From Loelle I, there’s a track into the woods with a series of stones set upright to mark the way. It’s 215 paces to the second tomb – the grid reference might by slightly off, but the path takes you there. It’s hidden in the trees, and is difficult to photograph!
You approach the rear of the tomb first, but round the front it’s possible to make out at least the left hand wing of the esedra. The corridor is clearly defined with an end stone in place.
This was our last day on Menorca and it was raining, we sat in the car waiting for a window of dryness, as soon as it stopped we payed the guy in the shed and starting our way round this metropolis. This place is huge, the path takes you to the top of the hill passing some kind of building then up to a Talayot. Around the tower is the sanctuary, high walls with niches in with the perhaps ritually toppled taula. Then its down to the caves, all surprisingly close together and one has three large carved stones, for some homely purpose I presume. Then down to the settlement where the water holes and covered house with its wheel like design are, some of it was covered over with black tarpualin some archaeology had been done recently, one small metre square part was covered by a sheet of perspex, my guess is that it was the actual ground surface or something .
The path (if you can find it) then takes you back to the carpark past another stone fronted cave/chamber and the other talaoyots, it was here near the carpark that my daughter started jumping and dancing around shouting “snake”, sure enough there was a small brown grass snake and she nearly stepped on it, out in open area too.
It was nearing departure time so it was off to our last menorcan site Trepuco
By this point in our trip, we were fairly well “nuraghe’d out” and had ignored many over the previous few days. They are everywhere! But this is a curious construction.
It’s built into a rocky outcrop, and there’s a side entrance to a cave underneath.
The main entrance leads to stairs winding round to the right, and reaching the first floor level above the doorway. A second flight goes up to the top, and a passage way ahead leads to a room with two niches in the wall, and then a very impressive second flight of stairs back down again – leading currently nowhere, but possibly a way into the now inaccessible main chamber of the nuraghe.
Climbing to the top gives a great view of the rest of the settlement, and the cows grazing in the field.
On the 389 from Bitti to Budduso, you can’t, and indeed shouldn’t, miss this one.
The site has good information boards and the section further from the road has stone tables and benches, ideal for a picnic.
There’s the remains of round huts around the nuraghe, the nuraghe itself – stunning! – and two tombas to be found here.
There is now a little sign on this site, placed there by the National Park, just in case anybody is tempted to bulldoze it away. The vegetation is lower now, so it’s a bit easier to spot. There is another ring cairn (hidden in the heather) just to the east of Carn Enoch.
This is a fascinating site with its cluster of outward-facing chambers -- nothing like it anywhere else in West Wales. Recently the chambers and capstones have been covered with brambles, but staff of the National Park have recently done a good clearing job (spring 2008) and the chambers are now much easier to see. Apparently the owner does not mind people taking a look at the stones. Negotiations are under way to allow proper access to the site -- but be aware that parking on the roadside verge is dangerous, and the traffic is fast!
This is a very simple hillfort -- maybe related to Carningli in some way? There is just one defensive embankment, enclosing a small settlement site. Again the rocky crag itself has been used as a part of the defences. From the NW this defended site must have looked quite intimidating. According to legend, an Irish chieftain and his band lived here during the Age of the Saints. That’s quite feasible -- and very handy for creating a spot of bother on the pilgrim route that ran along the coast from Nevern westwards towards St David’s.
Carn Briw has been very seriously messed about with, by walkers and children looking for something to do......... it was probably originally a conical mound, like many other Bronze Age burial cairns in this part of the world. There has been some recent burning to the north of the cairn, and now one can see clearly the “stone takes” from which stones and rubble were taken for the original construction of the mound.
Carn Edward roofed shelter?
This isn’t just a natural feature -- although it is a very beautiful tor. I recently discovered a very old curving stone wall on the downslope side of the eastern of the two rocky crags. This was either a sheepfold or -- more likely, I think -- a roofed-over shelter or small dwelling. There are several of these on Carningli -- where the rock face provides the shelter from the west, and where a semi-circular stone wall has been built to make a cost-effective shelter. There is one at Carn Enoch, another not far away beneath a small tor between Carn Edward and Carningli, and several on Carningli itself. There are others among the tors at the eastern end of Mynydd Preseli. How old are these features? My guess would be Bronze Age, but some could be Iron Age or even later. Maybe they were used as shepherd’s shelters for more than two thousand years.......
I’ve been mapping the “camp” or hillfort for the last 12 month, using a base map from Hogg and also using Google satellite imagery and other published photos. A lot is visible just now, following extensive burning.
My revised map is here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carningli_hillfort
This is a very spectacular and technically sophisticated hillfort, with features similar to Norman motte and bailey castles. The fort is on a rocky ridge, with a ‘village” inside a pronounced defensive embankment at the NE end (the lee side of the mountain) and three connected enclosures or baileys at the SW end. On the SE face of the mountain natural cliffs and scree slopes are used as defences -- and on the NW side substantial defensive embankments have been built. The rocky summits of the mountain are the “motte” -- no doubt used as a last defensive position in case the defences were breached.
