page_title: Calvià
section_title: Ancient era
hierarchical_section_title: Calvià / History / Ancient era
caption_attribution_description: English: Drawing of a balearic slinger. He wears a spare sling as a headband and a bag of missiles. Image by Johnny Shumate (jjjshumate@earthlink.net) Deutsch: Zeichnung eines balearischen Schleuderers. Er trägt eine Ersatzschleuder als Stirnband und einen Beutel mit Geschossen. Bild von Johnny Shumate (jjjshumate@earthlink.net)
context_page_description: Calvià is a municipality on the island of Majorca, part of the Spanish autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. It is located in the southwestern part of the island of Majorca, between the Serra de Tramuntana and the Serra de Na Burguesa. The municipal seat is the town of Vila Calvia.
  Calvià has an approximate area of 145 km². It is bordered on the north by the municipalities of Puigpunyent and Estellencs, Palma de Mallorca, the island's capital to the east, Andratx to the west and to the south by the Mediterranean Sea.
  According to the 2008 census, the municipality had a population of 50,777 inhabitants, of whom 18,046 were foreigners. Today, it is the second most populated area of the entire archipelago Balearic after Palma, and also an area that has the largest number of tourists in the islands. Its population is scattered around the different urban centers created as a result of tourism development and twentieth century urbanization.
context_section_description: Calvià first appears in history as a village 2,000 years BCE, although the area was first populated in the Neolithic Era.  Later, sailors coming from the east stopped in the Balearics on their way to the Iberian Peninsula, where they sought metals. They came from Italy, from other Mediterranean islands, and from the Near East, and constructed small settlements along the coast. Historians call this period the "Cave Culture", because caves were frequently used as habitations and burial areas. Some vestiges of this area have been catalogued in an archaeological excavation called the Puig de sa Morisca Archaeological Park, which conserves remains of what was a talaiot 9 metres (30 ft) in diameter. It is located on a small mountainous elevation in Calvià's Santa Ponsa district.
  The Roman era lasted from 123 BCE until the 4th century CE, but left no significant vestiges. Among the few archaeological remnants of this era are the remains of a Roman villa in Santa Ponsa known as Sa Mesquida, which has an oven that was used to make ceramics, the horse-shoe shaped Naveta Alemany and the Turó de Ses Abelles.
  In 425, the area was invaded by the Vandals, who ended up settling. Lack of remains or written record means little is known about this area other than the decline that began with the destruction of Pollença. The Byzantine general Flavius Belisarius ordered the conquest of the archipelago in 534, bringing an end to this era.
  The first Muslim arrivals were in 707. They quickly ended the Byzantine domination and established their own hegemony. Until 903, the island was part of the Umayyad Caliphate.
caption: The Balearic slingers were among the first people to inhabit and colonize the Balearic Islands.
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