Schirru D., Perra M., Holt E., Lai L. 2023. A Reassessment of the Relative Chronology of the Sardinian Middle Bronze Age: Results from the Excavations of Nuraghe Sa Conca 'e sa Cresia (Siddi, Sardinia) (original) (raw)

Archaeometric reconstruction of Nuragic ceramics from Sant'Imbenia (Sardinia, Italy). Technological evolution of production process

Beatrice De Rosa, Giuseppe Cultrone, Marco Rendeli

The Nuragic village of Sant'Imbenia in Alghero in north-western Sardinia (Italy) was inhabited between approximately the 14 th and the 7 th century B.C. Foreigners including Eastern Phoenicians and perhaps Greeks settled in the village during the last stages of its existence in the Early Iron Age, importing their own culture and technology. Some of the pottery artifacts produced during this period do not seem to belong to the Nuragic tradition due to their particular shape and type, which suggests that local craftsmen were influenced by these contacts and exchanges with foreign cultures.

NURAGIC AND PHOENICIAN SEQUENCES IN SARDINIA, IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE IRON AGE CHRONOLOGY OF WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN (CA. 850-730/725 CAL. BC)

2017

In this paper the Nuragic Early Iron Age sequence is used as a comparative term to correlate the earliest layers of Sulky with the Italian EIA chronology. Firstly, a comparative typological framework is outlined, in order to correlate archaeological contexts at Sulky with the Nuragic EIA relative chronology. In the second hand, several cross-dating elements with central-southern Italy and with the Iberian Peninsula are discussed, leading to the definition of a unitary comparative chronological scheme. Issues of Greek Geometric chronology are also taken into account. The definition of a comparative, relative framework eventually allows to extend arguments in favor of a “high” absolute chronology, derived from either Italian and Iberian contexts, to both Sardinian sequences.

Bronze Age stone tools in Nuragic Sardinia: The case of the ground-stone tools from Nuraghe Cuccurada-Mogoro (Sardinia, Italy)

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2019

The use of stone tools has always characterized the everyday life of Nuragic people, the communities that lived in Sardinia (Western Mediterranean, Italy) during the Bronze and Iron Ages. Several archaeological sites on this island attest to the great importance of stone-made instruments, among which are ground-stone tools. Although various studies on Sardinia have focused on the use of tools for food processing or transforming raw materials, they tend to exclude a systematic study of ground-stone tools and their role in Nuragic society. This paper considers a group of 39 ground-stone tools from nuraghe Cuccurada-Mogoro (west-central Sardinia), a Nuragic monument dated to the Bronze Age and re-used in the Iron Age. The study involved several forms of analysis including typology, macroscopic observation of use-surfaces and excavation data. The association of the Cuccurada's stone-tools with cooking instruments suggests the presence of areas devoted to food processing and cooking practices. The aim of this paper is first to underline the variety of stone tools employed by the Nuragic people, and second to consider the presence of common areas within the nuraghi likely used for everyday activities based on the analysis of the archaeological context in nuraghe Cuccurada-Mogoro and other similar Bronze Age contexts. Ethnographical examples on the use of stone tools provide evidence for the social value of these instruments and the organization of activities within the Nuragic community.

L. Lai, R. H. Tykot, E. Usai, J. F. Beckett, R. Floris, O. Fonzo, E. Goddard, D. Hollander, M. R. Manunza et A. Usai 2013. Diet in the Sardinian Bronze Age: models, collagen isotopic data, issues and perspectives

Technological insights on the Early-Middle Bronze Age pottery of Monte Meana cave (Sardinia, Italy)

Heliyon, 2022

An important Bronze Age settlement was discovered during an archaeological excavation in the Monte Meana karst cave in southwestern Sardinia (Italy) between 2007 and 2012. In this region, the caves were used since the Neolithic for different purposes, such as burials or other rituals. The dig highlighted a rare example of domestic use of a cave and showed a case study of household space of the Early-Middle Bronze Age, at the beginning of the Nuragic civilization. This provided the opportunity to investigate through a multidisciplinary approach, the empirical knowledge of ancient potters and technological characters of local pottery production especially in relation to domestic use, in a context at that time devoid of external cultural interferences. For this purpose, a selection of 24 pottery sherds related to vessel forms for cooking, storage, and eating were studied through macroscopic surveys and archaeometric analysis by petrography, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results revealed some discriminant variables (shape, wall thickness, features of the paste, surface smoothing, presence of diagnostic mineralogical phases, and tempers), within the ceramic products of this Sardinian Bronze Age site, showing skillful management of firing temperatures.