Pre-Nuragic Sardinia
History of Sardinia |
The Pre-Nuragic period refers to the prehistory of Sardinia from the Paleolithic until the middle Bronze Age, when the Nuragic civilization flourished on the island.
Paleolithic
The discovery of Paleolithic lithic workshops indicate a human presence in Sardinia in the period between 450,000 and 10,000 years ago.
According to the researchers, a
During the
The oldest remains of
Mesolithic
The oldest complete human skeleton (renamed "Amsicora") was found in 2011 in the territory of Arbus, it dates back to about 7,000 BC, the period of transition between the Mesolithic and the Neolithic.[5]
Neolithic
Su Carroppu culture
The culture of Su Carroppu represents the earliest phase of the Neolithic in Sardinia (
There were also found the remains of ancient meals, with the discovery of bones of animals such as
. The presence of two human skeletons, along with ornaments made of shells, according to the researchers witnessed the customs of burial cave.The culture of Su Carroppu has correspondence in Corsica, the Italian Peninsula and the
Grotta Verde culture
The Grotta Verde culture is named after a cave located at
This culture was present in the north-west part of Sardinia and was characterized by the production of refined pottery, decorated with a toothed tool .[6]
On a vase found in the cave the handles depicted, in a stylized manner, human heads with small nose, eyes and mouth played. According to archaeologist Giovanni Lilliu, this would be the first anthropomorphic representation in Sardinian prehistory.
On a wall inside the cave unusual graffiti were also found - another singular testimony to these people.
Filiestru culture
In 1971 the priest and caver Renato Loria found in the territory of Mara, between Villanova Monteleone and Bosa, a ravine of about sixty square meters. The cave was subsequently investigated by the archaeologists VR Switsur and David H. Trump, who discovered a sequence of different cultures spread over a very long period of time.
The oldest of these cultures has been dated to the late
Bonu Ighinu culture
The Bonu Ighinu culture prevailed from 4000 BC up to 3400 BC .
It is regarded by archaeologists as the first culture in Sardinia using artificial cavities as graves and is the natural evolution of the previous Filiestru culture, whose cave is located in the same area.
The artifacts related to the village and necropolis of "Cuccuru S'Arrius" show a well-organized society. At this site there have been numerous discoveries of female figurines depicting the so-called "
San Ciriaco culture
The San Ciriaco culture (3400-3200 BC) characterizes the end of the Middle Neolithic. It is regarded by archaeologists as a cultural link between the Bonuighinu and the Ozieri and is currently undergoing an exact definition.[8]
It takes its name from the Church of St Cyriacus of Terralba, a municipality in the province of Oristano, near which was found a prehistoric village full of evidences.
During this phase were built the first
Arzachena culture
The Arzachena culture interested mainly the
The large "circular graves" of Gallura mark the debut of the
Ozieri culture
The Ozieri culture (3200-2700 BC), also known as the "culture of St. Michael", is named after the homonymous cave in the municipality of Ozieri where were found important evidences. In fact, in that site were found finely crafted vases, elegantly decorated with geometric designs incised on clay and painted with red ocher. The older are round in shape and just finished, while those of a later period are highly stylized and more refined.
Scholars consider this type of pottery as new to the Neolithic Sardinia and until then similar artifacts were considered as typical of the
Based on these important findings scholars agree in defining the culture of Ozieri as the first great culture of Sardinia.
Chalcolithic
Sub-Ozieri culture
The Sub-Ozieri culture (also called "Red Ozieri"), dated between 2850 and 2700 BC, is a continuation, particularly in the central and southern part of Sardinia,[13] of the previous phase of the Late Neolithic.
Obsidian is now rarely used while metallurgy of copper and silver began to spread.
Abealzu-Filigosa culture
The first place (Abealzu) is at Osilo, the second (Filigosa) at Macomer. This culture developed between 2700 and 2400 BC and was limited to about a dozen sites located in the area of Sassari and a few other in south-central Sardinia.[14]
These populations deified their ancestors with the erection of the statue menhir (mainly located in the central-western Sardinia) and built or restored the large megalithic temple of Monte d'Accoddi, near Sassari, most likely dedicated to the Sun god.
Grave goods included weapons such as daggers of copper,[15] stone hammer-axes and arrowheads of obsidian.[16] Abelzu pottery show similarities with those of the Rinaldone culture.[14]
Monte Claro culture
The Monte Claro culture spread throughout the island between 2400 and 2100 BC. The main innovations are the "oven-shaped" tombs, individual graves that appeared in the Cagliari area, and the great megalithic walls of the central-northern part of the island like that of "Monte Baranta", near Olmedo.[11]
The ceramics show eastern influences in the south and from the Fontbouisse culture (southern France) in the north.[17]
Beaker culture
The Beaker culture originated from outside the island; its populations mixed with people of the preceding indigenous cultures. It was diffused mainly along the west coast and the adjacent lowlands while finds in the east coast are scarce and concentrated mainly near Dorgali.
