Just beyond Artà proper lie the remains of a 3000-year-old Bronze Age settlement, the largest and most important Talayotic site on island's eastern flank. The site's looming stone gateway is an impressive transition into the mystery-shrouded world of prehistoric Mallorca. You could easily spend an hour or two wandering the tree-shaded site.
We know little about the inhabitants' social or religious lives, but security was clearly an issue: they lived behind a double ring of stone walls, built between 650 BC and 540 BC. Within them, small stone houses were built in a circular pattern around a central talayot, or watchtower. This was a centre of some size – the walls' perimeter extends 320m. The site was abandoned after the Romans arrived in the 123 BC.
It’s easy to get here from Artà. From the large roundabout east of the tourist office, follow the signs towards Ses Païsses; if you’re walking or cycling, it’s less than a kilometre from the main road.
