On the Beginnings of Christianity at the Port of Sanitja (Menorca, Balearic Islands, Spain). The Radiocarbon Dating of Tombs 11 and 16 in “Necropolis 3” as a Starting Point for Understanding the Origin of the People who Made Possible a Singular Ecclesiastical Complex

The 2024 excavation in “Necropolis 3” at the Port of Sanitja (Menorca) has yielded radiocarbon dates for two Christian burials —Tombs 11 and 16— falling between 388 and 402 cal. AD, the earliest funerary contexts of this kind documented with absolute chronology in the Balearic Islands. The convergence between the AMS dates and a coin of Theodosius I with a VOT XX reverse recovered from Tomb 11 reinforces this chronological framework. Since the graves were fitted into the interior of the building, the basilica must have been erected earlier, probably in the third quarter of the fourth century, placing it among the earliest ecclesiastical complexes of the Balearics, in parallel with developments documented in Sardinia, Corsica and Malta. The study proposes two routes of arrival for the Christian community —the Tarraconensian, linked to Priscillianism and the barbarian invasions, and the North African, associated with regular trade along the Tunisian coast—, rules out a Baetican origin and considers the relegatio ad insulas as a complementary mechanism. The overall evidence is consistent with the mature Christian community described by Bishop Severus in his encyclical letter of 418.

Keywords: Sanitja, Early Christianity Basilica, Late Antiquity, Sanisera, Earliest Ecclesiastical Complex, Balearic Christian Community