Iron Age walls in the Talayotic Culture. The fortified settlement of Ses Païses (Artà, Majorca)

Abstract

Recent excavations in the proto-historic settlement of Ses Païsses, in the Island of Mallorca, allowed the authors to recover stratigraphic and radiometric sequence that for the first time enable us to date the construction of the walls of Balearic Talayotic villages. In addition to listing different types of sites which were surrounded by walls, we describe the building techniques and the elements which comprise the walls and their typology, paying special attention to the unpublished findings made at Ses Païsses. The dated stratigraphy analysed allows us to assess the construction of the stone wall between the VIII and the VI century B.C., probably closer to the latter one.
Finally, we interpret the appearance of the phenomenon and the function of the walls themselves in their relationship to the economic and social transformations detected. We propose a new evolutionary scheme in three parts for the talayotic village, developed from its predecessor the navetiform settlement.