Nuragic civilization
Encyclopedia
The Nuragic civilization was a civilization of Sardinia
, lasting from the Bronze Age
(18th century BC) to the 2nd century AD. The name derives from its most characteristic monuments, the nuraghe
. They consist of tower-fortresses, built starting from about 1800 BC. Today some 7,000 nuraghi dot the Sardinian landscape.
the island was inhabited by people who had arrived there in the Palaeolithic and Neolithic
ages from several parts of Europe
and the Mediterranean area. The most ancient settlements have been discovered both in Gallura
and central Sardinia; later several cultures developed in the island, such as the Ozieri culture
. The economy was based on agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing and trading with the mainland.
Remains from this period include more than 2,400 hypogeum
tombs called Domus de Janas
, the 4th millennium BC statue menhirs representing warriors or female figures, and the stepped pyramid of Monte d'Accoddi
, near Sassari
, which has some similarities with the monumental complex of Los Millares
(Andalusia
) and the later Talaiots in the Balearic Islands
. According to some scholars, the similarity between this structure and Mesopotamian ones is due to migrations, especially of Sumer
ian people, to the Western Mediterranean.
During this period copper
objects and weapons also appeared in the island.
fell out of use starting from c. 2000 BC, when the Beaker culture
, which at the time was widespread in almost all western Europe, appeared in the island. The introduction of bronze
from the new people arriving from the mainland brought numerous improvements, such as in agriculture, in which more effective tools could be used, but also in war and hunting.
The Bonnanaro culture
is the last evolution of the Beaker culture in Sardinia (c. 1800 BC), and shows several similarities with the Bronze-Age Polada culture
of central-northern Italy. These have been connected to link with the Italian prehistoric settlements through Corsica
. To this period date the construction of the platformlike so-called proto-nuraghe.
Soon Sardinia, a land rich in mines, notably copper
and lead
, saw the construction of numerous furnaces for the production of alloy
s which were traded across the Mediterranean basin and nuragic people became skilled metal workers; they were among the main metal producers in Europe and with bronze they produced a wide variety of objects and new weapons as swords, daggers, axes, and after drills, pins, rings, bracelets, typical bronze statuettes, and the votive bronze boats show a close relationship with the sea. Tin
may have drawn Bronze Age traders from the Aegean where copper is available but tin for bronze-making is scarce; The first verifiable smelting slag has come to light; its appearance in a hoard of ancient tin confirms local smelting as well as casting. The usually cited tin sources and trade in ancient times
are those in the Iberian Peninsula
or from Cornwall. Markets included civilizations living in regions with poor metal resources, such as the Mycenaean civilization, Cyprus
and Crete
, as well as the Iberian peninsula
, a fact that can explain the cultural similarities between them and the Nuraghe civilization and the presence in Nuragic sites of late Bronze Age Mycenaean, west and central Cretan and Cypriote ceramics, as well as locally made replicas, concentrated in half a dozen findspots that seem to have functioned as "gateway-communities.
sites and also attacked Egypt. According to some scholars the Sherden, one of the most important tribes of the sea peoples, are to be identified with the Nuragic Sardinians. Another hypothesis is that they arrived to the island around the 13th-12th century after the failed invasion of Egypt. However, these theories remain controversial.
A lost work by Simonides of Ceos
reported by Zenobius
, spoke of raids by Sardinians against the island of Crete
, in the same period in which the Sea People invaded Egypt. This would at least confirm that Nuragic Sardinians frequented the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
Further proofs come from 13th century Nuragic ceramics found at Tiryns
and in the Agrigento
area in Sicily, along the sea route linking western to eastern Mediterranean.
Recently the archaeologist Adam Zertal
,echoing the theory already presented in 2005 by Leonardo Melis, has proposed that the Harosheth Haggoyim
of Israel
, home of the biblical figure Sisera
, is identifiable with the site of "El-Ahwat
" and that it was a Nuragic site suggesting that he came from the people of the Sherden of Sardinia.
asserts that Sardinia would have been populated by Heracles
, who sent here a colony of his children led by nephew Iolaus
. He also speaks of the Ilienses tribe, who were repeatedly fought by the Carthaginians and the Romans
, but in vain.
ns began visiting Sardinia with increasing frequency. The most common ports of call were Caralis, Nora
, Bithia, Sulcis
, Tharros
, Bosa and Olbia
.
The Roman historian Justin describes a Carthaginian expedition led by Malco in 540 BC against a still strongly Nuragic Sardinia. The expedition failed and this caused a political revolution in Carthage, from which Mago
emerged. He launched another expedition against the island, in 509 BC, after the Sardinians attacked the Phoenicians coastal cities held by the enemy. The Carthaginians, after a number of military campaigns in which Mago died and was replaced by his brother Hamilcar, overcame the Sardinians and conquered the coastal Sardinia, the Iglesiente
with its mines and the southern plains. The Nuragic civilization survived in the mountainous mainland of the island.
In 238 BC the Carthaginians, as a result of their defeat by the Romans
in the first Punic War, surrendered Sardinia to Rome. Sardinia became a Roman province. The Greek geographer Strabo
confirms anyway the survival of the Nuragic civilization in Roman times.
