In search of the first settlers of Formentera

Learning about the history of Formentera’s landscape in order to trace the island’s first settlers is the aim of the project ‘Paleoformentera: history of the landscape and management of plant resources by the first settlers of Formentera’, a beneficiary of the 2020 Consell de Formentera Research Grant, which has already been launched. The project coordinators are Dr. Pau Sureda, a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Heritage Sciences (INCIPIT-CSIC), and Dr. Jordi Revelles, a postdoctoral researcher at the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES-BUSCA). The work consists of obtaining sedimentary sequences from s’Estany Pudent and s’Estany des Peix to reconstruct their environmental and climatic history.

These are the first activities of this type in the Pitiusas and have been carried out in collaboration with a team of geologists from the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (IPE-CSIC) and the Centre for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research (CIEMAT).

“In the coming months, the samples obtained will be processed and studies conducted to reconstruct the history of the vegetation, fires and climatic fluctuations over the last millennia”, explained Sureda, stating that “all this information will be key to understanding the natural dynamics and the relationship of the prehistoric populations with the island environment”.

Objective

To reconstruct the history of the island’s landscape

The processing of the samples obtained will make it possible to reconstruct the history of vegetation, fires and climatic fluctuations on Formentera over the last millennia.

The island’s Heritage councillor, Raquel Guasch, expressed her satisfaction at the start of the research work “for a study that will have a bearing on the island’s roots and will help to better understand the imprint of Formentera’s natural wealth”. This year the grant has been boosted to 8,500 euros, 2,500 euros more than in previous years. “The increase was necessary, given the relevance of the works presented,” said Guasch. Six applications were presented to this round, two more than in the previous year. The research of the ‘Paleoformentera’ project is also funded by the Trasmapi shipping company.