1,721,003 research outputs found
La necropoli di Lochele - Sedilo (OR)
No full textLa necropoli a grotticelle artificiali fu frequentata dal Neolitico recente all'Alto Medioevo. Si pesenta una nota preliminare sulle campagne di scavo
The gulf of Oristano (Sardinia) during prehistoric age: a multidisciplinary study on man-environment relationships.
No full textTHE NUAGIC PEOPLE: THEIR SETTLEMENTS, ECONOMIC ACTIVITES AND USE OF THE LAND. SARDINIA ITALY
No full textABSTRACT. In the Middle Bronze Age and the Recent Bronze Age, about 9000 single towered corridors and tholos nuraghe were constructed. The greatest density of corridor nuraghe occurs in central Sardinia on basalt plateaus. These nuraghe are not found in valley bottoms or on plains. The tholos nuraghe were built everywhere including valley bottoms, although they were more common on basalt plateaus and in areas of volcanic rock. Analysis of the relationship between the monuments and the settled areas allows one to state that the presence of nuraghe was mainly determined by the environmental resources and the possible economic exploitation of the area, rather any defensive consideration. The strategy employed to use the land profitably involved using a wide range of bronze and stone tools and animal power. This human impact may have caused a significant degradation of the environment, which occurred primarily in the final stages of Nuragic civilisation
Cyprus and Sardinia at the Transition from the Bronze to the Iron Age: A Sacred Landscape Approach
Full text linkIn the framework of this contribution, and taking a macro-historic sacred landscapes approach, we established a comparative project analysing in parallel the development of sacred landscapes of two mega-islands, Cyprus and Sardinia, at the transition from the Bronze to the Iron Age. In both Cyprus and Sardinia, the period between the 12th and 8th centuries BC seems to have been a time when re-negotiations of individual, societal, and political identities took place, and this is clearly reflected on the construction of the sacred landscapes of the two islands. We first present our ‘landscape/macro-historic approach’; we then define the chronological horizon and the socio-historical contexts under discussion for each island, exploring at the same time how the hierarchical arrangement of ritual sites appearing at this transitional phase seems to be related with articulated social order or linked with shifting relations of power and cultural influence. Finally, we proceed to a discussion addressing the following three questions: (1) what is the relation between individual insularities and the construction of sacred landscapes on these two mega-islands?; (2) how can a ‘landscape/macro-historic approach’ assist us in better formulating microscopic approaches on both islands at the transition from the Bronze to the Iron Age?; and (3) is a comparative approach viable
Exploring climate and environmental changes in Sardinia around the end of the Nuragic Era
No full textIn Sardinia, precisely dated Holocene climate and environmental records are derisory. Indeed, availability of lacustrine sediments is scarce, because this Island has one natural relatively large lake only. Accordingly, the most comprehensive Holocene lake-based climate reconstruction, spanning the last 8000 years, has been published only recently (Pedrotta et al., 2021). However, the authors admit a low reliability of their age model to the top of the sequence, around the last ~2500 years. Considering the location of Sardinia at the center of the Western Mediterranean basin, this gap of knowledge is unfortunate, given the number of studies carried out in nearby continental/marine areas. Additionally, the lack of palaeoclimate/environmental information still hampers a thorough comprehension on the evolution of ancient populations, including the possibly most sophistically advanced Bronze and Late Iron Age culture in Europe: the Nuragic civilization (~1700-500 BC).
An efficient way to retrieve palaeoclimate information in Sardinia is through speleothems, considering that: 1) the Island counts almost 4000 caves; and 2) for pre-Holocene times, we have already reported the reliability of Sardinian speleothems as powerful records of past climates (Columbu et al., 2017; 2019). This work presents the first speleothem-based Holocene environmental reconstruction from Sardinia, by reporting the preliminary 230Th dating, stable isotopes (δ18O, δ13C) and petrographic results from 5 stalagmites. Samples were recovered in Suttaterra de Sarpis cave (Urzulei), which is strategically located less than 1 Km from Or Murales Nuragic village. The surface was an ideal location for ancient anthropic activities, such as livestock, agriculture and/or deforesting. In general, the whole area was densely frequented during Nuragic times, as attested by other nearby important archaeological sites.
