The Archaeology of Nuragic Sardinia is a comprehensive synthesis of
evidence bearing on current understandings of Sardinian prehistory from
the 23rd through the 8th centuries BC. It is a study of the material
traces left by those insular societies known famously for their unique
megalithic 'Giants' tombs and intricate water-temples, as well as for
the remarkable cyclopean edifices or nuraghi for which this singular
'civilization' takes its name. Following introductory discussions of the
history of Nuragic research up to the present, as well as the island's
natural setting, individual chapters are given over to detailed
examinations of findings on chronology, settlement, subsistence,
industries, trade, external relations and cult practices for successive
chronological periods from the Early Bronze Age through the Early Iron
Age. For each period, issues of interpretation are addressed with regard
to what might be reasonably inferred about Nuragic social institutions,
normative codes, cognitive orientations, identity formations, cultural
hybridity and entanglements, and the role of indigenous and exogenous
factors in cultural continuity and discontinuity. While the focus
throughout is on the Sardinian record, due consideration is also paid to
potentially related developments on the neighboring island of Corsica. A
postscript features a glimpse of life at the great Iron Age sanctuary of
Santa Vittoria di Serri as imagined by the late 'father of Sardinian
archaeology' Giovanni Lilliu.