Centuries later, Roman sources describe the island as inhabited by numerous ethnic groups which had gradually merged culturally. They however maintained a political identity, and were often warring each other for the control of the most valuable territories. Tribes mentioned include the Iolei or Ilienses, the Balares, the Corsi and the Civitatas Barbarie, the latter living in what is now Barbagia
and defying the Romanization process.
Around 1500 BC, archaeological studies have proved the increasing size of the settlements built around these structures, which were often located at the summit of hills. Perhaps for protection reasons, new towers were added to the original ones, connected by walls provided with slits.
It has been suggested that some of the current Sardinian villages trace their origin directly from Nuragic ones, including perhaps those containing the root Nur- in their name (Nurachi
, Nuraminis
, Nurri
, Nurallao
, Noragugume
). The most famous among the numerous existing nuraghe, which have been included in the UNESCO Heritage List, are the Su Nuraxi at Barumini
, Santu Antine at Torralba
, Nuraghe Losa
at Abbasanta
, Palmavera (Alghero
), Genna Maria at Villanovaforru
, Santa Cristina at Paulilatino
.
, in the province of Oristano
. They depict warriors, archers, wrestlers, models of nuraghe and boxers with shield and armed glove. They date to around the 10th-8th centuries BC.
They feature disc-shaped eyes and eastern-like garments. The statues probably depicted mythological heroes, guarding a sepulchre; according to another theory, they could be a sort of Pantheon of the typical Nuragic divinities.
Their finding proved that the Nuragic civilization had maintained its peculiarities, and introduced new ones across the centuries, well into the Phoenician colonization of most of Sardinia.
The Nuragic Sacred Pits followed the same pattern of the nuraghe, the main part consisting of a circular room with a tholos vault with a hole at the summit. A monumental staircase connected the entrance to this subterranean (hypogeum
) room, whose main role is to collect the water of the sacred spring. The exterior walls features stone benches on which were deposed the offers from the faithful and the religious objects. Some sites had also sacrifice altars: some scholars think that these architecture could be dedicated to Sardus, one of the main Nuragic divinities.
s. They date to the whole Nuragic era up to the Iron Age
, and are more frequent in the central sector of the island. Their plan was in the shape of the head of a bull.
tomb shape, and the adoration of bulls), Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Lebanon. Items such as Cyprus-type copper ingots have been found in Sardinia, while Nuragic ceramics have been found in Spain (Huelva, Tarragona, Malaga, Teruel and Cadiz) up to the Gibraltar strait, and in Etruscan
centers of the Italian peninsula such as Vetulonia
, Vulci and Populonia
(known in the 9th-6th centuries from Nuragic statues found in their tombs).
Sardinia was rich in metals such as lead and copper. Archaeological findings have proven the good quality of Nuragic metallurgy, including numerous bronze weapons. The so called "golden age" of the Nuragic civilization (mid-2nd millennium BC) coincided perhaps with the apex of the mining of metals in the island. Sardinian copper ingots have been found in Spain, France, Turkey and Greece. The widespread use of bronze, an alloy which used tin, a metal which however was not present in Sardinia if not in a single deposit, further proves the capability of the Nuragic people to trade in the resources they needed.
Nuragic ceramics have been found in the Italian peninsula, in Sicily, Spain and Crete.
shepherds. Religion and military had a strong role in the society, which has led scholars to the hypothesis that the Nuragic civilization was a theocracy
. An important role was that of mythological heroes such as Norax
, Sardus
, Iolaos and Aristeus
, military leaders considered also as divinities.
The Nuraghe bronzes clearly portrays figures of chief-kings, recognizable from the presence of a staff with bosses and of a mantle. Also depicted are the other classes, including miners and artisans; numerous are the soldiers, which has led to think to a warring society, with a precise military hierarchy (archers, infantry, swordsmen, musicians, wrestlers and boxers, the latter similar to those of the Minoan civilizations). Different uniforms could belong to different cantons or clans, or to different military corps.
The priest role was perhaps fulfilled by women.
The small bronzes also gave clues on personal care and fashion. Women generally had long hair; men sported two long braids on each side of the face, while the head was shaved off, or covered by a leather cap.
A key element of the Nuragic religion was that of fertility, connected to the male power of the Bull-Sun and the female one of Water-Moon. According to the scholars' studies, there existed a Mediterranean-type Mother Goddess and a God-Father (Babai). The excavations have proved that the Nuragic people, in determinate periods of the year, gathered in common holy places, usually characterized by sitting steps and the presence of a holy pit. In some holy areas, such as Gremanu at Fonni
, Serra Orrios at Dorgali
and S'Arcu 'e is forros at Villagrande Strisaili
, there were rectangular temples, with central holy room housing perhaps a holy fire.
The deities worshipped are unknown, but were perhaps connected to water, or to astronomical entities (Sun, Moon, solstices). Also having a religious role were perhaps the small chiseled discs, with geometrical patterns, known as pintadera, although their function has not been identified yet.
