The prehistoric settlement of Son Mercer de Baix

Monuments | Ferreries

The site features a naveta known as Cova del Moor, which was declared an artistic-historical monument in 1931. The prehistoric settlement Son Mercer de Baix is located in western Minorca and can be reached by taking the first turnoff to the right on the Ferreries-Migjorn Gran road and following a 25-minute unpaved stretch to a small esplanade overlooking a ravine called Son Fideu. This settlement, which was inhabited during the pre-Talayotic (2500-1800 BC) and the Talayotic (1600-123 BC) periods, is made up of two main horseshoe-shaped navetas or megalithic tombs, and other complementary rectangular structures, one of which was a small smithy for smelting copper, which makes one think there were two units in the village that occupied approximately thirty square metres each. It was even enclosed by with a defensive wall. Furthermore, one of the monuments it is famous for its singularity: Cova des Moor, a room-shaped naveta with three stone columns supporting the roof, which endows the construction with a certain majesty. This naveta, one of the most classic of its kind in Minorcan archaeology, was declared an artistic-historical monument in 1931. Excavations in the settlement have uncovered bronze ingots and a furnace for forging metal and indicate that the inhabitants devoted themselves to livestock raising and harvesting.