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The mystery of the Nuraghic people

Despite the many traces left as a legacy, almost nothing is known about the Nuraghic culture. It flourished during the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, from 1800 BC to 300 BC, gradually giving way to the Carthaginians. The specialists agree that the people of the nuraghes who occupied the island descend from previous civilizations. We know, however, that it is not a people who came by sea with its habits and customs, since no other equivalent trace has been discovered in the Mediterranean basin. In the absence of written traces - writing did not appear on the island until the Phoenicians - no testimony has been found to document the way of life of this people. Consequently, we don't know what they called themselves and if they were even aware of forming their own culture. The different civilizations that succeeded each other in the Neolithic period have left numerous archaeological remains that allow us to follow their evolution: sedentarization, the appearance of ceramics, the cult of the dead, stone statuettes, the development of agriculture, animal husbandry, weapons and defensive elements... When the Nuraghic civilization began, the men had left their caves long ago and were gathered in small villages. The various tribes communicate between them and exchange. But it is also the period when the need to protect themselves is felt. The first defensive structures appear during the pre-nuragic civilizations of Monte Claro and Abealzu-Filigosa. The habitats are installed in steep areas, defended by thick walls. The metal, silver and copper, has been worked for at least 1500 years. Then, why the Nuraghic civilization has so much marked the ancient history of Sardinia?

Characteristics of the Nuraghic civilization

The characteristic element of the Nuraghic civilization is the nuraghe, also called nuraxi in Sardinian. It is a tower in dry stones whose form will evolve with the passing of time. The specialist of the nuragic culture, Giovanni Lilliu, distinguishes three big periods. The Nuraghic I, between 1 800 and 1 500 BC, sees appearing the first proto-nuraghes. It is about megalithic constructions called "nuraghes in corridor" whose shape follows the ground. Of low height, semi-buried, the interior is crossed by one or more corridors, and one sometimes finds there a small room. There are few remains from this period. It is possible that the stones were recovered for the construction of nuraghes in the following periods. The Nuraghic II extends between 1 500 and 900 BC. The towers take height and marry a conical form. The interior shelters one or more rooms in floor covered by a false vault. One speaks then about " nuraghes in tholos ", referring to the buildings of circular plan of ancient Greece. The period of Nuragic III, from 900 to 300 BC, presents more complex and more imposing constructions. Towers are added to the main nuraghe and are connected between them by surrounding walls. The largest of these complexes include an interior court and a well as well as several walls of defense. They resemble the ancestors of our castles. The innumerable vestiges of nuraghes which watch over Sardinia testify of a civilizational unification. While there were disparities between the north and the south, from now on the Sardinian island possesses a unique way of life, but that does not mean that there is a feeling of unity between the different villages or a feeling of belonging to a nation. Sardinia is then organized in small communities subjected to the authority of a chief. This one is often represented in shepherd, dressed of a coat and endowed with a gnarled stick. His power of domination extended to his village, to the path taken by the herds and sometimes to a port, when the village was close to the sea. He is in charge of ensuring the durability of his community, which implies security. The nuraghes are military elements as well intended to impress the neighbors as to defend themselves in case of attack. Their evolution more and more imposing and sophisticated lets think of a persistence of conflicts and a necessity of increased protection. The nuraghe allows the surveillance and the control of the strategic points: way of access, brooks, arable lands and of pasture... The archaeologists agree that the nuraghe fulfills henceforth a function at the same time civil and military and possibly religious. It serves as a fortified residence to the leader of the community and it allows the inhabitants living outside the walls to protect themselves in case of necessity. The period of the Nuraghic III corresponds in particular to the Phoenician and Carthaginian invasions and it is advisable to face also the dangers come from the sea. The Nuraghic civilization is also characterized by its funeral architecture. One finds in all Sardinia tombs of giants, long covered corridors destined to receive the dead and guarded by imposing dolmens. Other interesting constructions, the temples-wells that were also astronomical observatories following the example of Stonehenge. The Nuraghic people dedicated a cult to water. Broken vases have been found at the bottom of sacred wells as well as bronze votive statuettes near springs and wells. From the end of the Paleolithic, the cults of water and fertility are often attributed to the Mother Goddess and the bull respectively. By leaning more closely on the shape of the tombs of giants and the sacred wells, one notices a double symbolism: head of bull and female sex. Would the Nuraghic civilization have realized the alliance between these two divinities? The religious symbols of the Bull and the Mother Goddess are found in other contemporary civilizations of the Nuraghic period often in opposition or competition? We can think that in the ancient Sardinia, the feminine and the masculine would have been united in the Sacred. The degree of symbolic abstraction and the complexity of the religious phenomenon would be much more accomplished than what we thought and that we know of the other civilizations of Western Europe at the same time. In an Italy sometimes too busy to carry to the pinnacle the Roman civilization and to consider it as founding, with the wire of the excavations and the international recognition of the historians and archaeologists, the stones leave little by little their mutism...

