1)The site of Su Forru de is Sinzurreddus

Following the initial investigations in the area outside of the great fissure of the rhyolithic duomo in which the rock shelter of Su Forru de is Sinzureddus opens, during the years 2005-2010 the excavation continued in sector E, in correspondence with the area covered by the shelter and in that immediately in front of its entrance. Below a massive horizon of collapse structured by large slabs that had fractured away from the vault and laying in between them, a large number of human bones belonging to various individuals of diverse sex and age (infants, sub-adults and adults) emerged on the internal surface of cavity “A”. A number of pottery fragments in secondary deposition following the disturbance of the occupation levels determined by ancient collapses, dated to the later middle Neolithic horizon of San Ciriaco di Terralba, that is the second half of the 5th millennium cal BC. In correspondence with the entrance to cavity “A” there was a high concentration of obsidian flakes mixed with, and in between, the slabs that had flaked from the rock face and in association with anthropological remains. Some of the bone finds showed clear traces of burning, which had occurred both in the presence and absence of the flesh. In close proximity to this area was a concentration of lithic and bone elements, the vertical juxtaposition of several slabs indicated the existence of a lithic cist, now completely destroyed by the collapses. Also present were several pedunculated obsidian arrow heads, fragments of plain pottery and two metal spiral rings attesting a possible later burial, dating to the early Copper Age. Radio carbon dating carried out on charcoal samples collected from various stratigraphic units excavated within the area of cavity “A” attests the presence of repeated and discontinuous episodes of occupation on the site. These can be dated to diverse phases of the Copper Age, early and middle Bronze Age, Iron Age I, the late Punic and Roman Republican periods, the late medieval and modern periods as far as the mid 20th century. The incoherent distribution of the samples in relation to the stratigraphic sequence confirms the substantial disturbance to the deposits that was documented by the excavation.

2)The site of Sennixeddu

The mapping was completed of the vast workshop for the reduction of obsidian in the locality of Sennixeddu, characterised by a scatter of waste products over a surface of 20 ha. At present the investigation is concentrating on defining the flaking method and the chronology for the workshop’s activity, through the excavation of a small trench (Test 3), dug in 2007. The preliminary results of the technological analysis show at least two main phases of the exploitation of this raw material. The first period, beginning in the middle Neolithic B (second half of the 5th millennium cal BC) and lasting until the early Copper Age (end of the 4th millenium), essentially undertook the rough-hewing the blocks and the first shaping of the polyhedral nucleuses destined for regional and inter-regional circulation. The second, datable to within the middle-recent Bronze Age, seemed finalised towards the production of geometric microliths beginning with Janus type flakes which are particularly widespread in Sardinian nuraghic contexts.