Some structures could have a "federal" Sardinian role, such as the sanctuary of Santa Vittoria near Serri
, including both religious and civil buildings: here, according to Italian historian Giovanni Lilliu, the main clans of the central island held their assemblies to sign alliances, decide wars or to stipulate commercial agreements. Spaces for trades were also present. At least twenty of such multirole structures are known, including those of Santa Cristina at Paulilatino and of Siligo
; some have been re-used as Christian temples (such as the cumbessias of Sa Salvatore in Sisis at Cabras
).
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
, lasting from the Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
(18th century BC) to the 2nd century AD. The name derives from its most characteristic monuments, the nuraghe
Nuraghe
The nuraghe is the main type of ancient megalithic edifice found in Sardinia. Today it has come to be the symbol of Sardinia and its distinctive culture, the Nuragic civilization...
. They consist of tower-fortresses, built starting from about 1800 BC. Today some 7,000 nuraghi dot the Sardinian landscape.
Pre-Nuragic Sardinia
In the Stone AgeStone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
the island was inhabited by people who had arrived there in the Palaeolithic and Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
ages from several parts of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and the Mediterranean area. The most ancient settlements have been discovered both in Gallura
Gallura
Gallura is a region of northern Sardinia, Italy.The name Gallùra means "area located on high ground".-Geography:...
and central Sardinia; later several cultures developed in the island, such as the Ozieri culture
Ozieri culture
The Ozieri culture was a prehistoric pre-Nuragic culture that lived in Sardinia from c. 3200 to 2800 BC. It takes its name from the locality where the main findings connected with it have been found, the grotto of San Michele near Ozieri, in northern Sardinia...
. The economy was based on agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing and trading with the mainland.
Remains from this period include more than 2,400 hypogeum
Hypogeum
Hypogeum or hypogaeum literally means "underground", from Greek hypo and gaia . It usually refers to an underground, non-Christian temple or a tomb...
tombs called Domus de Janas
Domus de Janas
Domus de Janas are a type of pre-historic chamber tombs found in the Mediterranean area, but typically in Sardinia. They consist of several chambers quarried out by the Ozieri and Beaker cultures, resembling houses in their layout.Built between 3400 and 2700 BC, more than 1000 of the rock-cut...
, the 4th millennium BC statue menhirs representing warriors or female figures, and the stepped pyramid of Monte d'Accoddi
Monte d'Accoddi
Monte d'Accoddi is an archaeological site in northern Sardinia, between Sassari and Porto Torres.It is the site of a megalithic structure dated to around 2700=2000 BC and discovered in 1954....
, near Sassari
Sassari
Sassari is an Italian city. It is the second-largest city of Sardinia in terms of population with about 130,000 inhabitants, or about 300,000 including the greater metropolitan area...
, which has some similarities with the monumental complex of Los Millares
Los Millares
Los Millares is the name of a Chalcolithic occupation site 17 km north of Almería, in the municipality of Santa Fe de Mondújar, Andalusia, Spain. The complex was in use from the end of the fourth millennium to the end of the second millennium BC and probably supported somewhere around 1000...
(Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
) and the later Talaiots in the Balearic Islands
Balearic Islands
The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...
. According to some scholars, the similarity between this structure and Mesopotamian ones is due to migrations, especially of Sumer
Sumer
Sumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age....
ian people, to the Western Mediterranean.
During this period copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
objects and weapons also appeared in the island.
Bronze Age
The altar of Monte d'AccoddiMonte d'Accoddi
Monte d'Accoddi is an archaeological site in northern Sardinia, between Sassari and Porto Torres.It is the site of a megalithic structure dated to around 2700=2000 BC and discovered in 1954....
fell out of use starting from c. 2000 BC, when the Beaker culture
Beaker culture
The Bell-Beaker culture , ca. 2400 – 1800 BC, is the term for a widely scattered cultural phenomenon of prehistoric western Europe starting in the late Neolithic or Chalcolithic running into the early Bronze Age...
, which at the time was widespread in almost all western Europe, appeared in the island. The introduction of bronze
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
from the new people arriving from the mainland brought numerous improvements, such as in agriculture, in which more effective tools could be used, but also in war and hunting.
The Bonnanaro culture
Bonnanaro culture
The Bonnanaro culture is a protohistoric culture that flourished in Sardinia during the 2nd millennium BC , considered as the first stadium of the Nuragic civilization...
is the last evolution of the Beaker culture in Sardinia (c. 1800 BC), and shows several similarities with the Bronze-Age Polada culture
Polada culture
The Polada culture is the name for a culture of the ancient Bronze Age which spread on all of the territory of Northern Italy and characterized by settlements on pile-dwellings....
of central-northern Italy. These have been connected to link with the Italian prehistoric settlements through Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
. To this period date the construction of the platformlike so-called proto-nuraghe.
