Nell’attuale centro urbano di Villamar, situato nella Marmilla, presso una via di penetrazione verso l’entroterra di primaria importanza, si conservano le vestigia di una necropoli punica frequentata almeno tra il IV e il II secolo a.C. Alcuni ipogei furono messi in luce fortuitamente in un vicolo della Via Vittorio Emanuele nel 1984, e ulteriori ricerche furono condotte da Giovanni Ugas presso il vicino lotto Ex Casa Scanu nel 1991-92. L’impianto funerario sfrutta un bancone roccioso naturalmente affiorante costituito da marna e arenaria, nel quale furono scavate tombe ipogee con accesso a pozzetto e tombe in fossa, e sono documentate anche tombe a cassone, in enchytrismòs e in cista litica. Negli anni Novanta si ebbe modo di documentare una cinquantina di tombe; i corredi funerari si inseriscono pienamente nella koinè mediterranea di IV-III secolo a.C. La necropoli di Villamar sembra trovare similitudini soprattutto con quelle di Tuvixeddu e Nora, e altre affinità si osservano con la documentazione dell’hinterland cagliaritano, specialmente con Monte Luna di Senorbì. A distanza di ventuno anni, le ricerche presso il lotto Ex Casa Scanu sono riprese nel 2013 grazie a una concessione ministeriale triennale accordata al Comune di Villamar, sotto la direzione scientifica del Prof. Piero Bartoloni. Le ricerche hanno consentito di ampliare e rinnovare il quadro documentario frutto delle passate indagini. Sono state indagate tre tombe di diverse tipologie: la T.13 è una fossa scavata nella roccia che ha accolto un inumato seppellito allo scorcio della prima metà del III secolo; al IV secolo si riferisce una sepoltura in anfora (TA9). Le ricerche hanno interessato anche una tomba ipogea (T.16), con ingresso quadrangolare a pozzetto, che conservava i resti di una quindicina di inumati, adulti e bambini di vario sesso e età e due incinerati entro anfore. Le sepolture erano sconvolte dai vari utilizzi che la tomba ha subito che, dai corredi rinvenuti, sembra collocarsi almeno tra il IV secolo e il III secolo a.C.

During the 2014 campaign, a new excavation area was opened (sector C), c. 5 x 5 m, joining the two areas excavated in the 1980s. The adjacent sectors A and A1 were characterised by the presence of different types of burials (rock-cut tombs and earth graves). The aim was to excavate the area between the two in order to gain a better understanding of the cemetery’s development in this sector. The burials excavated in sector C were situated up against the highest part of the natural rocky plain, which slopes away on one side to the south-west, where the hypogean tombs and rock-cut graves were situated, and on the other side slopes to the north-east, where the rocky plain is covered by an ancient deposit of clay. Other burials, in graves, “a cassone” and enchytrismòs were present in this deposit. At the same time, a rock-cut grave was excavated in sector A1, which had been identified in the 1980s. In addition to T 15, the tombs of various types that emerged in sector C were also investigated: T 23 and T 29 in enchytrismòs, T 26 cut into the sandstone bedrock, T 24, 25 and 27, earth graves covered with stone slabs, and T 28, an “a cassone” tomb closed by large stone slabs at the surface. The funerary ritual is inhumation, in several cases with the reuse of graves. The grave goods include ladles/dippers, cups and plates of Sardinian production, but also Attic and Etrusco-Laziale imports, among the latter a jug with an “a cartoccio” type rim of Faliscan provenance. During the excavation season, a study was made of the skeletal remains from T 16, excavated in 2013.

The excavations continued with the same strategy as the previous year: opening of the tombs identified in the 1980s and excavation of the new sector where new tombs emerged. Tomb 7, a cut in the rock apparently relating to the shaft of a hypogean structure, was instead seen to be the cut for an “a cappucina” burial, with the deceased covered by an arrangement of slabs and stones. Alongside this skeleton were the remains of a second burial with grave goods. In sector C, T 30 was excavated, a grave partly dug in the earth and partly rock-cut that housed the remains of a juvenile placed on top of earlier burials. A large quadrangular pit cut in the sandstone, T 31, was of great interest. It housed four cremations in amphorae, one of which was placed in a hole cut in the floor of the pit. During this season, a study was made of the faunal remains from T 16, excavated in 2013.

