Menorca Archaeological Project (MAP), headed by faculty members from Boston University and SUNY Brockport, today completed the 2022 field season at Torre d'en Galmés, where the team worked to establish a better understanding of the relationships between multiple Andalusian structures at the site.
The aim was to gain a deeper
insight into the Andalusian settlement which existed in the village in the 12th and 13th centuries, and understand how they used and modified the Talayotic space. This involved continuing the documentation of mediaeval structures, grouped around open courtyards, along with completion of the excavation of two these buildings, with revealing results as to how the space was organised, how surrounding resources were used, and the space adapted to their own lifestyle. Meanwhile, sediment flotation was also performed in all areas, along with a seed and charcoal study to reconstruct the landscape and how it was managed.
2022 field season
First, the team completed the excavation of SPU 7, begun in 2021. Preliminary results suggest that the mediaeval structure was used as a dump for broken ceramics, bones and construction materials. This could be related to a nearby workspace, in front of a large domestic structure. Second, the team excavated SPU 6 and the adjacent patio. This structure shares characteristics with those previously excavated at the same site, including double walls whitewashed with lime and a beaten earth floor. Third, they located and mapped other Andalusian structures on the site, numbering around twelve, which may be part of eight discrete domestic units. In general, they are formed by one or two rooms around a courtyard, with a hallway that serves as an entrance.
On 10 July the MAP team organised a
public open day, at which the co-directors, Amalia Pérez-Juez and Alexander Smith, presented some of the preliminary findings from this year's excavations They were accompanied by members of the team involved in the work, namely Kathleen Forste (Boston University); Emma Wagner and Dillion Cartwright (North Carolina State University); Guillem Castellsagué (Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona); José Manuel Galán (CSIC) and Isabel Molina (Universidad de Murcia). The project also involved other researchers from Boston University (Paul Goldberg) and Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona (Helena Kirchner).