funerary naveta complexes, some of which similarly comprise two storeys. Navetas (navetes in Menorquí) are chronologically pre-Talaiotic (i.e. prior to the Talaiotic age) constructions. Navetas were described in the early 19th century but not excavated until the 20th, notably during the 1960s and 1970s. Navetas were first given their name by the rather imaginative Dr Juan Ramis (1818) from their resemblance to upturned boats.The Naveta d'Es Tudons is the largest and best preserved funerary naveta in Menorca. The Naveta d'Es Tudons served as collective ossuary between 1200 and 750 BC. The lower chamber was for stashing the disarticulated bones of the dead after the flesh had been removed while the upper chamber was probably used for the drying of recently placed corpses. Radiocarbon dating of the bones found in the different funerary navetas in Menorca indicate a usage period between about 1130-820 BC, but the navetas like the Naveta d'Es Tudons are probably older. Pre-Talaiotic constructions are dated using an uncalibrated radiocarbon chronology from 1640 to 1400 BC. The navetas used for communal burial rituals are dated to the late second millennium and early first millennium BC.