Piedras que enlazan comunidades y paisajes. Un estudio sobre arquitectura y visibilidad en la isla de Mallorca durante la Edad del Hierro (850-123 AC)

Abstract

Architecture has been a central thread in how the history of the Balearic Islands has been told and studied. The scale of the constructions made with big stones, and their visibility across the landscape has made them a key feature in our approach and understanding of the first millennium BC in the islands. The main goal of this research is to analyse how monumental communal architecture enabled the construction of enduring social spaces, and how these spaces both changed with the community, and the community with them. This dissertation focuses on the Talayotic period (c.850-550 BC) and the Postalayotic period (c.550-123 BC), which showcase the use of cyclopean constructions in communal spaces, and allow us to examine how the architecture played a central role in the social and political arenas of the island communities. The study focuses on three areas of the island of Mallorca: the peninsula of Santa Ponça, located in the southwest of the island, the area around cap de Ses Salines, in the southeast, and the area between Punta de n’Amer and the Serra de Llevant, in the northeast of the island. By mapping the differences and similitudes between these three areas, we see how different communities used architecture to signify their landscape, and how they changed with it. Our aim is not to find a general model that explains all areas, but rather to understand the differences that exist between them, to see how each one is unique but also how it adds up to the same tradition. Through the application of a range of GIS analysis, we demonstrate how both the architecture itself and its location in space has created a network across the entire landscape, and that the characteristics and properties of this network are key in understanding the relationship between the communities and their landscape. Through this approach that have previously only been presented as case-studies we tested the applicability of these methodologies, and showed how the combination of them in a problem-driven way allows us to go much further in our understanding of our case study. We have focused on the exploration of visibility as the magnitude of the architecture, and its construction techniques, showcased an active will to be visible places. Underpinned by an assemblage-based perspective, the exploration of architecture in this study is not focused on the buildings by themselves, but also rather in the relationships that they fostered and enabled. Our understanding is that the architecture is not a representation of the community, but it is part of it. We seek to see architecture not as static but as always vibrant, with the capacity to produce affects and constituting a place for memory. The fact that these buildings were used for centuries lets us reflect in how they changed, not as through the material part of the building, but in the relationships that they allowed. Ultimately, we wish to reflect on how architecture constitutes an integral part of the landscape, how it not only constitutes a place but also how it can shape the possibilities of it. It is part of the daily interaction with our surroundings, shaping it and providing a common ground of experience. Therefore, by exploring the relations between communities and landscape in the island of Mallorca during the Iron Age we aim to reflect on the role of architecture and how it constitutes an indissoluble part of the landscape, even when humans stop inhabiting them.