Review on Sardinia as the interface of cultural exchanges with the outside.
E 'in Italy during the exhibition organized by our non-profit organization, which is attended by some archaeologists on subjects related to ancient ports and harbors on the island (see poster in the picture). I watched the first meetings and I thought to give readers who were involved, the transcription of reports, I apologize in advance for the presence of some small mistake, due to my inexperience of the difficulty of transforming the "file" registered "file" readable .
Ports of ancient Sardinia.
Charles Tronchetti
The island, until a decade ago, was seen as a land of conquest and colonization by foreign people who came, invaded the coast and occupied the territory, bringing their culture. Today there is a marked tendency to study the region as affected by a network of trade throughout the Mediterranean, and as a meeting of cultures, without prevarication.
Two cultures coming into contact to create a third, the result of contamination from the previous ones. Every culture has with the other new things that are perceived, processed and absorbed by a process of change that fits their culture.
We must understand the show "Ports" as an interface that divide but unites diverse people who come into contact. My report about the stretch of coast that is home to Nora, and other landing places as Cape Bithia Malfatano and Porto Pino, little investigated, and therefore difficult to pin down. Nora
interface lends itself well to meetings because it offers a cozy and sheltered harbor. We have two rivers and lowlands that allows connect to Campidano. Furthermore, by climbing a step, you get to Bithia and other streets that were used in ancient times to cross the mountains to the mining areas. Today we know well the village of Nora, and excavation work going on.
Bithia is a small headland on which lies the village, although the actions of excavation have revealed only traces on the hill, perhaps because the measures were superficial. At the bottom there is a temple dedicated to Bes and a large area of \u200b\u200bthe necropolis.
The south west coast of Sardinia favors the port for the routes that go from east to west, and offers a good port for travel from Sicily and Carthage. The winds and currents suggest these routes and certainly in ancient seafaring activities mainly take account of natural events. The Tyrrhenian Sea is presented as a triangle has a vertex in Sicily, one in North Africa and the last section between Corsica and Tuscany. The land bordering the water in this triangle are always in contact with each other.
in the Bronze Age, the area between Sarroch Pula and is affected by contact with the Mycenaean world. The Mycenaean culture is high and hierarchical, and reaches across the western Mediterranean in search of metals, to the Iberian Peninsula. Local communities sardines were certainly affected by the Mycenaeans and Contact the coastal areas was strong. The Mycenaean Greece and Cyprus show pottery identical to those found in Sardinia, and above all to Antigori (Sarroch), there is a community that takes luxury ceramics, large jars for storing food and household products. From
Sarroch Nora attest to the presence of Mycenaean and it is likely that the influence has come to Decimoputzu view of the precious statue with a human face wearing a helmet decorated with ivory boar's teeth, identical to other specimens present their in Mycenaean Greece. The port of
Nora has been identified by underwater archaeological investigations of Ignazio Sanna, a technical supervision. You notice a well-cut canal, dug sott’acqua, che si dirige verso l’attuale peschiera, e ai lati si notano accumuli di cocci. Le strutture del porto sono di età punica e romana, ma l’insenatura mostra tracce di lavori precedenti.
I segni dei primi insediamenti sono deboli ma la ceramica è notevole, e possiamo affermare che la frequentazione più massiccia avvenne dall’VIII a.C. fino al VII d.C., in età bizantina. Circa 1500 anni di storia che mostrano una fioritura di Nora intorno al 650 a.C., con la presenza di ceramiche greche più antiche, recentemente scoperte, che offrono uno scenario tutto da studiare. La ceramica dal 750 al 700 a.C. è locale, prevalentemente da cucina, non oggetto di commercio. Intorno al 700 a.C. aumenta la ceramica fenicia fino a raggiungere, intorno al 650 a.C., una quantità che supera quella indigena. Parrebbe che i fenici arrivano intorno al 720 a.C., iniziando a collaborare con gli indigeni e a stabilirsi con propri insediamenti in luoghi dove c’era una forte presenza di nuragici. L’integrazione è pacifica e la costa era un punto d’appoggio per i navigli che stagionalmente giungevano per commerciare. Nasce una comunità mista e non si rileva più se è fenicia o indigena. Dal 650 a.C. in poi si nota in Sardegna un incremento di fenici, forse spinti dagli Assiri ad abbandonare le coste orientali. La costa sarda presenta ormai una popolazione con fenici già integrati ed è verosimile che i nuovi arrivati si mescolino proprio nelle zone where the ancestors were more numerous. The Phoenician component increases, but within five generations (750-650 BC) it is probable that, at least in the present coast, Sardinia and Phoenicians had become a single people.