The defensive embankments have been slighted -- when and why?
Been doing a lot of walking on Carningli lately, and am now convinced that there are at least 12 Bronze Age dwellings there, mostly on the north flank, but with one small cluster (3 huts?) on the southern slope of the mountain. There is fantastic new imagery on Google (satellite images) with 2007 imagery -- much more detailed that what was there before. Most of the hut circles show up very clearly. in addition to the dwelling huts there are abundant stone takes, clearance cairns, trackways, entrenched tracks, standing stones, stone walls, ring cairns, paddocks etc -- and one burial cairn at Carn Briw. This was clearly a key Bronze Age settlement site -- probably much more important than the eastern end of Mynydd Preseli around Carn Meini and Foeldrygarn. Proximity to the sea and to a good fishing river might have had something to do with it?
The Iron Age community that lived in the Carningli “village” within the hillfort was much larger, and lived in a defended clustered settlement. I have posted a new map of the hillfort here:
homepage.mac.com/brianjohn4/PhotoAlbum13.html
and a photo gallery of prehistoric Carningli here:
There’s a signpost from the main road, and then another one at a bend with a side turn only a few metres later. Then nothing. We drove on, through a flock of sheep across the road, and on, and eventually found someone to ask. He directed us back to Borore instead of his local tomba! A quick U turn, and back through the sheep again. We stopped again at the sign, and turned again, determined to find it. Back through the sheep, but this time we took a side turn to the left and parked just before the stream. The field in front of us had a rocky plateau with some ruined buildings, but not what we were looking for – so we set of up the lane on foot. Beardy went left and I went straight on, and found someone to ask. “Scusi, io non parlo Italiano. Dove è tomba di gigante Uore?” He didn’t know, or I couldn’t understand. So back to the car and back through the sheep.
Now, turn to page 444 of your copy of TME; the middle image is Uore. Now located by the power of Wikimaps. We should have been on the other side of the road, but only metres away. Pah!
There’s an impressive high bastion wall adjoinging the nuraghe. It’s very overgrown, but you can make out the upper level of the tower, and in the undergrowth, what appears to be the top of the entrance into its lower level.
The rock art in the Ben Lawers area has been well scoured , particularly a fine tooth comb survey by RCAHMS in 2000 , neverthelss it is still possible to find “new” stuff ,there were four new ones today including one at 630m , second highest in Britain .The most photogenic was this one , over 90 cup marks ,rings , connecting grooves etc .
I thought I’d go for one not in the TME and armed with map and compass, my daughter and me headed to the north east of the island.
I must have been in the zone or something because it was much easier to find than i anticipated. After getting to the long gated drive we passed through the gate, drove the drive and parked at the house, Torre Blanca. A lady was taking her son to school so I asked Sa Torreta? Then came a jumble of Spanish, but miraculously
I gleaned from this, two gates, keep left.
A five minute walk, and the taula peers at you over the trees. It was sheer bliss to find this place intact despite its proximity to the house, The tall taula is blacked at the bottom from ritual burning and the sanctuary wall is still high, but above it all is the large talaiot with exotic views out to sea and over land to Menorca’s central sacred hill El Toro.
We sat quietly and watched house geckos for a while, I love ‘em, and I love this place.
Unfortunatly my computer was down before we left home so I was unable to read the other feildnotes much to my cost. I set off looking for Julians Torre Llisa Vell but by the time I’d found So Na Cacana it was too early to go in and we’d brought no money anyhow, very annoying, so we returned later that day. The taula sanctuaries and burial cave are as ever the stars of the poblat so by now we were ignoring the talaiots, specially ones with “No Climbing “signs.
This one is my favourite so far, we’d been to the water park followed by cart racing and after all that it was extremely nice to have a bit of me time, the wife was soaking rays and the kids were chasing lizards which left me free to explore at will.
There are standing stones first from the carpark looking for all the world like an arc of a large stone circle. Next is the cave with megalithic entrance, then it’s up to the talayot with a trig point with a you know what kind of view.
The sanctuary is a bit ruined, but enough remained to send me into a dream state and I just sat for a minute trying to soak in the place and then sit somewhere else and the same again, I just couldnt sit still, theres so much to see in these places.Even the gargantuan wall has three chambers and a doorway?
Throw in Buzzards, Kites and a Booted eagle in the air and geckoes ( they use static electricity to stick to walls y’know)amongst the stones and this was one happy place
The grid refs for these carvings will not be added to the site for added protection for these very rare and unique carvings. The area contains carvings of deer, horses, horse shoe as well as the more common type of cup and ring carving. Panels that contain both cup and ring as well as horses and deer are very very rare, and put these carvings amongst the most important we have in Galloway and indeed the UK.
