When visitors arrive for the first time at the
settlement of Es Coll de Cala Morell one question inevitably springs to mind: what did these people do up here? The fact is that the settlement has a fairly unusual location. It is a coastal headland which is hard to reach, standing on the north coast of the island. An inhospitable, rocky area, with scant vegetation, lashed by the tramuntana wind.
On stormy days, foam from the waves showers down on the fifteen homes which make up the settlement. The people who lived here between
1600 and 1200 BC, during the Bronze Age, also built a fortified wall to protect the settlement, and a construction of unknown purpose at the summit of the promontory.
The question which opens this article becomes even more significant if one bears in mind that the excavations conducted at Es Coll de Cala Morell have revealed that the population of the settlement had little to do with the sea. The vast majority of the objects found are made from local materials, and although there is some evidence of trading contact by sea, it is very slight. We furthermore know that the local population were engaged in livestock farming (raising goats, sheep, cows and pigs) and agriculture (growing wheat and barley). As at other prehistoric settlements which have been excavated on Menorca, it would seem that little or no fish or seafood was eaten.
The hypothesis of the archaeologists researching this settlement is that its location, at such an inaccessible and inhospitable site, would above all have been based on
defensive needs, its proximity to the sea being a matter of coincidence. The inhabitants of Es Coll de Cala Morell thus enjoyed a settlement set apart from the more populous inland area, which was easy to defend in the event of an attack. Instead, they were forced to deal with other problems. To begin with, land suitable for crops and grazing began more than half a kilometre from the settlement, further inland. Meanwhile, the settlement needed a source of water, for which two large systems were constructed, hewn out of the rock, to collect rainwater.
One of the two cisterns was excavated during a previous field season. The research work at this site already dates back some time: during the 1990s, archaeologists from the Museu de Menorca drew up plans of the structures visible on the surface, which had not yet been excavated. A great many constructions were already identified at this point, including the two cisterns. In 2011, based on the work performed in the 1990s, a team of archaeologists linked to the Museu de Ciutadella and the Museu d’Història de Manacor began archaeological excavations at the settlement, with economic support from the Consell Insular and Ciutadella local authority.
Since then, four naveta rooms have been excavated, along with the construction located at the summit of the promontory and, as previously mentioned, one of the cisterns. The information provided by these interventions include the fact that the inhabitants of the site were farmers, and that metalworking was practised at the settlement, since a number of bronze objects and two casting moulds were found.
2022 field season news
This most recent field excavation season, undertaken during the month of October 2022, focused on the second cistern, which had not yet been excavated. The first cistern was dug into the rock, its walls covered with a layer of clay, supported on a dry stone lining.
This system, which
has not been documented at any other Balearic prehistoric settlement, serves to waterproof the cavity and prevent the water from seeping downwards. It was so well made that today, more than 3,000 years later, it still holds rainwater.
The second cistern is apparently very similar to the first, but larger in size. The top is covered over by a considerable mass of sediment and stones, which had built up after the settlement was abandoned. This year's field excavation season essentially involved removing this huge build-up, which contained practically no archaeological material.
Excavation of this second cistern will probably be completed next year, allowing for a calculation of how much water could be stored at the settlement. This figure can then be related to the number of homes at the site, in order to give a better insight into how the inhabitants of Es Coll de Cala Morell lived.
Images
Cover: Final image of the 2022 campaign, with the second cistern partially excavated.
Text image: Detail of the interior of the second cistern. You can see the stone lining that supports the layer of clay that covers the walls for waterproof.