The Phoenicians who came to port, in addition to products, whether ideas and technologies.
Perhaps the culmination of Nora was used as a base of support from the Etruscan and Greek sailors, but the closest in this period were with the Phoenicians. The ceramics and other materials Tyrrhenian area are less numerous. The most significant pieces show a strong collaboration between people and is complex when it comes to identifying pieces of imported or copied from the premises. A
Bithia was excavated a Phoenician necropolis that returned intact interesting materials. Precious objects such as decorated ostrich eggs and used as pitchers, with the addition of prostheses made of ivory similar to those excavated in the Etruscan necropolis, along the Arno River. In addition to the Phoenician pottery, the tombs of Etruscan ceramics Bithia are also intact. Interesting are, in addition to the traditional cremation Phoenician, some burial tombs where the deceased had on his chest remains in iron and bronze combined with a dagger. Nuragici characters that were around 650 BC, lived in an area Phoenician. Nuragici vessels were also found containing the charred remains of the dead, and then applied to a rite Phoenician characters Sardinians. Probably Bithia è un insediamento misto. Man mano che si scava in Sardegna, si sta attenti a nuovi dettagli e questi studi mostrano rapporti strettissimi fra sardi e fenici, quasi fossero il risultato dell’unione dei due popoli avvenuta nel secolo precedente.
A Bithia è stata trovata la statua di Bes che oggi si trova al museo archeologico di Cagliari. È un tempio di età romana, con una divinità benefica egiziana (Bes) portata probabilmente dai cartaginesi, che viene venerata anche in Sardegna, a dimostrazione della pluralità di contatti con il mondo esterno. Bes fu forse integrato in Sardegna con qualche divinità della salute, e questo culto è attestato anche da altre statuette di età romana, sempre rinvenute nell’isola. Many statues are made by craftsmen who knew best the art of making pots because it is obvious that the shapes are derived from that school. We have rolls that are used clay pots to get anthropomorphic figures. With
Etruria there is an evident feeling, as well as the Phoenician and Carthaginian world. These reports can be seen from the excavated material, such as with ships that have Pyrgi letters written in Etruscan and Punic in the sanctuary of the port of Cerveteri. In fact, after 500 BC, reports continue: Nora becomes a permanent settlement permanent. Prior to this date have not been found traces of houses or urban settlement, but only holes for poles or huts. In the Punic necropolis of Nora you can see the relations with the outside world because we have, for example, a wooden box with decoration in ivory, dating from around 470 BC, similar to those of Tharros. It is difficult to understand the relationship between Nora and the hinterland because the surface were found fragments of Punic, but we do not know exactly what lay beneath, or that it had extended the territory belonging to the port. Another world in which Nora is presented as the interface of trade, always mediated by the Punic ships, is greek, with Athens in particular. From a Punic tomb of a female character of Greek descent, lived in Nora and buried there, it was clear that relations with Greece were strong, because it is the only one of 40 tombs that we have in the kit is made up solely of Greek pottery figures, with scenes that take us back to women. These beautiful black Attic pottery, painted, are then copied locally and the port of arrival, and in other areas. Imitations, later, become prevalent, and after about a century, when relations with the world greek show no more contacts, replace imports and became the dominant ceramic good in the whole island. We also have some beautiful black pottery that comes from Campania, and the local ceramics workshops incorporate these forms of luxury, play with the technique similar to the original. Create a joint production with forms of Punic pottery painted black and decorated as if they were Greek. During the Punic ceramics are also typical of the Roman world, demonstrating that relations were good with many people. Between the BC and AD have produced their own pottery in Tuscany and luxury in Gaul that are reworked internally by the Sardinian artistic workshops and spread inland, becoming the most popular island. Then we still influences and cultural artifacts that come to Nora from Africa, and trade continued until the Byzantine era. Up to the sixth AD, a period of decline of the city of Nora, port facilities were used at full capacity, and the city was an interface exchange with the Mediterranean. While some of Nora streets were abandoned and occupied by sculptures of animals or other figures, the great road leading to the port was kept clear until 650 AD
Picture of Stephen Gesh.
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