The prehistoric site of Son Oleza is a prehistoric "

Beaker culture The Bell Beaker culture, also known as the Bell Beaker complex or Bell Beaker phenomenon, is an archaeological culture named after the inverted-bell Beaker (archaeology), beaker drinking vessel used at the beginning of the European Bronze Age, ...

dolmen A dolmen, () or portal tomb, is a type of single-chamber Megalith#Tombs, megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the Late Neolithic period (4000 ...

and associated settlement site on the Spanish island of

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

. It is near to the village of

Valldemossa Valldemossa () is a village and municipality on the island of Mallorca, part of the Spanish autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. It is famous for one landmark: the Royal Charterhouse of Valldemossa, built at the beginning of the 14th ce ...

on the island's north-west facing coast. The site is named after the nearby place of Son Oleza. The large site, a nearly complete village, has been investigated by Professor Bill Waldren. Significant features include houses, a dolmen and a water supply system. It is believed the site was occupied by several families between circa 2500BC to circa 1300BC. In 1998 it was the subject of episode 5 in series five of the archaeological television programme ''

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4, Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned in 2022 on online platforms YouTube and Patreon. Created by television produce ...

'' (

Series 5 Series 5 may refer to: * Aston Martin V8 Series 5, an automobile model * BMW 5 Series, a line of automobiles * GeForce 5 Series, a line of video cards * Psion Series 5, a line of handheld computers * South African Class 6E1, Series 5, a series o ...

Nearby sites

The "Talaiotic site of Son Ferrandell" is located in the immediate vicinity of the settlement of Son Oleza. It is not mentioned in the Time Team programme, but related to Son Oleza. Whether accidentally or intentionally, the four talayots on the site are laid out roughly South-West to North-East, perhaps similar to the alignment of

Capocorb Vell Capocorb Vell is a talayotic site located about from Llucmajor on the island of Mallorca, in Spain. It is one of the most highly Archaeological excavation, excavated talayotic sites in the Balearic Islands, Balearic islands. A similar site is S ...

.http://www.talayots.es/mallorca/murallas/capocoes.htm, http://www.talayots.es/mallorca/talacirc/jaquetes.htm, accessed 28 April 2017. Approximately 2 km North-East from Son Oleza are two further sites that feature in the Time Team programme: the maze and the sanctuary of Son Mas. The site referred to as "the maze" was likely occupied by a small group of Beaker people, and more extensively during the iron age, as well as the

Roman period The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. They might have used the copper and iron age sanctuary of Son Mas. The sanctuary has a sighting stone. During the copper age, up until about 1700BC, the sanctuary would have offered a view of the Southern Cross framed by a two mountains, and the Time Team speculate that this is of central importance to the site. The Southern Cross was not fully visible from 1700BC onward, and radiocarbon finds indicate that the site was unoccupied for about 400 years until 1300BC.

References

Former populated places in Spain Archaeological sites in the Balearic Islands Dolmens in Spain Bronze Age Spain Prehistory of the Balearic Islands Indigenous ancient cities in Spain Buildings and structures completed in the 3rd millennium BC Bronze Age sites in Europe Buildings and structures in Mallorca {{Europe-archaeology-stub