The Naveta

Naveta

A naveta is a megalithic chamber tomb unique to the Balearic island of Minorca. It dates to the early Bronze Age.It has two vertical and two corbelled walls giving it the form of an upturned boat which is where the name comes from....

 des Tudons is the most famous megalithic chamber tomb

Chamber tomb

A chamber tomb is a tomb for burial used in many different cultures. In the case of individual burials, the chamber is thought to signify a higher status for the interree than a simple grave. Built from rock or sometimes wood, the chambers could also serve as places for storage of the dead from one...

 in Minorca

Minorca

Min Orca or Menorca is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. It takes its name from being smaller than the nearby island of Majorca....

. It was used between 1200 and 750 BC. It is a collective tomb which contained, when it was discovered in 1975 at list 100 men and different objects like bronze

Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...

 bracelets or bone and ceramic buttons.

The most usual shape for navetas is an inverted boat. That gives them their name. They are chronologically prior to talaiotic culture

Talaiotic Culture

The Talaiotic Culture or Talaiotic Period is the name used to describe the society that existed on the Gymnesian Islands during the Iron Age. Its origins date from the end of the second millennium BC, when the inaccurately named Pre-Talaiotic Culture underwent a crisis and evolved into the...

 and age. They are still built with big stones - orthostates

Orthostates

In the context of classical Greek architecture, orthostates are squared stone blocks much greater in height than depth that are usually built into the lower portion of a wall. They are so called because they seem to "stand upright" rather than to lie on their sides...

 - that cover their walls and are placed in a vertical position.

Currently it is restored and opened to the public for visits. It is one of the symbols and main tourist attractions of Minorca. It is located in the road Me-1, km. 40, between Ciutadella de Menorca and Ferreries

Ferreries

Ferreries is a municipality on the island of Minorca, in the Spanish autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. Its name is derived from the Catalan word ferrer , which in turn, comes from Latin word ferrum.- External links :* *...

.

Legend

The legend says that two brothers were competing for the love of a girl. To decide who would be the chosen one, they started a construction, and the first one to finish it would marry the girl. One of them decided to build the naveta and the other one a well. The time run and when the last stone was going to be placed on the naveta, the other brother shouted: "Water, water!!". Then, the brother who was building the naveta, very angry, threw the last stone (the one that is missing on the top) into the well, killing his brother. Then, feeling remorse for what he had done, he killed himself. It is said that the girl died alone and was buried in the naveta.