Discover the ethnological route, where you can learn firsthand the customs and traditions of the people of Menorca. The work and tasks in the fields, as well as the different trades performed by the master craftsmen. master craftsmen.
Country life in the 19th/20th century
Ethnological elements:
The dry wall
Dry stone walls (“paret seca”) are a defining element of Menorca’s landscape. The great abundance of walls on the island is the result of the need to remove the stones from the land to make it arable.
Dry stone walls had, and still have, the function of delimiting properties, compartmentalizing and organizing the different agricultural spaces within the same farm, reducing the effects of wind on crops and preventing erosion and earth movements due to rainfall.
Jumpers
One element found in the walls are the “botadors”, stones that protrude from the wall as a ladder of two or three steps, to be able to jump over the wall more easily and without the danger of it collapsing.
Cistern and watering troughs for livestock
The cistern is a pear-shaped subway cavity, dug manually into the rock, which was used to collect rainwater. When the cattle grazed, the troughs were filled with water from the cistern by means of a bucket, with the help of a rope and a pulley. Texts extracted from the village Talatí de Dalt.