Soon Sardinia, a land rich in mines, notably copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
and lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
, saw the construction of numerous furnaces for the production of alloy
Alloy
An alloy is a mixture or metallic solid solution composed of two or more elements. Complete solid solution alloys give single solid phase microstructure, while partial solutions give two or more phases that may or may not be homogeneous in distribution, depending on thermal history...
s which were traded across the Mediterranean basin and nuragic people became skilled metal workers; they were among the main metal producers in Europe and with bronze they produced a wide variety of objects and new weapons as swords, daggers, axes, and after drills, pins, rings, bracelets, typical bronze statuettes, and the votive bronze boats show a close relationship with the sea. Tin
Tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
may have drawn Bronze Age traders from the Aegean where copper is available but tin for bronze-making is scarce; The first verifiable smelting slag has come to light; its appearance in a hoard of ancient tin confirms local smelting as well as casting. The usually cited tin sources and trade in ancient times
Tin sources and trade in ancient times
Tin is an essential metal in the creation of tin bronzes and its acquisition has been an important part of Bronze Age and later cultures throughout ancient history. Its use began in the Near East and the Balkans around 3000 BC...
are those in the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
or from Cornwall. Markets included civilizations living in regions with poor metal resources, such as the Mycenaean civilization, Cyprus
History of Cyprus
-Prehistory:Cyprus was settled by humans in the Paleolithic period who coexisted with various dwarf animal species, such as dwarf elephants and pygmy hippos well into the Holocene...
and Crete
Minoan civilization
The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age civilization that arose on the island of Crete and flourished from approximately the 27th century BC to the 15th century BC. It was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century through the work of the British archaeologist Arthur Evans...
, as well as the Iberian peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
, a fact that can explain the cultural similarities between them and the Nuraghe civilization and the presence in Nuragic sites of late Bronze Age Mycenaean, west and central Cretan and Cypriote ceramics, as well as locally made replicas, concentrated in half a dozen findspots that seem to have functioned as "gateway-communities.
Sea people connection
The late Bronze Age (15th-13th centuries BC) saw a vast migration of the so-called sea people, described in ancient Egyptian sources. They destroyed Mycenaean and HittiteHittites
The Hittites were a Bronze Age people of Anatolia.They established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia c. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height c...
sites and also attacked Egypt. According to some scholars the Sherden, one of the most important tribes of the sea peoples, are to be identified with the Nuragic Sardinians. Another hypothesis is that they arrived to the island around the 13th-12th century after the failed invasion of Egypt. However, these theories remain controversial.
A lost work by Simonides of Ceos
Simonides of Ceos
Simonides of Ceos was a Greek lyric poet, born at Ioulis on Kea. The scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria included him in the canonical list of nine lyric poets, along with Bacchylides and Pindar...
reported by Zenobius
Zenobius
Zenobius was a Greek sophist, who taught rhetoric at Rome during the reign of Emperor Hadrian .-Biography:He was the author of a collection of proverbs in three books, still extant in an abridged form, compiled, according to the Suda, from Didymus of Alexandria and "The Tarrhaean"...
, spoke of raids by Sardinians against the island of Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
, in the same period in which the Sea People invaded Egypt. This would at least confirm that Nuragic Sardinians frequented the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
Further proofs come from 13th century Nuragic ceramics found at Tiryns
Tiryns
Tiryns is a Mycenaean archaeological site in the prefecture of Argolis in the Peloponnese, some kilometres north of Nauplion.-General information:...
and in the Agrigento
Agrigento
Agrigento , is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy, and capital of the province of Agrigento. It is renowned as the site of the ancient Greek city of Akragas , one of the leading cities of Magna Graecia during the golden...
area in Sicily, along the sea route linking western to eastern Mediterranean.
Recently the archaeologist Adam Zertal
Adam Zertal
Adam Zertal is an Israeli archaeologist.Zertal grew up in Ein Shemer, a kibbutz affiliated with the Hashomer Hatzair movement. Zertal was severely wounded in the Yom Kippur War. He later told a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, “I spent a year at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, and I became...
,echoing the theory already presented in 2005 by Leonardo Melis, has proposed that the Harosheth Haggoyim
Harosheth Haggoyim
Harosheth Haggoyim is a fortress described in the Book of Judges as the fortress or cavalry base of Sisera, commander of the army of "Jabin, King of Canaan.Sisera is described as having had nine hundred iron chariots with which he fought the Israelites...
of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, home of the biblical figure Sisera
Sisera
Sisera was commander of the Canaanite army of King Jabin of Hazor mentioned in the of the Hebrew Bible. After being defeated by Barak, Sisera was killed by Jael, who hammered a tent peg into his temple....
, is identifiable with the site of "El-Ahwat
Ahwat
el-Ahwat is the name of an archaeological site in the Manasseh region of Israel, located 10 miles east of Caesarea. The site was discovered in November 1992 during a survey by archaeologist Adam Zertal. It is considered to be the location of the northwesternmost settlement of the ancient Israelites...
" and that it was a Nuragic site suggesting that he came from the people of the Sherden of Sardinia.
Greco-Roman sources
In ancient times, Greek historians and geographers tried to solve the mystery of the nuraghe and their builders. They described the presence of fabulous edifices, called daidaleia, from the name of Dedalus, who, after building his labyrinth in Crete, would have moved to Sicily and then to Sardinia. Diodorus SiculusDiodorus Siculus
Diodorus Siculus was a Greek historian who flourished between 60 and 30 BC. According to Diodorus' own work, he was born at Agyrium in Sicily . With one exception, antiquity affords no further information about Diodorus' life and doings beyond what is to be found in his own work, Bibliotheca...
asserts that Sardinia would have been populated by Heracles
Heracles
Heracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...
