Early Iron Age

Buddusò, Nuraghe Loelle. Foto di Comune di Buddusò, Cat. Lilliu, da Sardegna DigitalLibrary

The transition from the final Bronze Age to the Iron Age (900-500 BC) is marked by profound changes, triggered by various factors, including the Phoenicians' permanent settlement in Sardinia.
Ceramic productions change, which are once again richly decorated in the so-called “geometric” and “orientalizing” style.
The structure of some nuraghi changes, which undergo serious modifications or even the partial dismantling of towers and bastions, as evidenced by the Genna Maria Nuraghe in Villanovaforru.
The layout of the villages changes, with the transition from the isolated circular hut to the complex of rooms delimited by a single wall perimeter with a common central courtyard (the so-called “isolated”).
The production of bronze weapons is increasing, as is the production of bronze weapons. The bronze figurines, created as an ex vota, depict various figures: archers, hoplites, boxers, wrestlers, various female figures, various animals, objects related to daily life, nuraghe models, ships and more.
The discovery of large stone statues at the necropolis of Monti Prama (Cabras) deserves special mention. In fact, these are artistic artifacts that (with the exception of archaic Greek sculptures) do not find analogies between contemporary Mediterranean productions, even if, it must be said right now, the chronology of these works represents a serious scientific problem.
The sculptures of Monti Prama were found at a necropolis with individual burials, and this fact already represents an important fact, since in the Nuragic age the norm was represented by collective burials inside the “tombs of the giants”. About thirty fragmentary specimens were found.
These sculptures depict, following an iconographic style absolutely consistent with that adopted for the small bronze statuary, various male human figures: archers, hoplites, boxers. In addition to the human figures, however, several examples of the so-called 'nuraghe models' were found (and this is also an important fact), or sculptures that can be interpreted as small-scale depictions of this monumental type.
The creation - in stone or bronze - of nuraghe models represents one of the most striking and eloquent signs of the profound changes taking place within the Nuragic cultural system in this period, especially if placed in due relationship with another phenomenon of great importance: the cessation of the construction of new nuraghi, the abandonment of some of them and the partial destruction of some monuments with the superimposition of new huts (by the work, it should be specified, of the Nuraghi themselves).
In such a context of cultural changes, it seems legitimate to interpret the creation of the nuraghe models, as well as the large statues of Monti Prama, as explicit symbols of cultural memory that were entrusted with the task of curbing the risk of identity drift that every cultural change inevitably brings with it.

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Complesso scultoreo di Mont'e Prama

Le grandi statue di Mont'e Prama (Cabras) rappresentano un dato archeologico e artistico di grande rilevanza. Si tratta infatti di manufatti artistici che (ad esclusione delle sculture della Grecia arcaica) non trovano analogie tra le produzioni mediterranee coeve, anche se, va detto sin d'ora, proprio la cronologia di queste opere rappresenta un serio problema scientifico.Le sculture di Monti Prama vennero rinvenute presso una necropoli ad inumazioni singole, e già questo fatto rappresenta un dato di rilievo, dal momento che in età nuragica la norma era rappresentata dalle sepolture collettive all'interno delle "tombe dei giganti".Ne venne rinvenuta una trentina circa di esemplari, frammentari.Queste sculture raffigurano, seguendo uno stile iconografico assolutamente coerente con quello adottato per la piccola statuaria in bronzo, varie figure umane maschili: arcieri, opliti, pugilatori, ma anche (e anche questo è un dato rilevante) modelli di nuraghe. Uno di questi raffigura un nuraghe quadrilobato e un personaggio che pare impegnato a tentare la scalata di uno dei lati rettilinei del monumento.Se il valore artistico e culturale delle sculture appare indubbio e indiscusso, molto meno chiara e niente affatto agevole è la loro interpretazione puntuale.L'interpretazione sinora più accreditata vuole vedere in queste figure la rappresentazioni di personaggi pertinenti ad un passato eroico. Il dibattito è comunque ancora aperto.

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