The coast is no place to call home.
Talayotic settlements, unlike most other ancient civilizations, are located quite some distance inland, away from the marina and natural harbor. These sites are also located on the southern half of the island, a division marked by a fault line.
This point interests me greatly. It's only logical that the island's inhabitants would be drawn to the coast line. Look at any other island nation in the Aegean and you're bombarded with history and stories of sea gods and sea peoples. Homer writes of the perils of sailors tempted by sirens, and the proud Poseidon angered by Odysseus's schemes. History (and general common logic!) suggests that the inhabitants of an island like Menorca would utilize better the resources the coasts present.
BUT, it's a different story here. Why the Talayotic people set up their house complexes and talayots inland (to my knowledge) is a question yet to be answered. An important point to make here is that there have been Talayotic remains found near the coast (or near water), but in caves, called barrancos, lodged high in the cliffs of the island. These caves were used as communal burial sites, where up to 90 bodies have been found stacked one upon another. Again, nothing concrete can be said of this coincidence, but it is clear that the Talayotic people wanted to separate the living from the dead.
As far as the north of the island is concerned, only few Talayotic settlements have been found, and none (again as far as I've been told) that match the size of ones found in the south like Torre d'en Gaumes, the site BU is currently excavating. In fact, one of the archaeological surveyors on this trip has the intention of finding possible new settlements in the north that connect with ones found in the south (or not).
It's all part of searching for answers to the many puzzling questions we have about these people's existence.
