A naviforme (initially, navetiforme) was a prehistoric boat-shaped house built on the

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. The

hut A hut is a small dwelling, which may be constructed of various local materials. Huts are a type of vernacular architecture because they are built of readily available materials such as wood, snow, ice, stone, grass, palm leaves, branches, hid ...

-like buildings date to the Early

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

or the Pretalayotic Period (ca. 2500–1200 B.C.). The building was generally large and had strong walls. It had dual functions for productive activities and living spaces. Examples of Naviformes are found in various villages but good examples have been excavated at Boquer, Sa Vall, and Son Mercer de Baix. The word naviforme originated from the building's resemblance to another prehistoric

Menorca Menorca or Minorca (from la, Insula Minor, , smaller island, later ''Minorica'') is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Majorca. Its capi ...

n structure, the

naveta {{No footnotes, date=April 2022 A naveta is a form of megalithic chamber tomb unique to the Balearic island of Menorca. They date to the early Bronze Age. They have two vertical and two corbelled walls giving them the form of an upturned boat, f ...

. Given the resemblance in their construction, the naviform was initially called a "navetiforme", a form of a "neveta", though, over time, the word was simplified to naviforme. When few are found together, it is difficult to distinguish between them, despite the naviforme being a home and the naveta being a tomb. Researchers believe that an extended family averaging 20 people could live in a naviforme.

Construction

Naviform were constructed of

dry stone Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. Dry stone structures are stable because of their construction m ...

, using the cyclopean construction technique. A flat stone with a half-buried base underlies the first course of very large stones. They continue upwards with more stones that get much smaller. A cross-section of a wall consists of three parts: the outer wall with the largest stones, the inner wall, corresponding to the interior of the cabin, and between them a filling of earth and tiny stones. The two walls are tilted so that the wall thickness decreases with height and is supported with the filling materials between the two. Although very long, the building has a characteristic shape of a ship. Typical dimensions would be wide, to or long. The great thickness of its walls, averaging makes the useful space of the inner chamber small. Most ceilings were not preserved, but presumably, they were of natural material with a

pitched roof Roof pitch is the steepness of a roof expressed as a ratio of inch(es) rise per horizontal foot (or their metric equivalent), or as the angle in degrees its surface deviates from the horizontal. A flat roof has a pitch of zero in either insta ...

made of thick branches in the form of beams, and covered with branches, leaves and mud, all supported on a number columns arranged along the longitudinal axis of the building. The only preserved ceiling is made of stone slabs, but it is not believed to be typical, as the fact of its being made of stone may have been the determining factor in its present-day existence. In many cases, there are several attached naviforms, forming groups of up to four. However, these correspond to buildings added at different times. Inside many of them can be found complex structures made of mud and flat tiles, placed horizontally and vertically, that served as a kitchen and storage room. Often found are small walls that divide the room into three or four smaller rooms. These are modifications of

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

, as many of the huts remained in use for nearly two millennia. Its only entrance is on its flat end. Small holes were located in the ground opposite the entrance, forming a semicircle for a

porch A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...

. The entrance had a top slab functioning as a

lintel A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. In the case of w ...

, and another half buried in the ground which was the threshold. Beneath this slab, it was common to find remains of a small fire from the ritual opening of the housing.

References

External links

*{{Commons category-inline Megalithic monuments in Spain Archaeological sites in Spain Bronze Age Spain Prehistory of the Balearic Islands