Indigenous Persistence in the Balearic Islands: Carthaginian and Roman Colonial Engagements in the Western Mediterranean

Summary

The Balearic Islands are the westernmost island group in the Mediterranean. Of the four main islands of the group, Mallorca and Menorca were home to an indigenous Iron Age culture known as the Talayotic people. Their story is considered a minor one by many historians in the grand narrative of Mediterranean domination by Carthage and then Rome. Nevertheless, the archaeology of these two islands has revealed fascinating evidence of the scope and effects of ancient colonialism by these two powers. The groups inhabiting these islands during Carthaginian contact as well as Roman conquest do not display a passive acceptance of colonial influences, nor does the archaeological and historical evidence evoke outright resistance. Yet these groups persisted in settlement structure, religious practices, and even in the funerary realm well into the first centuries C.E. Through the lens of colonial negotiation, it also becomes clear that the islands contained multiple groups of varying identities that cannot be simply understood as broadly "Talayotic." This paper will examine the ritual evidence from sites on Mallorca and Menorca to understand the varying expressions of these island communities during this period of outside interaction at the end of the first millennium B.C.E.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 19879