, who sent here a colony of his children led by nephew Iolaus
Iolaus
In Greek mythology, Iolaus was a Theban divine hero, son of Iphicles, Heracles's brother, and Automedusa.He was famed for being Heracles's nephew and for helping with some of his Labors, and also for being one of the Argonauts...
. He also speaks of the Ilienses tribe, who were repeatedly fought by the Carthaginians and the Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
, but in vain.
Phoenician and Roman conquest
Around 1000 BC the PhoeniciaPhoenicia
Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
ns began visiting Sardinia with increasing frequency. The most common ports of call were Caralis, Nora
Nora, Italy
thumb|250px|The Punic Quarter in the archaeological site of Nora.Nora is an ancient Roman and pre-Roman town placed on a peninsula near Pula, near to Cagliari in Sardinia. According with the legend, Nora was founded by a group of Iberians led by Norax, a mythological hero son of Eriteide and the...
, Bithia, Sulcis
Sulcis
Sulcis is the southwestern region of Sardinia, part of the larger Sulcis-Iglesiente region. It is named for the Phoenician city of Sulcis , present-day Sant'Antioco....
, Tharros
Tharros
Tharros was an ancient city on the west coast of Sardinia, Italy, and is currently an archaeological site near the village of San Giovanni di Sinis, municipality of Cabras, in the Province of Oristano...
, Bosa and Olbia
Olbia
Olbia is a town and comune of 56,231 inhabitants in northeastern Sardinia , in the Gallura sub-region. Called Olbia in the Roman age, Civita in the Middle Ages and Terranova Pausania before the 1940s, Olbia was again the official name of the town after the period of Fascism.-Geography:It is the...
.
The Roman historian Justin describes a Carthaginian expedition led by Malco in 540 BC against a still strongly Nuragic Sardinia. The expedition failed and this caused a political revolution in Carthage, from which Mago
Mago I of Carthage
Mago I of Carthage was the king of the Ancient Carthage from 550 BCE to 530 BCE and the founding monarch of the Magonid dynasty of Carthage. Mago I was originally a general...
emerged. He launched another expedition against the island, in 509 BC, after the Sardinians attacked the Phoenicians coastal cities held by the enemy. The Carthaginians, after a number of military campaigns in which Mago died and was replaced by his brother Hamilcar, overcame the Sardinians and conquered the coastal Sardinia, the Iglesiente
Iglesiente
The Iglesiente is a traditional and geographical subdivision of Sardinia, Italy. It encompasses the northern province of Carbonia-Iglesias and the south-western one of the province of Medio Campidano, and its main center is Iglesias....
with its mines and the southern plains. The Nuragic civilization survived in the mountainous mainland of the island.
In 238 BC the Carthaginians, as a result of their defeat by the Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
in the first Punic War, surrendered Sardinia to Rome. Sardinia became a Roman province. The Greek geographer Strabo
Strabo
Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
confirms anyway the survival of the Nuragic civilization in Roman times.
Tribes
Throughout the second millennium and in the first part of the first millennium BC, Sardinia was inhabited by the single extensive and uniform cultural group represented by the Nuragic people.Centuries later, Roman sources describe the island as inhabited by numerous ethnic groups which had gradually merged culturally. They however maintained a political identity, and were often warring each other for the control of the most valuable territories. Tribes mentioned include the Iolei or Ilienses, the Balares, the Corsi and the Civitatas Barbarie, the latter living in what is now Barbagia
Barbagia
Barbagia is a mountain area of inner Sardinia. It is mostly comprised in the province of Nuoro and located alongside the Gennargentu massif....
and defying the Romanization process.
- The Balares have been identified with the Bonnanaro culture, deriving from the Beaker culture, and were most likely of Indo-European origins. They lived in what are now the NurraNurraThe Nurra is a geographical region in the northwest of Sardinia, Italy. It is the second largest plain of the island, located between the towns of Sassari, Porto Torres and Alghero...
, CoghinasCoghinasThe Coghinas is a river of northern Sardinia, Italy. With a length of 115 km, it is the third longest river of the island behind the Tirso and the Flumendosa.It has a drainage basin of 2551 km²....
and Limbara traditional subdivisions of Sardinia. They were of the same stock from which the Talaiotic cultureTalaiotic CultureThe Talaiotic Culture or Talaiotic Period is the name used to describe the society that existed on the Gymnesian Islands during the Iron Age. Its origins date from the end of the second millennium BC, when the inaccurately named Pre-Talaiotic Culture underwent a crisis and evolved into the...
of the Balearic Islands originated.
- The Ilienses, identified by the scholars with a group coming from the Eastern Mediterranean (and perhaps with the aforementioned Sherden), lived in what is now central-southern Sardinia. Their mythical hero was Sardus, known among the Romans as Sardus Pater. The current name of the island comes from the latter's one.
