As stated earlier, the Taulas of Menorca have long been a mystery to historians. Some have argued that they have religious significance, others believe that their intended purpose was simply to hold aloft some sort of room, and still others hypothesize that these massive structures were built with science in mind. The latter of these possibilities is the one adopted by Michael Hoskin, whose theory on the matter is quite interesting.

Hoskin has long been interested in archaeoastronomy (astronomy in ancient times) and is noted for his work concerning possible astronomical uses for Stonehenge. The mystery of the taulas and comparisons which they draw to Stonehenge drew him to Menorca to see if they have any astronomical significance. The first thing which Hoskin noted was the fact that in the seventeen that he visited, the flat, wide, face of the taula always faced the opening in its surrounding wall. After brief surveying of the individual taulas Hoskin also noted that all of the taulas faced in the general direction of the south. This fact was intriguing, but at the same time it disturbed Hoskin, because all of the celestial bodies commonly associated with astronomy (the Moon, Sun, and other planets) rise and set in the east and west. In fact. the modern Menorcan southern sky has no star brighter than one twentieth of the brightness of Serius, the brightest star in the sky.

Undaunted, he proceeded to record the angles at which the seventeen taulas faced. Hoskin took these numbers back to Cambridge where they were run into a computer to see if they had any astronomical significance at the time of the taulas' respective date of origin. After an initial error in the computer program was fixed, Hoskin was faced with exciting findings. Thirteen of the seventeen taulas faced, with almost perfect precision, the rising or setting of the star Alpha Cen, a star no longer visible from Menorca, but quite visible at the time of each taula's origin. In fact, Alpha Cen was the third brightest star in the sky, and it was part of the major constelation Centaurus. Of the four remaining taulas, two would have faced Centaurus as well (but not precisely Alpha Cen). Another is angled too far north (it pointed just slightly south of east) to have faced Centaurus. This taula, Torralba, is the most magnificent of all the structures on Menorca. After further data processing it was determined that the taula of Torralba actually faced Sirius, that brightest star in the sky mentioned earlier. The final taula does not appear to have faced any major star at the time of its construction. However, this happens to be the most crudely built (and newest) taula, so Hoskin theorizes that its constructers miscalculated the direction at which it was to be placed.

The Implications

Hoskin's findings certainly seem too rare to be coincidental. It is interesting how fifteen of the seventeen taulas faced the Centaurus constellation at the time of their origin. Hoskin notes that this constellation had a great deal of cultural significance to both the Egyptians and the Greeks, who were known to spread aspects of their respective cultures across Europe. The taula at Torralba faced the heliacal rising of Sirius, which in the Egyptian calendar marked the begining of the new year. In addition to to these facts which strongly suggest the astronomical importance of the taulas, Hoskin has noted many individual artifactual finds which support his theory. An example of this is a solitary bull figurine found at Torralba. In Egyptian mythology the bull represented Isis, who just happened to be the deity associated with Sirius. Whether or not Hoskin is correct in theorizing that Menorca's Taulas were astronomically significant is yet to be discovered. However, it would certainly be hard to deny the suggestion that his ideas are quite intriguing.