After 230Th dating (n=20), the studied stalagmites comprehensively span the last ~7000 years. Peculiarly, they all show a net discontinuity: while the bottom appears brownish, the top is sensibly lighter in each of the 5 stalagmites. Such a marked change is also visible at micro scale, looking at the thin sections. Age modeling attested that this shift occurred, within uncertainties, toward the end of the “Nuragic” era, when Sardinia had first strict contacts with Phoenicians (a phase called “Orientalization”, ~700-600 BC), was then invaded by Punics (~500 BC) and later controlled by Romans (Depalmas & Melis, 2010). We here start to investigate the meaning of such a petrographical and geochemical discontinuity. Is it related to climate? Were different uses of the land above the cave, boosted by the arrival of new cultures, playing a role? Could climate and anthropic- cultural factors be interconnected? We will try to respond to these questions by comparing 230Th dating, stable isotopes and petrography within the archaeological framework of the studied area.
Columbu A., Drysdale R., Capron E., Woodhead J., De Waele J., Sanna L., Hellstrom J. & Bajo P. (2017) - Early last glacial intra-interstadial climate variability recorded in a Sardinian speleothem. Quaternary Science Reviews, 169, 391-397.
Columbu A., Spötl C., De Waele J., Yu TL., Shen CC. & Gázquez F. (2019) - A long record of MIS 7 and MIS 5 climate and environment from a western Mediterranean speleothem (SW Sardinia, Italy). Quaternary Science Reviews, 220, 230-243.
Depalmas A. & Melis R. (2010) - The Nuragic people: their settlements, economic activities and use of the land, Sardinia, Italy. In: Landscapes and Societies, Springer, 167-186.
Pedrotta T., Gobet E., Schwörer C., Beffa G., Butz C., Henne PD., Morales-Molino C., Pasta S., van Leeuwen JFN., Vogel H., Zwimpfer E., Anselmetti FS., Grosjean M. & Tinner W. (2021) - 8,000 years of climate, vegetation, fire and land-use dynamics in the thermo-mediterranean vegetation belt of northern Sardinia (Italy). Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 1-25
Holocene landscape reconstruction of the Southern Sinis Peninsula area (Central-Western Sardinia, Italy): Geoarchaeological approach.
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Mining Exploration, Raw Materials and Production Technologies of Mortars in the Different Civilization Periods in Menorca Island (Spain)
Full text linkThis study deals with the mortars and subordinately rocks collected from the archaeological site of Cap de Forma, that is a “Bien de Interés Cultural” located on a cape along the southeastern coast of Menorca (Balearic Islands, Spain). Cap de Forma consists of different structures belonging to different periods and civilization phases: a fortified settlement of Talaiotic age, built in cyclopean technique and including three rooms and a rainwater cistern; a nearby necropolis of tombs (cuevas) excavated into the cliff; a more recent site occupancy testified by plastering of the cistern; a house-fort (pecheña casa-quartel), a lookout point of the 17th–18th century. Compositional features and mineralogy of mortars and rocks were investigated by optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction. Physical properties (density, porosity, water saturation and water saturation coefficients and mechanical strength) were also determined. This work is aimed at characterizing these archaeologic remains to understand the building technique, the choice of raw materials and possibly their provenance, taking into account the age and civilization they belong to. Results indicate that cocciopesto-rich mortars were used in the cistern watertight and other ancient structures linking from a Roman age. The cocciopesto seems to derive from local pottery even if some evidence would suggest the contrary, whereas the source of the binder is definitely the local Mg-rich limestone. The house-fort was plastered with gypsum-based mortars in the 17th–18th century. The most likely source of raw gypsum was the island of Mallorca where some quarries were opened in the same period. Mechanical and physical tests reveal a strong state of decay that requires conservation actions. This work sheds light on a poorly studied monument, better constraining the different phases of its occupation. Some interesting questions, such as the cocciopesto provenance, are still open
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