Mallorca dig hunts 4,000-year-old metalworking traces
Mallorca may hold traces of metalworking from 4,000 years ago: archaeologists are digging at Es Velar in Santanyí, Mallorca, to find them. On 19 October, the team begins work at Son Sunyer in es Pil·larí, Mallorca, where nine rock-cut tombs were used for burials around 3,500 years ago. The Es Velar excavation began on 12 October and is led by Pau Sureda of Spain’s National Research Council (CSIC).
The search at Es Velar
The team is widening its excavation after finding well-preserved archaeological layers dating from the end of the third millennium BCE during its 2025 dig. It hopes to find remains of metalworking like those discovered on the surface in the 1980s. The first results are due to be presented at Santanyí’s local research days in November.
Nine tombs at Son Sunyer
At Son Sunyer, the archaeologists will focus on SSU9, a tomb discovered in 2024. Sureda and Jordi Hernández will search its central chamber and two niches for burial layers that have survived undisturbed. If they find them, the team could excavate a Mallorcan rock-cut tomb using scientific methods for the first time. They will also investigate other parts of the burial site for tombs that may still be hidden.
The search extends to Mallorca’s Serra de Tramuntana, where researchers hope to identify more places linked to metalworking. In 2025, they dated deposits of slag — waste from metal production — there to around 3,000 years ago for the first time.
Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com