- The Corsi lived in GalluraGalluraGallura is a region of northern Sardinia, Italy.The name Gallùra means "area located on high ground".-Geography:...
and later colonized Corsica. They have been identified as the descendants of the Arzachena culture. In southern Corsica, in the 2nd millennium BC, the Torrean civilizationTorrean civilizationThe Torrean civilization was a civilization that developed in Corsica, in the area south of Ajaccio, during the second half of the II millennium BC. The characteristic building of this culture is the "Torre" , the Corsican version of the Sardinian "Nuraghe", although the torri were smaller and less...
developed alongside the Nuragic one.
The Nuraghe
Dating to the 2nd millennium BC, the nuraghe are megalithic towers with a truncated cone shape, which are widespread in the whole of Sardinia, about one nuraghe every three square kilometers. There has long been controversy among scholars. Theories about their utilization have included social, military, religious, astronomical role, as furnaces or sepulture places, but the modern agreement is that they were defensible homesites that included barns and silos.Around 1500 BC, archaeological studies have proved the increasing size of the settlements built around these structures, which were often located at the summit of hills. Perhaps for protection reasons, new towers were added to the original ones, connected by walls provided with slits.
It has been suggested that some of the current Sardinian villages trace their origin directly from Nuragic ones, including perhaps those containing the root Nur- in their name (Nurachi
Nurachi
Nurachi is a comune in the Province of Oristano in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 100 km northwest of Cagliari and about 9 km northwest of Oristano...
, Nuraminis
Nuraminis
Nuraminis is a comune in the Province of Cagliari in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 25 km northwest of Cagliari...
, Nurri
Nurri
Nurri is a comune in the Province of Cagliari in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 60 km north of Cagliari. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 2,385 and an area of 73.9 km²....
, Nurallao
Nurallao
Nurallao is a comune in the Province of Cagliari in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 60 km north of Cagliari. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,404 and an area of 34.7 km²....
, Noragugume
Noragugume
Noragugume is a comune in the Province of Nuoro in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 110 km north of Cagliari and about 35 km west of Nuoro. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 363 and an area of 26.8 km²....
). The most famous among the numerous existing nuraghe, which have been included in the UNESCO Heritage List, are the Su Nuraxi at Barumini
Barumini
Barumini is a comune in the Province of Medio Campidano in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 50 km north of Cagliari and about 15 km northeast of Sanluri....
, Santu Antine at Torralba
Torralba, Italy
Torralba is a town and comune in Sardinia, Italy, administratively part of the province of Sassari.The communal territory is home to the Nuraghe palace of Nuraghe Santu Antine, the highest and best preserved in Sardinia....
, Nuraghe Losa
Nuraghe Losa
thumb|250px|Side view of Nuraghe Losa.The Nuraghe Losa is a nuraghe near Abbasanta, in Sardinia, Italy. One of the largest and best preserved nuraghe in the island, it dates to the 15th-13th centuries BC. The bastion and the line of walls date instead to the late 13th-early 12th centuries BC. The...
at Abbasanta
Abbasanta
Abbasanta is a town and comune in the province of Oristano, Sardinia , and is located on the main road between Macomer and Oristano.-Description:Abbasanta sits on a lava plateau rich in cork oaks, olive trees and lentischi...
, Palmavera (Alghero
Alghero
Alghero , is a town of about 44,000 inhabitants in Italy. It lies in the province of Sassari in northwestern Sardinia, next to the sea.-History:The area of today's Alghero has been settled since pre-historic times...
), Genna Maria at Villanovaforru
Villanovaforru
Villanovaforru is a comune in the Province of Medio Campidano in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 50 km northwest of Cagliari and about 8 km northwest of Sanluri. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 709 and an area of 11.0 km².Villanovaforru borders the...
, Santa Cristina at Paulilatino
Paulilatino
Paulilatino is a comune in the Province of Oristano in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 100 km northwest of Cagliari and about 25 km northeast of Oristano...
.
Giants of Monti Prama
The Giants of Monti Prama are a group of 32 (or 40) statues with a height of up to 2.5 m, found in 1974 near CabrasCabras
There are geographical features that begin with Cabras:*Cabras, Italy*Ilha das Cabras - an island chain in the municipality of Ilhabela, São Paulo, Brazil...
, in the province of Oristano
Province of Oristano
Oristano is a province in the autonomous island region of Sardinia in Italy. Its capital is the city of Oristano.It has an area of 3,040 km², and a total population of 167,971 . There are 88 municipalities in the province ). As of June 2005, the main communes by population are:-Politics:-External...
. They depict warriors, archers, wrestlers, models of nuraghe and boxers with shield and armed glove. They date to around the 10th-8th centuries BC.
They feature disc-shaped eyes and eastern-like garments. The statues probably depicted mythological heroes, guarding a sepulchre; according to another theory, they could be a sort of Pantheon of the typical Nuragic divinities.
Their finding proved that the Nuragic civilization had maintained its peculiarities, and introduced new ones across the centuries, well into the Phoenician colonization of most of Sardinia.
