Archaeologist Maria Bofill wins council research grant

This morning, in a ceremony held at the plenary hall of the Formentera Island Council, the 2014 winner of the administration's annual research grant was announced as Maria Bofill, doctor in prehistoric archaeology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. In attendance at the ceremony, together with Dr. Bofill, was Sònia Cardona, councillor of culture and local heritage.

The project for which Bofill will receive the €6,000 scholarship is entitled 'A study of the prehistoric communities of Formentera based on a functional lytic and osseous analysis'.

In her own words, Bofill explained that functional lytic and osseous analysis – lytic relating to an antibody (a lysin) that causes the disintegration of bacterial cells, and osseous concerning the bones – is a new technology in scientific investigation. “[Such analysis] didn't exist in the 70s and 80s, when the major excavations of Ca na Costa and Es Cap de Barbaria took place.” Bofill's intention is to “apply these techniques to artefacts in the collection of the Archaeological Museum of Eivissa and Formentera in order to obtain more information about how Formentera's inhabitants lived during the second half of the third millennium B.C.E (2,500-3,000 B.C.E)”.

Councillor Cardona noted that “the goal of the Council's grant is to foment scientific research related to Formentera”. She stressed that the research grant, “as well as the Estudis Joan Marí Cardona conferences, are extremely important. They serve to stimulate research, promotion and conservation of Formentera's local heritage”.

According to Cardona, the fact that this year's grant recipient is an archaeologist “only serves to strengthen the current love affair between the field of archaeology and Formentera. Far from being the only investigation in the field, Bofill's is just one on a long list of local projects. New digs are being conducted in Es Cap de Barbaria, last September saw the celebration on Formentera of a series of conferences on archaeology in the Balearic Islands, last July attended an extensive programme of continuing education opportunities for university students, and – also in July and September – guided walking and bike tours turned the public on to some of the our island's principal archaeological and patrimonial assets”.