In 2012 the Universities of Padova, Milano and Genova and the Superintendency for Cagliari and Oristano reopened excavations in the ex naval base on the promontory of Nora (Pula), southern Sardinia. In the Roman period, the area situated on the isthmus linking the peninsula to the mainland was part of the urban area, while in an earlier period it must have been peripheral to the town and was used mainly as a cemetery area. In fact, in 1871 Col. A. Roych and Cav. M. Satto had explored a number of underground rock-cut tombs. The first systematic excavation was undertaken in the eastern sector between 1891 and 1892 by F. Nissardi. A total of 40 tombs were explored dating to the period at the height of the Carthaginian colony’s development, datable to between the mid 5th century and the end of the 4th century B.C. During the first excavations at the end of the 19th century a single cremation burial in a cist was also discovered. This burial was part of a Phoenician necropolis whose exact size and nature remain unknown. However, in 2011 excavations undertaken by the Superintendency in the area of the amphitheatre situated immediately north of the ex-naval zone confirmed the presence of an archaic cemetery. In 2012-2013, the University of Padova began a series of investigations that foresaw the creation of a complete digital topographical map of the area, something that previously did not exist. Once the area had been cleared, geophysical surveys were carried out using a mixed technique based on geo-electrical methods and ground penetrating radar. Two separate areas were surveyed: the first situated south-west of the “Casa della Guardiania”, between the latter and the fencing separating the ex-naval area from the fishing harbour, and covering an area of c. 30 x 60 m. The second was positioned along the north-eastern edge of the ex-naval area, abutting the sector in which the necropolis of chamber tombs is situated and covering an area of c. 25 x 60 m. Numerous and significant anomalies were registered in both survey areas. In the sector south-west of the the “Casa della Guardiania”, the survey seemed to indicate the existence, at shallow depth, of a bedrock surface with cavities cut into it. In the south-eastern area the anomalies were localized and very intense giving the impression of the presence of wide cavities cut into the subsoil, recalling the chamber tombs explored in the same area in the 19th century. Although the survey results suggest the presence of ancient structures, their topographical and structural nature will have to be confirmed by the excavations planned for 2014.

Since 2012, the University of Padova has been excavating in the area of the town situated immediately north of the present entrance to the archaeological site and occupied by naval installations. Between 2012 and 2014, an intensive campaign of geophysical surveys using georadar (GPR) and geoelectric (ERT) instruments was carried out. In, Based on the survey results, 2014 and 2015 it was possible to delimit the area of greatest interest in which to open the first trench, thus revealing a previously unknown funerary complex of Phoenician and Punic date. The Punic necropolis with chamber-tombs The excavations in trench I, where a bank of Tyrrhenian sandstone sloping slightly downwards from north-east (Casa della Guardiania) to south-west (Porticciolo) had already emerged, exposed the rocky substrata that presented several regular cuts. These included at least three rectangular cuts, on average about 2.20 m long and 0.70 m wide, interpreted as entrance shafts to underground tombs. The gradual excavation of one of these cuts confirmed that it was the entrance to a chamber tomb, cut into the sandstone and already disturbed in antiquity. The shaft led into a first chamber (fig. 1), rectangular-trapezoidal in plan and between 2.73 m and 2.31 m wide. A small door led into another chamber that was quadrangular-trapezoidal in plan. The variety of materials found inside the tomb suggests that the fills were formed during the mid imperial period. An elongated rectangular cut in the bedrock proved to be the entrance shaft to another underground chamber. This tomb was particular in that it was continually in use for a long period: the burial chamber in the Punic period (fig. 2), was reused in the Roman period as a cistern, the walls faced with waterproof _opus_ _signinum_ with a shaft used for drawing water. A large amount of material was recovered from the tomb; the modality of its deposition as well as the layers of fill support the hypothesis that the necropolis was used as a rubbish dump in the Roman period. The gradual enlargement of the trench revealed two more cuts in the bedrock, larger than those described above were, with covers still in place (fig. 3). The Phoenician necropolis with cremation burials In the same area, traces were found of use in the archaic period, as attested by the Phoenician cremation burials excavated in 2014. Of these, at least four were in shallow cuts in the bedrock, containing the cremated bones of the deceased, which were covered by piles of stones or earth and the grave goods. The ceramic containers recovered during the excavation date these burials to as early as the early 7th century B.C. This season, the extension of the trench revealed what appears to be a burial in a stone cist (fig. 4). Although the excavation remains to be completed, a series of considerations can be made, particularly regarding dating, funerary and cult elements. The earliest traces identified increase knowledge of Nora in the archaic period. The archaeological evidence also confirms and adds to the evidence for a “western group” of Punic underground tombs, described by Patroni on the basis of investigations undertaken by various scholars, including Nissardi, in the years between 1871 and 1901.

