The first indications of the presence of man on Mallorca (Majorca) date back to the year 7,200 B.C., when it is believed that there was a population here, saddling the Palaeolithic and Neolithic periods. There is clearer evidence of human existence on the island from 3,000 B.C. onwards, with people living in small collectives organised around agriculture and livestock.
Around 1,300 B.C. Mallorca underwent an invasion by Talayotic settlers - warriors who settled Mallorca and Menorca - whose dominance lasted until the arrival of the Romans. There are many vestiges from this period in the form of megaliths known as talayots; the most outstanding of these are found at the Talayotic settlement of Capocorb at Llucmajor, Ses Païsses d´Artà and the necropolis of Son Real at Santa Margalida. The classic writers of this period named Mallorca and Menorca as the Illes Gimnesies (Islands of Nude Men).
