Summary (English)
The excavation has highlighted a small Nuraghic temple of rectangular plan, absidal on the short southern side, divided into two areas and located inside an enclosure. The building was built in blocks of arenaria, brought here from a great distance, while the foundations were in blocks of local limestone schist. Some of the blocks of arenaria, of trapezoidal form, were in orderly courses. The deeper layers have yielded exclusively locally made finds while in the later strata (Second Iron Age), Phoenician material was recovered together with the local products.
The terminus ante quem of the use of the building, after the collapse, is given by the finds of the Orientalizing period deposited in the niche obtained on the already-collapsed wall of the building. The oldest layer can be placed between the end of the Bronze and beginning of the Iron ages by the presence of large oval bowls with vertical handles, and dates of life of the building before its collapse. Originally the two spaces were communicating and only later was this access closed with a wall somewhat thinner than the original walls. The building continued to be used even after the collapse of the upper part, as testifies the continued use of the hearth installed at the north-east corner of the southern area.
The monument is of interest for the fact that, in a stage both after the collapse and before the Orientalizing objects of the niche were deposited (probably during the Second Iron Age), the building continued to be frequenced by nuraghic people with trading relationships with the Phoenicians. It is probable that these contacts occurred on site, though this has not yet been proven. Many questions still remain to be clarified with the next excavation.
Director
- Maria Rosaria Manunza - Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Sardegna
Team
- Danila Artizzu
- Maria Adele Ibba - Università di Cagliari
- Giuseppe Dessì
- Benigno Moi
Research Body
- Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici delle province di Cagliari e Oristano
Funding Body
- Comune di Sinnai
Images
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