Sacred pits
The Sacred Pits were structures destined to the cult of waters. Though initially assigned to the 8th-6th centuries BC, due to their evoluted buildings techniques, they most likely date to the earlier Bronze Age, when Sardinia had strong relationships with the Mycenaenan kingdoms of Greece and Crete.The Nuragic Sacred Pits followed the same pattern of the nuraghe, the main part consisting of a circular room with a tholos vault with a hole at the summit. A monumental staircase connected the entrance to this subterranean (hypogeum
Hypogeum
Hypogeum or hypogaeum literally means "underground", from Greek hypo and gaia . It usually refers to an underground, non-Christian temple or a tomb...
) room, whose main role is to collect the water of the sacred spring. The exterior walls features stone benches on which were deposed the offers from the faithful and the religious objects. Some sites had also sacrifice altars: some scholars think that these architecture could be dedicated to Sardus, one of the main Nuragic divinities.
Giant's graves
The so-called "giant's graves" were funerary structures whose precise function is still unknown, and which perhaps evolved from elongated dolmenDolmen
A dolmen—also known as a portal tomb, portal grave, dolmain , cromlech , anta , Hünengrab/Hünenbett , Adamra , Ispun , Hunebed , dös , goindol or quoit—is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of...
s. They date to the whole Nuragic era up to the Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
, and are more frequent in the central sector of the island. Their plan was in the shape of the head of a bull.
Economy
The Nuragic economy, at least at the origins, was mostly based on agriculture and animal husbandry, as well as on fishing. Navigation had an important role: historian Pierluigi Montalbano mentions the finding of at least 156 bronze navel models, some weighing 100 kg. This has suggested that the Nuragic people used efficient ships, which could perhaps reach lengths up to 15 meters. These allowed them to travel the whole Mediterranean, establishing commercial links with the Mycenaean civilization (attested by the common tholosTholos
Τholos is the name given to several Ancient Greek structures and buildings:**The Tholos at Athens was the building which housed the Prytaneion, or seat of government, in ancient Athens...
tomb shape, and the adoration of bulls), Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Lebanon. Items such as Cyprus-type copper ingots have been found in Sardinia, while Nuragic ceramics have been found in Spain (Huelva, Tarragona, Malaga, Teruel and Cadiz) up to the Gibraltar strait, and in Etruscan
Etruscan civilization
Etruscan civilization is the modern English name given to a civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany. The ancient Romans called its creators the Tusci or Etrusci...
centers of the Italian peninsula such as Vetulonia
Vetulonia
Vetulonia, formerly called Vetulonium , was an ancient town of Etruria, Italy, the site of which is probably occupied by the modern village of Vetulonia, which up to 1887 bore the name of Colonnata and Colonna di Buriano: the site is currently a frazione of the comune of Castiglione della Pescaia,...
, Vulci and Populonia
Populonia
Populonia or Populonia Alta today is a frazione of the comune of Piombino . As of 2009 its population was 17...
(known in the 9th-6th centuries from Nuragic statues found in their tombs).
Sardinia was rich in metals such as lead and copper. Archaeological findings have proven the good quality of Nuragic metallurgy, including numerous bronze weapons. The so called "golden age" of the Nuragic civilization (mid-2nd millennium BC) coincided perhaps with the apex of the mining of metals in the island. Sardinian copper ingots have been found in Spain, France, Turkey and Greece. The widespread use of bronze, an alloy which used tin, a metal which however was not present in Sardinia if not in a single deposit, further proves the capability of the Nuragic people to trade in the resources they needed.
Nuragic ceramics have been found in the Italian peninsula, in Sicily, Spain and Crete.
Society
The Nuragic civilization was most likely based on clans. They were led by a chief and lived in villages with circular huts with a straw roof, very similar to the modern pinnettas of the BarbagiaBarbagia
Barbagia is a mountain area of inner Sardinia. It is mostly comprised in the province of Nuoro and located alongside the Gennargentu massif....
shepherds. Religion and military had a strong role in the society, which has led scholars to the hypothesis that the Nuragic civilization was a theocracy
Theocracy
Theocracy is a form of organization in which the official policy is to be governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided, or simply pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religious sect or religion....
. An important role was that of mythological heroes such as Norax
Norax
Norax was an ancient mythological hero of the Nuragic mythology. He was the son of Eriteide, daughter of Geryon , and the god Hermes. Norax appears in the writings of Pausanias, Sallust and Solinus.-Ancient sources:...
, Sardus
Sardus
Sardus was an ancient mythological hero of the nuragic mythology. Sardus appears in the writings of Sallust and Pausanias.-Ancient sources:...
, Iolaos and Aristeus
Aristaeus
A minor god in Greek mythology, which we read largely through Athenian writers, Aristaeus or Aristaios , "ever close follower of the flocks", was the culture hero credited with the discovery of many useful arts, including bee-keeping; he was the son of Apollo and the huntress Cyrene...
, military leaders considered also as divinities.
The Nuraghe bronzes clearly portrays figures of chief-kings, recognizable from the presence of a staff with bosses and of a mantle. Also depicted are the other classes, including miners and artisans; numerous are the soldiers, which has led to think to a warring society, with a precise military hierarchy (archers, infantry, swordsmen, musicians, wrestlers and boxers, the latter similar to those of the Minoan civilizations). Different uniforms could belong to different cantons or clans, or to different military corps.