Nel corso della campagna di scavo 2016, l’Università di Padova ha ripreso le indagini archeologiche nelle necropoli fenicie e puniche, situate in quel settore di abitato antico posto al centro del promontorio, nell’area già occupata dalla base della Marina Militare. Le attività di scavo hanno consentito di mettere in luce nuove sepolture, che dimostrano come la necropoli ebbe una lunga continuità di vita, dall’epoca arcaica fino almeno alla media età imperiale, caratterizzata da una coesistenza, seppur a diversi livelli cronologici, di due sepolcreti con differenti riti funerari (incinerazione ed inumazione). La Tomba 11 si configura come un taglio di forma rettangolare operato nel banco roccioso. Sul fondo della tomba fu ubicato l’accumulo di ossa calcinate del defunto, frammiste a terra di rogo, mentre in corrispondenza dei lati brevi del taglio, venne disposto il corredo fittile, costituito da una brocca ad orlo espanso in red-slip, due ollette monoansate non tornite e un’anforetta in bucchero (seconda metà del VII secolo a.C. circa). La Tomba 21 è una sepoltura ad incinerazione apprestata entro un taglio praticato nel banco arenitico. Tale sepoltura fu parzialmente sconvolta in età romana, ma ha restituito alcuni piccoli frammenti di ossa combuste, nonché il collo e l’orlo di una brocca a fungo. La Tomba 16 è una sepoltura arcaica che si conservava quasi integralmente; si è potuta accertare la presenza dei resti di un incinerato le cui ossa non dovettero essere state bruciate ad alte temperature. Queste furono poi ritualmente addossate ad un’olletta fittile monoansata deposta in un angolo al fondo del taglio (pieno VII sec. a.C.). La Tomba 18 si componeva di un profondo taglio nella roccia sterile che progressivamente si andava restringendo. Il taglio era a sua volta sigillato mediante una grossa lastra arenitica lavorata e lisciata, mantenuta stabile e in piano grazie ad alcuni elementi di zeppatura ai lati e immediatamente al di sotto di essa. All’interno, al di sotto del terreno di infiltrazione, sono stati rinvenuti numerosi frammenti ossei combusti, cui era associato un corredo, composto da due ollette monoansate sovrapposte l’una all’altra, una brocca ad orlo espanso e una brocca trilobata con ansa spezzata ritualmente (pieno VII sec. a.C.). Parallelamente allo scavo delle incinerazioni fenicie, l’indagine si concentra su una tomba ad ipogeo con copertura in lastre litiche, realizzata sul banco arenitico (Tomba 8). Nel pozzo di accesso sono stati riscontrati consistenti livelli di riempimento a matrice limo-sabbiosa caratterizzati dalla presenza di numerose ossa umane; nel settore più occidentale del pozzo tale dispersione lascia il posto ad una deposizione umana di cui rimane la sola porzione superiore, con evidente connessione anatomica a livello vertebrale e toracico e cranio reclinato all’indietro. Poco oltre ed alla stessa quota, viene individuato un ulteriore accumulo di ossa umane, accatastate a ridosso della parete di fondo del pozzo. Entrambe le deposizioni poggiano su un sottile strato terroso che copre un’estesa massicciata formata da blocchi lapidei di varie dimensioni. Ad una profondità di circa 1 m dai lastroni di copertura, il pozzo si restringe formando una banchina di circa 30 cm di larghezza, sotto la quale si apre un’ampia anticamera. Lungo il lato breve occidentale si apre invece la porta di accesso alla camera funeraria, disassata rispetto all’asse della tomba. Il materiale rinvenuto tra i numerosi scapoli lapidei è riferibile ad un contesto tardo-imperiale. Anche la Tomba 9 fu realizzata mediante un taglio nel banco arenitico. La fossa si presenta coperta da due lastre in arenaria, alloggiate entro una risega realizzata nel banco roccioso. L’attività più antica finora documentata vide la deposizione di tre individui inumati: un bambino è collocato al di sopra della porzione pelvico-lombare di un adulto; di un terzo inumato, collocato leggermente a nord-ovest dei precedenti, sono state finora individuate esclusivamente le ossa dei piedi e la porzione inferiore di tibia e perone. Il corredo, collocato sopra e a lato dei primi due inumati descritti, consiste in 4 unguentari vitrei, due anelli d’oro, delle perline e amuleti in osso lavorato di una collana, che doveva essere infine arricchita da un pendaglio conformato a protome umana (circa IV-III sec. a.C.). Il sepolcro fu parzialmente perturbato dalle riaperture di età successiva; i corpi non si presentano in perfetta connessione anatomica e risultano carenti di buona parte delle ossa. Le sepolture erano infatti coperte da livelli di riempimento terrosi che hanno restituito numeroso materiale di età romana misto a ceramica di età punica.

