Around 4000 B.C., the sun entered the astrological house of Taurus and ushered in the cult of the bull
which was to spread across the Mediterranean from the Minotaur in Crete to eventually reach the
Iberian Peninsula where, of course, bullfights may still be seen today. The most famous relics from
this period in Mallorca are the great bronze bull heads found in the Son Corrò sanctuary in Costitx
in 1895. The owner of the site demanded the, then, outrageous price of 3,500 Ptas. And, as nobody
in Mallorca could, or would, pay such a sum, they were acquired by the national Archaeological
Museum in Madrid. Over the years sporadic attempts have been made to reclaim them and they were
exhibited in Costitx, in 1995, to mark the centenary of their discovery.
It is thought the great
heads hung from a post in the sanctuary and there are historians who identify them with figureheads
as several Sardinian boats of the time are shown with such figureheads. Certainly, other bronze
bull figureheads, smaller and long-necked have been unearthed on the Island, one of the most well-known
in Son Mas in Inca. Bronze horns have also been found in sanctuaries, all perhaps, brought here as
the booty from some long ago sea battle.
Mancor de la Vall
At Mancor de la Vall, the hill known as Montaura is thought to derive from the name mons tauri —bull's hill—
in honour of a temple dedicated to the bull. There are many reports of the discovery of a bronze bull
there in the XVIIIth. century.
Avenc de sa Punta. Pollença 500-300BC
Burial cave in an apparently inaccessible mountainside where some of the bodies were found in wooden coffins
shaped like standing bulls.