Conoce Calvià

Naveta Alemany

Location and access

To arrive at this situation, you take the Palma-Andratx road up to the crossroads leading to Magaluf. From these you continue along the diversion that goes towards the Casino of Majorca and Cala Vinyes. The road slopes up to a small mound and arrived to the  Calle de la Rosa, on the right hand side of this crossroad you can find the archeological site.

Description of the structures

It is an isolated construction in the shape of a long horseshoe ending in an apse at the back, with double cavity walls standing parallel and an access area demarcated by a small corridor formed by the two transversal walls In the central area there is a home with abundant bone remains that reflect an important culinary activity. Orientated on its longitud axis in a SE-NW direction, inside the naveta you can distinguish two parts: on the one hand the exterior wall and the the corridor access and on the other hand the chamber itself.

The exterior wall of the naveta has a width of approximately 10 m and is structured in three parts: the right hand wall has a width of about 5 m. the wall on the left is narrower, and measures about 4 m. wide and an access to the chamber diverted to the left regarding the longtitudal axis that has the following dimensions: a width that ranges from between 1 m. and 1,10 m., the length of the wall on the right is 2,10 by 2,40m. per the wall on the left.  The maximum height of the walls that make up the access corridor is of 1,5 m. The floor was covered by a layer of clay and some flagstones that border on a small empredado.

The chamber has a length of 19 m. with a maximum width of 4,10 at the central part and that decreases as we approach the apse. The interior walls that border the chamber are formed by very large stones that in some cases reach 2 m. in length. The floor of the room has the same layer of clay as documented in the area of the corridor access. In the interior of the chamber there are two combustion structures documented.

The walls of the naveta have a width measurement of 2,4 m and at the moment are formed by two rows of big stones that have a height of approximately one metre. The walls are constructed with a ciclopic technique with double internal walls formed by stone and earth.  The stones of the internal face are of a more reduced dimension than the exterior face, formed by much bigger flagstones that are generally over 1m in length.

The architectural structure of the naveta has been conserved in good condition except the area of the apse where the walls have suffered a process of degradation, meaning that it prevents it from a perfect demarcation.

The situation of the naveta in one of the slopes of the hillside meant that its builders had to carry out some procedures to solve the problem of uneven land. In the interior of the chamber at the rear, a paving formed by small irregular stones was built,  in order to obtain a leveling of the chamber floor. On the exterior of the naveta a second wall was built in the rear half of the naveta, bordering on all the area of the apse. This wall, which was also cosnstructed with the same ciclopic technique acted as a buttress by menas of reinforcing the structure of the front of the naveta from the natural uneveness of the land where it was built.

The roof of the naveta is not documented, but the finding of clay with vegetable traces makes the excavators suspect that the roof was formed by a base of trunks and branches covered by clay to prevent water filtration.

The excavation of this site was done by Catalina Enseñat at the beginning of the 1970's and produced an interesting collection of ceramic forms, fragments of bonesand elements of metal as well as abundant fauna remains. A study of the ceramic forms documented at the excavation have permitted the knowledge of ceramic belonging to the room sites of the Ancient Bronze, as before this action, nothing was known of the forms themselves of the funeral sites.  Many of the ceramis have vegetabel impressions as a decorative element on the mouth. In the interior of the chamber they have documented some "moles de va i ve" uone of them at the side of the combustion structure relating to the work of cereal grinding. Other discoveries of interest are the three arquero bracelets similar to the ones that were documented at the colcolitic sites.  One polished stone block with three small cavities has been interpreted as a "bétilo" or element of a religious significance. The litico discoveries complete together with a hoe of polished calcedonia and a piece of flint tabular sickle with a double sided cutting edge.  The domestic fauna that was found at the site has not been analized, only the presence of sheep, goats and cattle are known.

Demarcation crono-cultural

The lack of radiocarbon analysis doesn't allow a precise cronological characterization, although through the documented materials, we are in the ancient bronze period that could date from approximately around 1700/1600 B.C.