In 2019 our young archaeologists will start digging at an Iron Age and Medieval site at the beautiful Mediterranean island of Menorca.   After celebrating its 15th anniversary teaching field archaeology to precollegiate students, ArchaeoSpain opens a new project in Torre d'en Galmés. 

At Menorca you will have a complete immersion in the archaeological process. We will tell you
about the different methods in surveying, you will be learning the methods and techniques of an
archaeological excavation, using tools but also working with stratigraphy and writing down
your own excavation diary. Collecting, cleaning and classifying different artifacts will be part of
your daily work as well as drawing structures and archaeological materials.

Torre d'en Galmés is the biggest Talayotic settlement in Minorca and one of the biggest in the Balearic Islands. Today it is in the nomination to the UNESCO World Heritage list. What is a talayot? Talayots are megalithic structures unique to the islands of Minorca and Majorca.  They date back to the late second millennium and early first millennium BC. Some certainly had a defensive purpose but the use of others is not clearly understood. Some believe them to have served the purpose of lookout or signalling towers, as on Menorca, where they form a network.

Constructed on a hill, dominates most of the South coast of Minorca. It was occupied during the Middle Bronze Age, the Iron Age, the Roman Conquest and the Islamic period. Its location, its extension and its impressive monumental constructions suggest that it could have exercised some supremacy over the other sites on the island. Torre d'en Galmés was occupied until the year 1287, when Jaime I defatted the Muslims and the settlement was abandoned ever since.

The site has  a large number of constructions, among them are three talayots, numerous circular talayotic houses, the taula enclosure, a hypostyle hall, a water collection system and up to four hypogeums than would originally have had a funerary function.
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The first archaeological excavation at the site was carried out in 1942 by archaeologist J. Flaquer, in the Taula enclosure and the hypostyle hall. During the nineteen seventies and eighties, the Taula enclosure at the site and the water collection system were excavated, and the hypostyle hall was consolidated.