They are identifiable by the manufacturers of refined pottery, and by the use of
The Beaker culture in Sardinia was divided in three phases:[19]
- The older phase (2100–2000 BC) with strong Iberian and Provençal influences
- A second phase (2000–1900 BC) in which appear obvious influences from Central Europe
- A third phase (1900–1800 BC) documented in the sites of "Lu Marinaru" and "Padru Jossu" (Undecorated Beaker)
Early Bronze Age
Bonnanaro culture
In 1800 B.C., the Bonnanaro culture, a regionalization of the previous Beaker culture with influences from the Polada culture of northern Italy, spread throughout the island.
They probably erected the first "
Genetics
According to modern
A 2022 study by Manjusha Chintalapati, Nick Patterson, and Priya Moorjania detected instead an early, modest gene flow from the Western Steppe Herders around 2600 BC.[22]
References
- ^ Julien Vandevenne, Le doigt sur l'homo sardaignus
- ^ Barbara Wilkens, La falange della grotta di Nurighe presso Cheremule: revisione e nuove informazioni
- ^ a b Paolo Melis - Un approdo della costa di Castelsardo, fra età nuragica e romana
- ^ Giuseppe Pitzalis, Pino Fenu, Fabio Martini, Lucia Sarti, [Online-Version Grotta Su Coloru: Primi dati sui contesti culturali Mesolitici E Neolitici (Scavi 1999-2003)] , in Sardinia, Corsica et Baleares antiquae : international journal, 2003.
- ^ Notizie.Alguer.it - Trovato ad Arbus lo scheletro sardo più antico
- ^ a b c Brigaglia, Mastino, Ortu 2005, p. 5.
- ^ S.V.Willigen, Entre Toscane et Provence, Le néolithique ancien Corse dans son contexte méditerranéen - Corse et Sardaigne préhistoriques
- ^ a b c Brigaglia, Mastino, Ortu 2005, p. 5-10.
- ^ Ugas 2005, p. 12.
- ^ a b Ugas 2005, p. 14.
- ^ a b Brigaglia, Mastino, Ortu 2005, p. 9.
- ^ Giovanni Lilliu: Prima dei nuraghi in La società in Sardegna nei secoli, p.9
- ^ Anthroponet-Sub Ozieri
- ^ a b A cura di Manlio Brigaglia-Storia della Sardegna (1995) pg.43
- ^ Maria Grazia Melis-L'Eneolitico antico medio ed evoluto in Sardegna
- ^ Anthroponet-Cultura di Abelzu
- ^ Ugas 2005, p. 16.
- ^ Anthony Harding,Harry Fokkens, The Oxford Handbook of the European Bronze Age p. 58
- ^ Ugas 2005, p. 17.
- PMID 32094539.
- PMID 32094358.)
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link - ^ Manjusha Chintalapati, Nick Patterson, Priya Moorjani (2022) The spatiotemporal patterns of major human admixture events during the European Holocene eLife 11:e77625 https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.77625
Literature
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- AA.VV., Carbonia e il Sulcis. Archeologia e territorio, a cura di V. Santoni, Oristano, 1995.
- AA.VV., Ichnussa. La Sardegna dalle origini all'età classica, Milano, 1981.
- AA.VV. La civiltà in Sardegna nei secoli - Torino - Edizioni ERI.
- Barreca F., L'esplorazione topografica della regione sulcitana, Monte Sirai III, 1966
- AA.VV., La Sardegna preistorica. Storia, materiali, monumenti, 2017
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- Casula F.C., La storia di Sardegna - Sassari 1994.
- Contu E., Monte d'Accoddi (Sassari). Problematiche di studio e di ricerca di un singolare monumento preistorico Deja Conference, BAR. s. 288. Oxford. (1984)
- Lilliu G., La civiltà dei Sardi dal neolitico all'età dei nuraghi. Torino - Edizioni ERI - 1967.
- Lilliu G., Sculture della Sardegna nuragica Verona 1962.
- Lo Schiavo F., L. Usai, Testimonianze cultuali di età nuragica: la grotta Pirosu in località Su Benatzu di Santadi
- Sirigu R., Archeologia preistorica e protostorica della Sardegna. Introduzione allo studio, Cagliari, CUEC, 2009.
- Tine S., Monte d'Accoddi 10 anni di nuovi scavi. - Sassari - 1992.
- Ugas, G. (2005). L'alba dei Nuraghi. Cagliari.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - G. Webster and M. Webster (2017). Punctuated Insularity. The Archaeology of 4th and 3rd millennium Sardinia, Oxford: BAR International Series 2871
- Gary Webster (2019). The Sardinian Neolithic: An Archaeology of the 6th and 5th Millennia BCE. BAR int. Ser. 2941. Oxford: BAR Publishing.