The road of the nuraghes

Today there are about 7000 remains of nuraghes in Sardinia, and it is thought that there was at least the double. The island has undertaken great efforts to safeguard and enhance the heritage of a civilization considered the founder of Sardinian culture. An unofficial itinerary, connecting Cagliari to Torralba through a 300 km route, allows to get acquainted with this unknown civilization.

Cagliari. If the region of Cagliari was inhabited during the Nuraghic period, there are no visible remains. On the other hand, the Sardinian capital is home to a formidable National Archaeological Museum that gathers unique pieces of this civilization. It is the largest Nuraghic collection in the world.

Nuraghe of Barumini. Classified in the world patrimony of the Unesco, the nuraghe of Barumini is among the best preserved megalithic monuments of Europe. Real emblem of the ancient Sardinia, the photo of the site is taken again on numerous tourist brochures. The site is occupied from the XIII century B.C. and the construction of the central tower dates from the end of the Nuraghic II. It is 15 meters high and has two floors still intact. Its hemicycle-shaped inner courtyard houses a well. The 4 side towers and the surrounding wall that connects them were added later, probably around 700 BC. The circular piles of stones outside the enclosure are the remains of the houses.

Nuraghic sanctuary of Santa Vittoria. To the west of the village of Seri. This Nuraghic temple takes its name from the small church built nearby. It includes a temple-well with an atrium and a sacrifice pit, an enclosure of festivals where the pilgrims gathered and the hut of the priest.

Is Paras. At the exit of the village of Isili. The nuraghe of Is Paras is one of the most beautiful examples of nuraghes in tholos. Its high vault of 12 meters is particularly harmonious. The archaeological site also includes a domus de janas or "circle of fairies" dating back to the Neolithic.

Tomb of the giants of Aiodda. South of Nurallao. Not much remains of this Nuraghic tomb. The steles of the ceiling and the entrance have collapsed. On the other hand, the oblong corridor is well preserved.

Menhirs and dolmens of Laconi. 20 minutes north of Nurallao, you have to go a little further north, in the countryside, to admire the menhirs of Pedra Iddocca and the dolmen of Corte Nora. Laconi, nicknamed "the village of the menhirs" houses a very interesting Museum of the prehistoric statuary in Sardinia.

Fordongianus. A long crossing of the desert is necessary before joining new nuragic sites of importance. On the road from Laconi to Fordongianus, via Ruinas, you can stop at the domus of janas Genna Salixi. In Fordongianus, another time, another style, beautiful Roman baths await you.

Archaeological site of Santa Cristina. South of Paulilatino. It is here that the most beautiful example of temple-well of Sardinia is found. The Sardinian archaeologist Giovanni Lilliu described it emphatically, finding such balanced proportions and an unequalled geometric composition for a work dating back to the first millennium BC. The site also includes a "meeting hut" which is accompanied by a dozen rooms that probably served as housing. 200 meters away, a second site hosts the nuraghe Santa Cristina dating back to the Nuraghic II.

Nuraghe Losa. South of Abbasanta, 10 km north of Santa Cristina. This nuraghe of the beginning of the Nuraghic II is one of the best conserved. In addition to the base of the tower very present, one distinguishes clearly the bastion and the wall that surrounds the village. The whole is built in basaltic rock.

Necropolis of Filigosa. To the north of Macomer. The necropolis of this civilization that preceded that of the nuraghes is among the archaeological sites of importance in Sardinia. It includes also the nuraghe of Ruggiu.

Fountain of Lumarzu. Near the small village of Rebeccu, east of Bonorva. This fountain of the nuragic period refers to the cult of the water then in force. It is actually a stone construction leaning against the spring. The water filters through the stones and fills a basin topped by a small domed chamber. The fountain is preceded by an esplanade which was probably covered and framed by benches. A few hundred meters from this fountain is the important domus of janas Sant'Andrea Priu.

Nuraghe Santu Antine. To the south of Torrabla, on the SP21. Of the numerous nuraghes of the region, that of Santu Antine is the most emblematic. Very well preserved, its central tower in stone of trachyte of 17,50 meters high impresses. It is possible to visit the maze of staircases and corridors inside the tower and to admire the two floors with tholos dome. The third floor has collapsed. The tower is framed by three other towers of lesser importance. The village huts have retained their circular foundations. The rectangular buildings date from the Roman period. It seems that the site of Santu Antine was inhabited until the Middle Ages.

Torralba. 5 minutes north of the nuraghe Santu Antine. The small village of Torralba marks the entrance to the valley of the nuraghes. Many of them are in a bad state of conservation, even in complete ruin. The village houses the Museum of the Valley of the Nuraghes which preserves in particular the result of the excavations carried out in Santu Antine.