María José León Moll graduated in History from Barcelona University, before completing a doctorate in Archaeology, and a master's in Cultural Management. She is an archaeologist and director of Can Saura, the new Municipal Museum in Ciutadella. She is also a member of the Scientific Council of the Talayotic Menorca Agency, and as a researcher is co-director of the Modular project excavations at the Talayotic settlement of Son Catlar, as well as at the coastal site on the Cape of Cala Morell as part of the "Entre Illes" project.
Let's begin by learning a little about your background. What led you to focus on archaeology and the study of Talayotic culture?
That's a very easy question to answer. The landscape of Menorca played a large part. When I was a girl, we would spend family weekends visiting the sites, above all at Son Catlar. That made a real impression on my childhood. And then when I was little there was a really popular series of films, "Indiana Jones", and of course when I saw them that made me even more determined to become an archaeologist, although at the time I had a very different concept of what the science involved. A concept which over the years, and above all the different excavations I have undertaken, has gradually changed. But if I had to choose again, I would still opt for archaeology as my work and way of life.
What will a visitor with an interest in learning about this era of prehistoric Menorca find at Can Saura?
The new Can Saura museum is founded on a new concept. Can Saura is a city museum, in other words it focuses on telling the story of Ciutadella. This new concept of museum can be seen in all the exhibition rooms, including those dedicated to prehistory. Visitors will learn their about the particular aspects of Menorca's prehistory in the Ciutadella region. And so they can enjoy the findings from the Es Càrritx and Es Mussol caves, or see some of the materials recovered in the excavations of the naveta settlements of Es Coll de Cala Morell, or the burial navetas to be found within the municipal boundaries of Ciutadella, including the Es Tudons naveta. So I would very much recommend a visit to the new museum!
As you mentioned, the Municipal Museum of Ciutadella has a number of particularly valuable objects of Talayotic culture. How many exhibits are there at present from this period? And from your point of view, which are the most significant?
From my point of view, all the exhibits we have on display at the museum are valuable and relevant, irrespective of the historical period they belong to. With the new permanent exhibition we have made a real effort to put materials other than archaeological objects on display, as we believe that Menorca means much more than just archaeology.
The museum has around 250 exhibits (more or less) from Menorca's prehistory, divided into different rooms. Of these, the most significant objects we are able to display at Can Saura would be: first of all, the wooden carvings recovered from La Cova des Mussol; and then all the objects made of wood, bone, bronze, ceramics and human hair recovered from their hiding place at La Cova des Càrritx. The discovery of this group of objects in the Es Càrritx cave allowed us for the first time to document the funeral ritual known as "combing death", which we now know was also practised at other funereal sites in prehistoric Menorca, such as La Cova des Pas and La Cova de Biniedrís.
What activities has the museum scheduled for this year in connection with Talayotic culture?
This is still a year of trial and error for the museum. Right now we have plans to resume the school workshops within Ciutadella City Council's "Opening Doors" programme. Many of these workshops focus on prehistoric Menorca, with the aim of explaining the subject to local children through the museum, as an institution dedicated to informal education. The workshops involve guided tours of the museum, visits to sites such as Torre d'en Galmés and Son Catlar, and more hands-on workshops which take place in the educational room. And then in October, the museum has plans to develop the field season at the inhabited naveta dig site at the coastal cape of Cala Morell.
Modular Project
The excavations at Son Catlar of which you are co-director of one of the research projects that the museum is involved in. What new knowledge has this Modular project given us about Talayotic culture?
The Modular project began work on the island in 2014 with the main aim of characterising the colonial contact between the Phoenician-Punic communities of the Western Mediterranean and the peoples who inhabited Menorca during the second half of the 1st millennium BC.
From 2017 onwards, the project focused on research into the Son Catlar settlement, characterised by impressive wall, measuring 900 metres in length and surrounding practically the entire settlement. A group of bastions and towers abutted this wall. Now, thanks to the Modular project's research, we know that these abutting structures were built around the 3rd century BC in order to fortify the settlement and adapt the wall to the new military landscape around the Mediterranean, which began to take shape from the 5th century BC onwards.
And so our project's research at the Son Catlar site has achieved the following:
- establish Menorca as an additional setting in the major conflict featuring Rome and Carthage (Second Punic War).
- see Menorca as a point of contact between the Phoenician-Punic world and the local communities.
- obtain a specific architectural and stratigraphic sequence of the main historical events experienced by the Son Catlar settlement.
- locate a second gateway to the settlement: the bent entrance, which is the only one of its kind on the Mediterranean.
- establish a construction timeframe for the fortification of the Son Catlar settlement, for the purpose of adapting the Talayotic walls to the new military landscape which took shape on the Mediterranean from the 5th century BC onwards.
- see the Punic influence in the construction of this whole fortification of the Son Catlar settlement.
Work on this year's field season ended a few weeks ago. What was the main progress made?
This year the excavation work focused on the bent entrance sector. Here, right on the urban perimeter of the settlement, we were able to locate a room annexed to the bent entrance access system, which would also have been built at the end of the 3rd century BC. This rectangular space could have had a military function, perhaps as a barracks. This year's excavation showed us that the structure was reused in the Roman era as a domestic setting. An oven has been documented within.
Meanwhile, we were also able to document two streets emerging from the bent entrance. One towards the east and another heading south. This year we were also able to work on the eastern street, where we managed to document the reuse of this area in the Roman era as a domestic setting. A second oven was also documented within.
Museum and heritage
What role should the museum play with a view to the possible inclusion of Talayotic Menorca on the World Heritage List?
As a permanent institution, open the public and at the service of society and societal development, it must play an active role in terms of the conservation, research and dissemination of Talayotic culture. The
museum must act as a living forum where the local population and visitors can enjoy assets representing prehistoric Menorca. The island's museums must become a bulwark defending and showcasing Talayotic Menorca.
How do you see the future of our archaeological heritage?
The future of the island's archaeological heritage depends on the population. As museums and institutions, we need to appeal to
heritage awareness. We must bear in mind that the archaeological heritage we now enjoy is a legacy left to us by our ancestors, and also a living record which we hand down to future generations. It is our duty as the inhabitants of this island to be aware of the rich heritage we have, to enjoy and know how to conserve it. Only by valuing this heritage will we be able to generate attitudes in support of conservation. And so the future lies in our hands, and demands that we raise heritage awareness.