The navetas at Rafal Rubí

Monuments | Alaior

Navetas, unique boat-shaped monumental tombs, were built in response to the concerns of the inhabitants in prehistoric times about protecting the spirits of their dead. The navetas at Rafal Rubí are monumental structures that served as mass pantheons which can only be found in Menorca. They are constructed with the cyclopean technique, which used great stone slabs on the bottom that form a slightly convex wall and an apse in the upper part. The threshold and dintel are made up of large boulders that represent the passage from the world of the living to the dead. The first naveta to the right on the site is the northern one. The upper part has fallen down, but the well-carved perforated slab entrance that still stands is striking. The second, or southern, naveta, is a well-constructed apse with a monolithic threshold and dintel. In contains two storeys inside where the tombs were located. Both navetas were built in the second half of the second millennium BC during the transition from the pre-Talayotic to the Talayotic era and were in use all during the latter period. How to get there: shortly before km 7 on the Mahon-Ciutadella road there is a signpost on the right indicating the navetas at Rafal Rubí. Turn right - the two navetas are located a few metres down the road on the left.