Nel 2016 le ricerche archeologiche hanno interessato quattro tombe. La Tomba 32 è una fossa di piccole dimensioni praticata nella terra e coperta da lastre piatte. All’interno non si sono conservati i resti del defunto, seppellito senza corredo, quindi si ipotizza la sepoltura di un individuo morto in tenerissima età. La T. 33, anch’essa di un bambino e risalente verosimilmente alla fine del III secolo, presentava la particolarità della copertura composta da due laterizi del tipo embrice disposti a formare un tettuccio, con alle due estremità i resto di un dolio. La T. 10 era una fossa quadrangolare piuttosto profonda, dotata di riseghe per l’appoggio delle lastre di copertura. All’interno sono stati rinvenuti i resti di un inumato, con un corredo vascolare piuttosto consistente deposto presso i piedi, insieme ad altri resti di sepolture sconvolte. La T. 8 è una camera ipogea con ingresso a pozzetto, utilizzata per ospitare più sepolture, tra cui un inumato nel pozzetto. All’interno della camera, chiusa da lastroni lavorati di grandi dimensioni, si trovavano i resti di varie sepolture, anche sconvolti, appartenenti a defunti inumati e incinerati. L’ultimo utilizzo della camera sembra corrispondere alla sistemazione di due embrici allineati lungo la parete, sul piano pavimentale della camera, sui quali sono state trovate due urne cinerarie e numerosi oggetti di corredo. Il sepolcro sembra sia stato utilizzato per vari decenni nel III secolo a.C.

Four tombs were investigated in 2017 that had been partially excavated in the 1990s. The contexts, of various type, date to between the late 4th and the 3rd century B.C. Tomb 12 is an underground structure with a vertical “pozzo” shaft, orientated more or less north-south, providing access to a small funerary chamber. The chamber contained two levels of fill, which also contained materials that probabaly derived from the dismantling of other funerary contexts. The remains of a group of vases, probabaly from the original burial in the chamber, had been placed at the bottom of the shaft. The chamber was closed with imbrices, found in fragments and partially collapsed. The chamber contained the last intact burial of an individual in a supine position with a rich tomb group, both vases and personal items (a ring, an amulet and several bronze coins) and two underlying burials that had been moved. Burial 3 was partially heaped at the centre of the chamber when the remains were only partially decomposed. On the chamber floor, below the three adults, lay the unarticulated remains of two babies who died between the ages of 1 - 3 months. Tomb 4 is an “a pozzo” burial with a niche; the “pozzo” is not deep and on the west side presented an unusual arrangement of stones closed by a vertically-placed flat stone slab. Even more unusual was the position of the two bodies: the individuals, in supine position were place one on top of the other, one with the feet on top of the head of the other and viceversa. Each had a tomb group comprising two vases, and in one case a coin. Tomb 34 is an _enchytrismos_ burial situated near tomb 4, which suggests the deceased may have been related. The amphora, broken at the bottom for the insertion of the small body, was carefully hidden in a rocky crevice with small stones placed above it and to the sides. Together with the few osteological remains the burial contained numerous amulets, a coin and a _cypraea_. Tomb 35 was situated in sector A1 of the archaeological area, nearby tomb A9, investigated in 2013, which partially covered it. On the surface the tomb appeared as a tumulus of stones. Beneath these there was a dump of numerous osteological remains and pottery fragments that certainly came from other funerary contexts. These finds included some of the earliest materials from the necropolis. The stone slab covering underneath the dump sealed burial 1, intact, with its grave goods. The excavation halted with the removal of these remains, as at the end of the season, other unarticulated bones, especially lower limbs, from a primary burial appeared.

The excavation of tomb 35 continued from the surface layers: in fact it was seen that the primary pit for this burial had not been intercepted by the excavation of burial 1. What remained of the original covering for burial 2 was found and the burial itself was intact but without grave goods. Burial 2 covered the disturbed remains of burial 3, which may have been the first burial in the pit. Over the course of time, the pit may have contained four burials, if the disturbed remains of burial 1 and burial 2 are taken into consideration. The remains found in the surface dump belonged to other funerary contexts. Tomb 1 is a vertical “pozzo”/shaft that provided access to two facing chambers created on the short sides of the “pozzo”, the only one in the Villamar necropolis. Chamber A and the “pozzo” were already investigated in the 1990s, even though the remains of some human long bones mixed with modern glass and plastic bottles were present on the bottom. Chamber B was probably not excavated at the time for motives linked to the state of preservation of the original context given that the chamber was almost completely filled by earth and stone blocks, although some modern disturbance was seen at surface level. In fact, as the sandstone ceiling of the chamber had collapsed, the excavation proceded from the ground surface of the necropolis, therefore from the exterior. An attempt had been made in antiquity to repair the ceiling using large stone blocks wedged with smaller stones, not so much to facilitate the chamber’s reuse rather the repair of the necropolis’s ground surface, which was not secure and could have been affected by further structural failure. Once the fill and large slabs from the ceiling had been removed from the chamber, the remains of the two original burials, of different date, emerged with their grave goods. The chamber’s collapse, which certainly occurred in the Punic period, prevented its repeated use, making it possible to get a better idea of some particulars of the funerary ritual. Tomb 17 is a chamber with vertical “pozzo” sloping downwards, partially emptied, and refilled again, during the excavations in the 1990s. The “pozzo” presented lateral off-sets on which the covering slabs rested. The latter were found collapsed in the fill of the “pozzo”. The chamber was closed by a large stone slab supported by two smaller ones. Inside, the remains of the gave goods and unarticulated bones were recovered, but there was no primary deposition.