This season, Padova University continued its excavations in the temple area occupied by the former naval base at Nora. In trench 1, the excavation of the underground tombs 8 and 9 was completed. A new trench (c. 24 x 2.3 m) was opened to the west of and connected to trench 1, on an east-west alignment. Tomb 8 was formed by a vertical access shaft from which three lateral benches were reached and in whose west wall an underground chamber opened. A series of inhumations were present, both in the funerary chamber and in the access shaft, which range in date from the Punic period until late antiquity. The plan of tomb 9 was simpler, a large sub-rectangular pit, but it also contained a series of Punic burials. The tomb was reopened in the Roman imperial period when the stone slabs constituting the western part of the covering were removed and the tomb used as a midden. The long trench opened to the west of trench 1, where excavations will continue in the future), aimed to further define the extension of the necropolis and the morphology of this sector of the Nora peninsula, as well as intercepting the trench dug by G. Patroni at the beginning of last century.

This season, Padova University continued its excavations in the area occupied by the former naval base in the north-eastern sector of the Nora peninsula. Excavations continued in trench 1 and the trench opened last year to the west of the latter. In the past, various tombs of Phoenician and Punic date have come to light in trench 1. This year a new ‘a fossa’ tomb (tomb 22) cut into the sandstone bedrock was discovered. The tomb contained two overlying burials with grave goods; unarticulated human bones had been dumped on top of the later of the two burials, probably the result of periodical cleaning of the nearby underground tombs. Further west, the trench opened in 2017 was deepened in three points. In the first (A) a cut was documented corresponding with the trench dug by G. Patroni in 1901; when the sandstone bedrock was reached at 0.97 m a.s.l. a series of cuts in the rock were documented that probably relate to quarrying cuts made in the Roman period, after the Phoenician and Punic necropolis went out of use. The area was finally obliterated by substantial dumps, above which a wall dating to a later phase was intercepted. A Roman quarry face was also identified in area B, which cut a Punic hypogean tomb leaving part of the entrance shaft and the anti-chamber. Lastly, in area C a “bathtub shaped” cistern was excavated, which also cut a Punic hypogean tomb that had also been previously cut by the Roman quarrying activity.

This summary presents the results of the excavation campaigns carried out in 2018 and 2019 in the Phoenician and Punic necropolis located in the northern part of the so-called “ex Base della Marina Militare” of Nora. In direct continuity with the previous surveys, both secondary cremation and inhumation burials dug into the sandstone bedrock has been brought to light and excavated (Trench 1). The grave goods recovered and the different burial rituals adopted strongly suggest that the necropolis was continuously used from the Archaic Period to the late Punic Age. From this moment on, the function of this area changed deeply. A clear indication of this transformation is represented by the evidence of quarrying activities for the supply of stone building material, which in some cases carved the Punic hypogea, and the construction of a cistern (Trench 3).