Less than a kilometre from the town centre in a south easterly direction, Ses Païsses is one of the most important archaeological remains not only in the municipality of Artà but in the whole of eastern Majorca.
Clearly having its origins in the era of talayotic culture, it can be dated as between 1300 BC and the 1st century BC. Between 1959 and 1963 the Italian professor Giovanne Lilliu directed four archaeological digs at Ses Païsses. These excavations brought to light valuable information about Majorcan talayotic culture and uncovered a large part of the constructions that the visitor can see today. In 1946 the settlement was declared a Historic-Artistic Monument. The talayotic settlement of Ses Païsses is 13,500 square metres in area, oval in shape, and its perimeter wall is 374 metres long. Archaeological investigations have determined that there was one central talayot around which other subsequent buildings were constructed out of large rocks and stones.
In the centre there are two groups of buildings. The first, presided over by the talayot, consists of a series of rooms and a much larger hall with a ceiling supported by columns. The second group, which lies to the west-south-west is made up of two large rooms which are rounded at one end. The central talayot, in the middle of the settlement, dates from the initial phase of the Talayotic Age (Talayotic 1) between 1300 and 1000 BC. Circular in shape, this talayot forms a conical tower about 4.5 metres high, over 400 cubic metres in volume.
The perimeter wall, on the other hand, appears to have been built during the Second Talayotic Age (from 1000 to 800 BC), which is when the majority of walled settlements were constructed. The wall, the average width of which is 3.6 metres, is as much as 3.5 metres high in places, although this varies considerably, and has two quite different aspects. The exterior of the wall was built of large rocks, some of which weigh over 8 tonnes, placed in a vertical plane, while the interior of the wall was built with smaller stones. The main gateway, to the east-south-east is the largest, with two vertical stone gate posts that support an enormous monolithic lintel. In addition to this main gate the talayotic settlement has three other entrance ways.
The other rooms are of different periods; some from the final stage of the Talayotic Age, also called Talayotic III, (8th to 5th centuries BC), and Talayotic IV (5th to 1st centuries BC). The two round ended rooms on the east side of the site and the hall with the ceiling supported by columns, which is connected to the talayot by a straight corridor, belong to the former period. On the other hand, the two four-sided rooms of the central block and the horse-shoe shaped room, built onto the talayot, have been dated to different times of Talayotic IV, and so are thought to be the most recent.
The remains found in the higher strata of some of the rooms, dated to the final centuries of the Talayotic Age (3rd to 2nd centuries BC) clearly show the influences of Mediterranean civilisations (imported pottery in different shapes and sizes, objects made of iron, reconstruction of rooms) introduced by Balearic slingers home from the Punic Wars. In 1999, the excavations were restarted and brought to light further archaeological remains next to the wall, just at the main entrance gate
• Picture gallery for Ses Païsses Talayotic Settlement
