Senorbì, Village of Monte Luna

The site is located near an important river ford, in the center of a fertile area of the Trexenta that controls the routes of penetration that connect the Campidano with the inland regions of Gerrei and Sarrabus.
The settlement was built at the end of the 6th century BC, as part of the policy of internal penetration carried out by Carthage after the conquest of Sardinia. It developed later, becoming a thriving center for the collection of the rich agricultural resources of Trexenta.
The town, not yet affected by systematic excavations, is located on the hill of Santu Teru (San Teodoro). The acropolis was surrounded by an almost trapezoidal defensive curtain wall, reinforced by some “advanced works”. Outside these, houses have been identified next to which smelting workshops were probably located, as suggested by the discovery of numerous metal waste.
More than 100 tombs have been excavated from the necropolis, leaning against the slopes of the nearby Monte Luna hill. The most attested type of grave is the pit type, with side chambers open on the short sides, even if there are variants.
The burial chambers, single or double, which open on the sides of the well, are equipped with a horizontal barrel or sloping ceiling. They generally have a rectangular or trapezoidal plan and are sometimes equipped with banquettes on the sides.
Inside a burial chamber there is a circular votive tray, while rectangular niches open more often on the walls.
In some hypogeums, there are traces of pictorial decorations made with red ochre, depicting festoons, bands, geometric and linear patterns.
The other types of tombs are a pit with steps on the walls, a simple earthen pit, a box with cladding plates, a niche and an “enkytrismós” (that is, inside amphorae).
The shallowest tombs were sometimes accompanied by stones or truncopyramidal mounds that acted as markers for burials.
Among the finds of grave goods, partly visible in the Municipal Archaeological Museum of Senorbì, are the numerous amulets made of talc, silica paste, metal, bone and glass. In particular, the Ureus serpent, the Eye of Horus, the lion, the falcon and others configured with parts of the human body inspired by Egypt are attested. Numerous beetles were also found in carnelian, green jasper and chalcedony, which, set in silver frames, were used as pendants or inserted in gold rings. The tombs have also returned refined bone and glass objects and numerous coins.
The objects of greatest interest, however, are the jewels, which testify to the wealth of the inhabitants of the small settlement. The jewelry, produced in Magna Graecia or of refined Punic workmanship, is in gold, silver and bronze: simple rings with a fixed or movable bezel, leech earrings, tiaras, necklace strings, bracelets.
At the current state of research, the settlement appears to have been abandoned in the third century BC.

History of excavations
The archaeological excavations, conducted by Antonio Maria Costa, involved the necropolis from 1977 to 1982.

Bibliography
A.M. Costa, "La necropoli punica di Monte Luna. Tipologia tombale", in Rivista di Studi Fenici, 11, 1983, pp. 21-38;
A.M. Costa, "Monte Luna: Una necropoli punica di età ellenistica", in Atti del I Congresso Internazionale di Studi Fenici e Punici (Roma, 5-10 novembre 1979), Roma, 1983;
C. Tronchetti, "Note di oreficeria punica", in Quaderni della Soprintendenza archeologica per le provincie di Cagliari e Oristano, 8, 1991, pp. 183-190;
G. Pisano, "Santu Teru (Senorbì): note su alcuni gioielli della Necropoli di Monte Luna", in Nuove ricerche puniche in Sardegna, a cura di G. Pisano, collana "Studia punica", 11, Roma, 1996.

How to get
There From the SS 131, at km 22, take the SS 128 to Senorbì. From the town there is access to an agrarian penetration road to Sant'Andrea Frius up to km 2.

Tag

Structure category: archaeological area or park

Content type: Archaeological complex
Archaeology

Usability: Open

Province: South Sardinia

Common: Senorbì

Macro Territorial Area: South Sardinia

POSTAL CODE: 09040

Address: località Monte Luna

Telephone: +39 070 980121 +39 070 9809071

E-mail: sadomunosta@gmail.com

Website: www.madn.it web.tiscali.it/Senorbi2000/page33.html

Facebook: www.facebook.com/p/Coop-Sa-Domu-Nosta-100064569796979

Information on tickets and access: Information on the site, and on how to use it, can be found at the ticket office of the Sa Domu Nosta Museum, in Senorbì. It is advisable to contact the structure in advance, by phone or email, for information in this regard.

Access mode: For a fee

Update

22/5/2025 - 11:32

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