An impressive looking monotower nuraghe north west of Sedillo. It’s 8.2m tall with a diameter of 14m.
My research notes describe it as being constructed from red basalt; the easterly entrance has a niche to one side and steps to the left leading to the (destroyed) upper level, and leads through to a prefect tholos chamber (5.3m diameter, 7m tall) with 3 niches arranged to form a cruciform with the entrance passage.
However, the field and particularly the area around the nuraghe had the largest, most brutal, thistles we’d seen so far, so we viewed from a distance but had a look around the field and the vicinity to see if we could see its associated tomba – we couldn’t.
On the opposite side of the road is a large gate to the nuraghe and the village which surrounds it. The village huts are a more recent discovery, and the best preserved one can be seen by taking the path between the two roped off sections of village towards the trees north of the nuraghe.
The nuraghe itself is of mixed type (part tholos, part corridor). Through its entrance on the south eastern side, there’s a tholos chamber with an impresive niche in the facing wall. To the left, the stairs to the rest of the building have been roped off as it’s unsafe due to landslides.
Smaller than tomba B, but better preserved, this grave is only metres away with an incredible view over the lake.
The esedra is over 11m wide, and its stones are leaning forward towards the lake. The broken centre slab has a portal hatch 70cm x 55cm. The funery corridor (inside dimensions 4.7m x 0.8m) is perfectly formed and the rear of the grave has the same style of curved stones as its neighbour.
For the modern ticket / info huts, the first thing you see is the perfect curves of the back of tomba B – and the amazing view over Lake Omodeo. The lake however was created around 1920 with a dam across the Tirso, so the original vista would have been over the valley, with its numerous nuraghe, some of which reappear when the water level is low.
The corridor is about 10m x 1.4m and is paved with huge stone slabs. The grave is impressive but not well preserved; in the small copse of trees there are several huge pieces of carved stone which once belonged to it.
This group – consisting of 2 tomba di gigante, a nuraghe and village around it, a dolmen and a domus de janus – is just west of Sedillo, and is signposted from the town.
I was rather excited about what we’d find here, and in the vicinity, and hoped that there would be someone around to ask ..... there are 3 huts which look distinctly like a visitors’ centre, ticket hut, and toilets, respectively, but not a soul in sight. No notices either, but I assume an entrance fee is payable.
From the parking area, the two tombs are to the south, overlooking Lake Omodeo, the nuraghe and village to the north, but the domus de janus and dolmen remain a mystery to us.
My notes said that the domus de janus – Ispiluncas – consisting of 34 tombs – is “on the slopes of the hill where the nuraghe rises” and my Google Earth map showed it on the slope below the info/ticket huts. I had a grid reference for the dolmen – the wrong grid reference! – and a description of its location “the monument is found to the right of the nuraghic complex”.
well signposted off the Me1 but the one car road to the carpark is horrible, its a smooth ride but tall walls on both sides really squeeze you in. As we set out of the carpark an old couple attracted our attention and told us it was a 2 hour round trip, for you maybe I thought Ive two kids whos first words upon arrival are guarranteed to be” can we go now”! (sigh ....leave ‘em at home I implore you)
It was a long walk to the poblat but a stones throw compared to say... Bryn Cader Faner. First thing we found was the megalithic picnic sight which threw me a bit, no way thought I, Then I saw the Taula through the trees and off we went, standing almost alone compared to yesterday visits to Den Salort and De Dalt there is a large mound of rubble with two menhirs sticking out of it, presumably the last remnant of the sanctuary wall. Nearby is the Talaiot which by now we all but, but not quite ignore on our way to the anthropomorphic tombs, we found the one with angled entrance lintels, and the one with a pillar in it but because of the constant can we go now I missed the one with stone seats and carved walls.
Taulas are just fantastic I could spend a whole day at any of them
I dont understand this siesta thing, surely its just sciving, there was no-one in at Talati de Dalt’s shed at about 2.00pm, so we climbed the wall where the pokey out steps were. Heading up the hill we took the left path which took us to the chambers and caves, I’ve never seen so many, I’d just start to investigate one chamber with a large stone basin (which reminded me of Newgrange) when one of the kids would shout over “I’ve found another one” and then “so have I” they just carried on, caves inside caves with stone walling to make them more subterranean. We saw our first lizards here a colourful wall lizard and a large house gecko (they don’t have eyelids y’know) Not far, at the top of the hill is the talaiot, still very tall, and what a view look to the horizon and there’s Monte Toro and at your feet the taula sanctuary. The wall of the sanctuary is mostly a tumbled ruin, except where theres a chamber with pillars under it. The holed stone would cause me a trip of a hundred miles at home, but here it’s the taula which holds my attention. On the way back to the carpark is another cave probably in use earliest on this wonderful hill, it has its back to the megaliths and looks out to Monte Toro.
