Pau, Obsidian Trail

The site is geographically located in a highly inclined area affected by substantial debris accumulations of obsidian blocks and nodules in the secondary position, coming from the outcrops located on the hills above.
Obsidian, glass of volcanic origin widely used by Neolithic man to produce tools of various kinds, defined as the “black gold” of antiquity, was also of extraordinary importance for the development of Sardinian prehistory. Artifacts obtained with obsidian from Monte Arci, exploited starting from the 4th millennium BC, have been found in various Neolithic settlements in Sardinia, northern Italy and southern France.
In the volcanic complex of Monte Arci, of which at least three distinct obsidian flows are known: SA (Conca Cannas-Uras), SB1 and SB2 (Santa Maria Zuarbara-Marrubiu), SC (Perda Urias/Sennixeddu-Pau), the territory of Pau is the only one that has allowed, at least for now, to document through archaeological remains of significant magnitude, centers of reduction and transformation of matter at the primary sources. The Sennixeddu obsidian processing center, located along the homonymous valley, is one of the largest on Monte Arci. Lamarmora wrote: “Making a small detour to the right passing near two places called Conca 'e Cervu and Sennixeddu, you can take a sunken path, which leads to the top of Monteverso la Trebina. Along the path, the traveler sometimes has the impression of walking on the pieces of an old black bottle factory, so numerous are the flakes of a black volcanic glass that is called obsidian.”
In this area, large concentrations of obsidian nodules and, above all, of chipping products that are distributed along both sides of the Sennixeddu Canal, on an area of more than 20 hectares, have been highlighted and analyzed. Occasional stratigraphic sections of the slopes have revealed deposits of residues from the obsidian processing activity of more than m 1 in power. Recent surface surveys have made it possible to identify, under the ridge from Perda Urias to the Fustaiolu channel, other centers of raw material reduction (Mitza Fustiolau, Mitza Niu Crobu, Mitza Mereu). In addition, a potential settlement site has been identified in Su Forru de Sinzurreddus, about 350 m east of the Sennixeddu processing area.