Eric Boman

1867-1924

    Eric was born in Falum, Sweden on June 5, 1867. In 1889, he moved to South America. He went to secondary school in Buenos Aires and Catamarca. This is where he also worked as a "Judge of Peace". Boman studied anthropology in France and worked in the Museum of Paris.  He studied and gained his scientific knowledge in the Argentina northwest, where he also became an expert in archaeology. Since Boman was so familiar with the northwest of Argentina, in 1901-1902 he participated in the Swedish expedition directed by the Swedish nobleman of a family of great travelers, Baron Erland Nordenskiold in northern Argentina and Bolivia. Baron Nordenskiold's account of that expedition, Travels on the Boundaries of Bolivia and Argentina, was published in The Geographical Journal, Vol.21, No. 5 (May, 1903), pp 510-525. In 1903, Boman was in an expedition led by Marquis G. de Crequi-Montfort. Antiquites de la region andine de la Republique Argentine et du desert d'Atacama,  his opus magnum, was published in 1908. Boman won a prize for one of his published works from the French Academy in which he gives accounts of findings but also makes analysis and chronologies. This work is now in the Museum of the Man of Paris.
   

    In later years, Eric Boman committed himself to the archaeology of the Rioja. He published such readings as Pucara of the Willows, The Fort of Marshes, Mountain Range of Famatina and many more that contribute valuable knowledge of regional Archaeology. He is merited with having made many works in the field, taken advantage of many opportunities of the province, and done excavations that provided positive results. Eric Boman was chief of the archaeological department of the Museo Nacional de Historia in Buenos Aries at the time of his death on November 29, 1924. His work is still considered greatly valued and appreciated by the Argentine Colleagues. 

References

American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 28, No.1 (Jan.-Mar., 1926), pp. 324-329.

Written By: Amanda Thissen, 2003

Edited By: Lillian Dolentz, 2008