Ancient Mediterranean civilizations

The Talayot is one of the most emblematic featuresof Menorcan archaelogy her strategic position, as much from a military point of view as commercial, has made Menorca an island coveted through the centuries by civilisations which tried in their time to dominate the Mediterranean. For this reason her history is basically a succession of invasions, the rich legascy from which can been seen to this day. It is estimated that the first settlers landed during the second millennium BC and developed the pretalayotic culture, an age from which the first architectural structures, the “navetas”, still remain. The second wave of settlers, the talayotic culture, arrived towards 1400BC and bequeathed a legacy which includes major cave systems, such as those in Son Bou, Calascoves and Cala Morell. In later ages, various races attacked the island, such as the Phoenicians, Greeks and the Carthaginians, for whom the importance of the region for their trade routes had not passed unnoticed. The Romans arrived later for one of the longest occupations, lasting from 123 BC to 902, a period which saw several  attacks by the Vandals and which ended with the Moorish invasion.