The priest role was perhaps fulfilled by women.
The small bronzes also gave clues on personal care and fashion. Women generally had long hair; men sported two long braids on each side of the face, while the head was shaved off, or covered by a leather cap.
Religion
The large stone sculptures known as betili (a kind of slender menhir, sometimes featuring crude depiction of male sexual organs, or of female breasts), and the representations of animals such as the bull, belong most likely to pre-Nuragic civilizations. The latter kept however its importance among the Nuraghe people, and was frequently depicted on ships, bronze vases used in religious rites and in the soldiers' helmets. Small bronze sculptures depicting half-man, half-bull figures have been found, as well as characters with four arms and eyes and two-headed deers: they probably had a mythological and religious significance. Another holy animal which was frequently depicted is the dove.A key element of the Nuragic religion was that of fertility, connected to the male power of the Bull-Sun and the female one of Water-Moon. According to the scholars' studies, there existed a Mediterranean-type Mother Goddess and a God-Father (Babai). The excavations have proved that the Nuragic people, in determinate periods of the year, gathered in common holy places, usually characterized by sitting steps and the presence of a holy pit. In some holy areas, such as Gremanu at Fonni
Fonni
Fonni is a town and comune in Sardinia, in the province of Nuoro .It is the highest town in Sardinia, and situated among fine scenery with some chestnut woods. Fonni is a winter sports centre with a ski lift to Monte Spada and Bruncu Spina....
, Serra Orrios at Dorgali
Dorgali
thumb|250px|[[Giants' grave]] of Sa Ena e Thomes.Dorgali is a comune in the Province of Nuoro in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 230 km northeast of Cagliari and about 38 km east of Nuoro in the Seaside Supramonte mountain area.Economy is mostly based on the vine and wine...
and S'Arcu 'e is forros at Villagrande Strisaili
Villagrande Strisaili
Villagrande Strisaili is a comune in the Province of Ogliastra in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 150 km northeast of Cagliari and about 18 km northwest of Tortolì...
, there were rectangular temples, with central holy room housing perhaps a holy fire.
The deities worshipped are unknown, but were perhaps connected to water, or to astronomical entities (Sun, Moon, solstices). Also having a religious role were perhaps the small chiseled discs, with geometrical patterns, known as pintadera, although their function has not been identified yet.
Some structures could have a "federal" Sardinian role, such as the sanctuary of Santa Vittoria near Serri
Serri
Serri is a comune in the Province of Cagliari in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 50 km north of Cagliari. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 725 and an area of 19.1 km²....
, including both religious and civil buildings: here, according to Italian historian Giovanni Lilliu, the main clans of the central island held their assemblies to sign alliances, decide wars or to stipulate commercial agreements. Spaces for trades were also present. At least twenty of such multirole structures are known, including those of Santa Cristina at Paulilatino and of Siligo
Siligo
Siligo is a comune in the region of Logudoro - Meilogu in the Province of Sassari in the Italian region Sardinia, located about north of Cagliari and about southeast of Sassari....
; some have been re-used as Christian temples (such as the cumbessias of Sa Salvatore in Sisis at Cabras
Cabras
There are geographical features that begin with Cabras:*Cabras, Italy*Ilha das Cabras - an island chain in the municipality of Ilhabela, São Paulo, Brazil...
).
Sources
- 2002 – Shardana: I popoli del mare, PTM Editrice – Prima Tipografia Mogorese, MogoroMogoroMogoro is a comune in the Province of Oristano in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 60 km northwest of Cagliari and about 30 km southeast of Oristano...
, ISBN 8887393028 (8th edition) - 2005 – Shardana: I principi di Dan, PTM Editrice – Prima Tipografia Mogorese, MogoroMogoroMogoro is a comune in the Province of Oristano in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 60 km northwest of Cagliari and about 30 km southeast of Oristano...
, ISBN 8887393214
See also
- NuragheNuragheThe nuraghe is the main type of ancient megalithic edifice found in Sardinia. Today it has come to be the symbol of Sardinia and its distinctive culture, the Nuragic civilization...
- History of SardiniaHistory of SardiniaArchaeological evidence of prehistoric human settlement on Sardinia island is present in the form of the nuraghe which dot the land. The recorded history of Sardinia begins with its contacts with the various people who sought to dominate western Mediterranean trade in Classical Antiquity: the...
- Ancient peoples of Italy
- Prehistoric ItalyPrehistoric Italythumb|A Sardinian bronze statuette, perhaps portraying a tribal chief. [[Cagliari]], Museo Archeologico Nazionale.The territory of what is now Italy was settled by Neanderthal man in the Lower Palaeolithic, roughly 500,000 years ago. As elsewhere in Europe, the Neanterthals co-existed with Homo...
- Paleo-Sardinian languagePaleo-Sardinian languagePaleo-Sardinian or Paleo-Sardo , also known as Nuragic, is the pre-Indo-European language of Sardinia and Corsica, which is thought to have left traces in the modern Sardinian language...