Sanisera

[1]The archaeological site of Sanisera is located in the natural port of Sanitja, next to the Cavalleria Cape or Cap de Cavallería (Es Mercadal), which is placed on the rocky northern coast of the island.

The western part of the port consists of a long sub-peninsula, whose most characteristic element is an English watchtower built at the beginning of the 19th century, located at its northeastern end.

A similar aim was carried out here later on, when the British army, which occupied the island during most of the 18th century, built a watchtower, possibly encouraged by the strategic conditions of the place, something which is also attested by the many bunkers which date from the Spanish Civil War.

One of them consists of the portulan charts from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, such as the maps designed by Abraham Ortelius in the year 1590 and Petrus Bertius in 1602; the place name Sanisera appearing in many of them in different ways: Zenage, Porto Senello, Seneua, Seneli, Sa Nitja, Senige, Senitja, Seniya, Seniglles, Senigta, Cenegta, Senoli, Seniga, Seneli, Leneli, Cenega, Senege, Sauia, Sonige, Ceneglia, Zenega, Ianisera, Zenhaga or Zenega.

Apart from cartographical records, with entries for place names that appear in many different maps, it is a very different source which has helped researchers trying to identify the location of the ruins of the ancient Sanisera with the port of Sanitja.

In this way, some writers while describing the area surrounding the port of Sanitja, have pointed out the existence of pottery fragments and other objects scattered on the surface, as well as some structures belonging to old buildings.

Lastly, its location in a port presenting excellent characteristics makes one think in the logical possibility of a stable human occupation in this spot of the northernmost part of Menorca.

From that year until the present, the area is under archaeological investigation, having brought to light a Roman military camp which dates from the times of the conquest of the Balearic Islands (123 BC.)

A series of amphorae dating from the 1st to the 4th centuries AD started to be found and recovered from the seabed, thus proving the presence of Roman ruins in this place.

During the following years some archaeologists and historians from the island published articles on amphorae and different types of ceramics recovered from different underwater sites in Menorca.

[11] The diver-based surveys aim at identifying the already known artifacts and sites’ limits, as well as previously undetected features, with the related tasks of compiling a topographic map of the seabed, documenting and fully recording all the elements found, evaluating their preservation and protection, etc.

All the remains which lie at the sea bottom can explain a great deal of information about key factors such as sea-crossing, external influences, economy, trade and migration patterns in the northern coast of Menorca.

The origin of these pirates is unknown, and they could have been the native inhabitants themselves, those of the Talayotic society, represented by the figure of the Balearic slinger so well known in the Mediterranean, since they played a very important role in the Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage as mercenaries in the Carthaginian army.

[14] Due to this problem related to piracy, even though this might have been a pretext for proceeding with the annexation of the islands to the Roman Republic (for these possible reasons: in order to get new territories for the creation of new cities and colonies in strategic points with fertile lands for agriculture; due to the presence of the skillful Balearic slingers who could serve as mercenaries in the Roman army; for the establishment of commercial routes, which at the same time enhanced a better control of the Mediterranean; apart from questions regarding power, honour, prestige and glory that a general belonging to a family like the Metellus clan needed to reach in order to strengthen his supremacy over the rest members of the Roman aristocracy), the Senate decided to start the Conquest of the Islands, led by the consul Metellus, which was carried out in two years, after which they formed part of the province of Hispania Citerior or Nearer Hispania.

In this way, in a military camp presenting a series of barracks and other spaces for the carrying-out of different daily activities (“soldiers in charge of healing wounds after the trainings, the tailoring of the military attire, the mending of boots, the melting of lead for the production of bullets, the maintenance of equipment […]”,[17] and surrounded by a defensive system formed by a trench, Roman soldiers, such as lancers (hastate) and infantry (principe), along with native slingers (auxiliae) would have lived and trained together.

This improvised bunch of people gathered in houses which lacked any form of urban planning, and which was located in the surroundings of the military camp, a "cannabae", would have been gradually growing and becoming more organized until it turned out to be the "civitas" of Sanisera mentioned by Pliny.

The archaeological investigations have been able to determine an area measuring approximately 14 acres (57,000 m2) of perimeter, which would represent the largest expansion of the city in its peak period (which could have taken place around the 1st and 3rd centuries AC[clarification needed]).

[21] During and after the Crisis of the Third Century which affected all the territories belonging to the Roman Empire, Sanisera started to decay as well, shrinking both its perimeter and population, and, probably modifying the distribution of the different spaces still in use, which would have caused major changes in the urbanism.

[22] Nevertheless, this decay would have not meant a total breaking-off of the relations with other parts of the Mediterranean, since the site presents different types of pottery dating from that late Empire period which arrived from places such as Northern Africa.

Bearing possible African and Syrian influences,[27] it presents an east–west orientation and a rectangular plan, which is divided into three naves, the central and widest one finishing with a semicircular apse at its head.

The existence of a religious building like this would indicate the continuity of some degree of importance of the city of Sanisera as an administrative and political centre; and represents further evidence in the island of Menorca of the ferver acceptance of the new religion around the 4th and 5th centuries.

From the Late Antiquity period there are also religious centers inside the Roman cities, such as the complexes in Tolmo de Minateda (Albacete), Tarragona, Barcelona, Terrassa and Valencia among others, all of them nowadays located in Spain.

Complexes of this type were often built, both inside and outside the city limits, due to the presence of saints’ relics, which might have caused the desire to visit the place and even be buried near them.

There is a minimal representation of perinates and babies, most probably because there was some level of discrimination in the burial of infants within the community funerary space (as is often seen in necropoles of Early and Late antiquity dates).

Regarding pathologies, the three most common conditions observed in the skeletal remains analysed from necropolis 6 were dental calculus, joint disease and non-specific infection, and this is typical for a rural, non-industrialised population.

Most of the materials recovered from the graves date from the 6th century AD and are comparable to objects located in other Late Antiquity necropolei from the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands.

In this way, this period presents a problem for the study of the city of Sanisera, since no convincing information has been found due to lack of written and archaeological sources.

It was erected during the last phase of British occupation (1798–1802), forming part of a system of eleven towers whose function was that of averting enemy armies from disembarking in the port.

At a distance of 30 meters to the east of the tower there was a set of batteries (small cannons) protected by a short dry wall (80 centimeters tall) which was parallel to the coast line.

In 1857 a lighthouse was built on the northernmost point of Cavalleria Cape under the petition of the authorities of the island, due to the frequency of wrecks taking place on the northern coast.