It is not easy to write a short history of Sardinia. Nonetheless I will try to summarize the main events. Much of the rich prehistoric past has been preserved until the present day mainly because Sardinia does not have a densely populated countryside and many areas where people once lived were abandoned. The past has been much determined by the fact that Sardinia is an island. On the one hand it has been open to influences from outside where the sea was a highway of communication and transport, but on the other hand it could be completely isolated and developments on the island would take their own course. Thus surprising similarities can be found with France, Spain, North-Africa and even the Middle-East but also periods of developments unique for Sardinia that are not to be found elsewhere. As a consequence Sardinia has been an interesting studyground for scientists from all over the world, not in the last place archaeologists.

The oldest traces of human activity

Obsidian of the Monte Arci

Although Sardinia was geologically the oldest soil of Italy, it has been populated by mankind later than the mainland. The oldest traces of human activity date from 400.000 to 120.000 years ago (Paleolithicum) and have been found in the Anglona. During the last Ice-age the sea-levels dropped so low that the distance between Sardinia and the mainland was very much reduced and made a crossing relatively easy. Of the recent Paleolithicum traces have been found of human activity near Dorgali (around 7440 BC) while of the mesolithic almost no evidence of human presence is available ¹.

The neolithicum and obsidian in Sardinia

During the neolithicum the Monte Arci, a former vulcano, was one of the central deposits of obsidian. This vulcanic glass was used to produce arrowheads, spearheads and cutting utensils. In several areas of the west Mediterranean artefacts in obsidian have been found that could be traced back to different deposits on the Monte Arci. This points to a thriving commerce with the surrounding regions in the recent neolithic times ².

Material cultures in neolithic and calcolithic Sardinia

The neolithic burial site
of Anghelu Ruju near Alghero

The neolithic age is characterized by three phases: the old neolithic, the middle neolithic with the culture of Bonuighinu and the recent neolithic with the culture of Ozieri (also called the culture of San Michele). Of the various cultures in traces have been found consisting of earthenware, utensils in bone and stone and they were named after the place where the first discoveries were made ³. Of the same period are the megalithic gravestructures called Dolmen and the gravechambers cut in the rock, the Domus de Janas (houses of the fairies) that are still visible in the landscape ⁴. Even though these cultures were mainly inland of Sardinia, traces of a sub-Ozieri culture were also to be found in the plains, near Cabras at Cuccuru S'Arriu on the edge of the stagno ⁵. In the Calcolithic age the mining of metals (copper) became more important. The culture of Ozieri slowly developed in the culture of Monte Claro and the cultures of Filigosa and Abealzu, the direct predecessors of the nuragic culture. One of the main sites is the curious ziqqurath of Monte D'Accoddì near Sassari, a trapeze-like structure that probably was a religious centre ⁶. As in the rest of Europe (France, Spain) megalithic structures of low towers and walls appeared during the times of the culture of Monte Claro (Sa Ureci, Guspini and Monte Baranta near Alghero) ⁷. The gravestructures developed into allee couverte, a covered corridor, the predecessor of the tombe di giganti ⁸.

Chronological sequence after Lilliu

source: Lilliu 2003, p. 14, Webster 1996, p.14

The chronology of the Nuragic age has been subject to discussion. Some archaeologists are of the opinion that the Nuragic age began much earlier (2700 BC) and ended around or even before the time the Phoenicians came to Sardinia (1000 BC), even though the nuraghi themselves were still in use after that time. Justly they question the fact that the bronze statues are ascribed to a nuragic culture or nuragic origin. The point is that a Nuragic cultural horizon is difficult to establish and it would be more correct to speak of a Nuragic age in which the Nuraghi were built and used even though in the end the people that lived around the Nuraghi may have had nothing in common with the builders ⁹.

Notes:

¹ Lilliu 2003, p. 25; Tanda 2004, p.31,32
² Lilliu 2003, p. 29 f; Tykot 1992, p. 57 f; Tanda 2004, p.32,33
³ Lilliu 2003, p. 14 and p. 79 f; Tanda 2004, p. 33
⁴ Ferrarese Ceruti 1992, p.98-99; Tanda 2004, p.34-42; Lilliu 2003, p. 45-127
⁵ Santoni 1992, p. 157
⁶ Lilliu 2003, p.96; Tanda 2004, p. 42 f
⁷ Lilliu 2003, p. 152,153; Tanda 2004, p. 47-48
⁸ Lilliu 2003, p. 217
⁹ Manca 2004, p. 97 and 102

Bibliography

1. Lilliu,G. 2003: La civiltà dei Sardi dal paleolitico all'età dei nuraghi, Nuoro
2. Tykot, R.H. 1992, The Sources and Distribution of Sardinian Obsidian in: Sardinia in the Mediterranean: A footprint in the sea, ed. R. H. Tykot and T.K. Andrews, Sheffield, p. 57-70
3. Ferrarese Ceruti, M.L. 1992, Elementi Architettonici e del Culto Funerario nella Domus de Janas di Su Littu (Ossi-Sassari) in: Sardinia in the Mediterranean: A footprint in the sea, ed. R. H. Tykot and T.K. Andrews, Sheffield, p. 98-104
4. Manca, G. 2004: Il nuraghe Losa e la civiltà nuragica, Ghilarza
5. Santoni, V. 1992, Cuccuru S'Arriu (Cabras). L'Orizzonte Eneolitico Sub-Ozieri in: Sardinia in the Mediterranean: A footprint in the sea, ed. R. H. Tykot and T.K. Andrews, Sheffield, p. 157-174
6. Tanda, G. 2004, Dalla preistoria alla storia, in: Storia della Sardegna, ed. M. Brigaglia, Cagliari, p. 25-74
7. Webster, G.S. 1996, A Prehistory of Sardinia 2300-500BC, Sheffield