Sardinia is one of the most popular Italian islands for summer holidays, especially for its spectacular coastlines, consisting of golden beaches and turquoise seas where you can dive to discover the rich local marine flora and fauna, but not only that. In fact, in addition to offering the spectacular Costa Smeralda and other many kilometers of beautiful coasts, Sardinia is also known for archaeological treasures and sites of historical significance.
The famous nuraghi and nuragic sites in Sardinia are unique and significant archaeological evidence of the ancient nuragic civilization, an era that affected the island between the 2nd millennium BC and the 3rd century AD Today, one new discovery: after completing three excavation campaigns, the University of Sassari found further on archaeological finds near nuragic sites of Sos Muros, in the area of ​​Buddusò, of the site of Illoi, in Sedilo, and in the site of Ponte, in the territory of Dualchi. These recent discoveries have brought to light more details about the period between the twelfth and eighth centuries. BC, or period of time that spans the end of the Bronze Age and the first part of the Iron Age.
What are the Sardinian nuraghes?
You have often heard about it nuraghi in Sardinia, but what are they? These are towers shaped like the trunk of a cone, built in stone without the use of binder, typical of the Sardinian territory. These structures were probably used in ancient times for defensive purposes, as watchtowers or as real fortresses. Some nuraghi they were truly monumental, with more than one tower in the same complex.
Nuragic sites are therefore real archaeological areas which include not only nuraghi, but also other types of constructions such as the so-called “tombs of the giants” (collective burial of rectangular or trapezoidal shape), circular huts, sacred wells and defensive walls.
The nuragic sites in Sardinia are distributed throughout the island and represent a cultural heritage of inestimable value, testimony to a complex and advanced civilization that dominated the region for centuries. Some of the most famous sites include the nuragic complex of Barumini (Su Nuraxi), the nuraghe of Santu Antine in Torralba, the complex of Palmavera ad Alghero and the nuraghe of Losa to enough.
The discovery in the North of Sardinia
The discovery by researchers from the University of Sassari saw the participation of some of the researchers in the team for the archaeological excavations university students in the three-year and master’s courses in Archeology and in the specialization school in Archaeological Heritage of the University of Sassari. Sassari’s team collaborated with colleagues from the Universities of Cagliari, Genoa, Bologna, Pisa and the University of Cadiz, the University of Weimar and the University of California at Los Angeles.
The works were started thanks to a ministerial grant, together with the Superintendence and the respective municipalities of reference for each nuragic site. In the nuragic site of To him were found some rows and other types of structuresinitially hidden underground and now they have also revealed a bastion, together with other remains of an ancient religious building and ceramic materials of the Iron Age but identified as coming from the East.
The archaeological site of You are dead, however, led to the discovery of a circular structure near the sanctuary and the sacred well, most likely left to itself after a fire. Some were also found in this structure, again by the same team of researchers ancient artifacts for spinning and weaving and ceramics for the kitchen environment. The works also highlighted the perimeter of the circular building that has dimensions of about 12 meters in diameter, near the well. In the nuraghe of Dualityhowever, the excavations were concentrated in the interior areas of the building with an elliptical plan, leading to the discovery of ceramics and bronze artifacts, evidence of that civilization.