Nuragic Settlement Dynamics: The East Coast of Sardinia

Abstract

This thesis analyses the settlement dynamics of the Nuragic culture on the east coast of Sardinia during the Bronze Age and Iron Age (c. 2000-550 BC), and compares them with those in the western part of the island. The main themes examined are: the Chalcolithic to Bronze Age transition, settlement patterns, relations between settlement and ritual sites, uses of the coastline, and the implications of these for our understanding of Nuragic societies in this area. The study draws on field surveys conducted for this project in two sample areas: 1) Sarrabus (South-East Sardinia), and 2) Barisardo-Cardedu (Central-East Sardinia), and includes GIS analysis (PPA, viewsheds, least-cost path). The discussion is also placed in the wider context of prehistoric settlement in the Mediterranean.

New insights on the Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age transition in Sardinia are presented. In sample area 1, a clear relationship between pre-Nuragic and Nuragic sites is recorded, suggesting that the transition was characterized by a significant degree of continuity, rather than the collapse of Chalcolithic settlement observed in western Sardinia. This indicates a need to see this transition not as a unified process, but rather as regionally diverse one.

Furthermore, in sample area 1 there is a low degree of settlement nucleation, while in sample area 2 this phenomenon is much more significant. Several scenarios are proposed to explain this, and it is argued that in some areas of the east coast the degree of societal complexity was more significant than in other areas.

Conclusions are also drawn regarding the relationships between settlement and ritual sites, which turn out to be varied with no single dominant pattern. This indicates a plurality of ritual practices, and potentially different roles for individual megalithic tombs. The lack of sanctuaries in sample area 1 and their presence in sample area 2 is taken as indication of different degrees of social complexity.