Ancient Sardinia on the move

SOMA 2011Proceedings of the 15th Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology, held at the University of Catania 3–5 March 2011

VOLUME II

Edited by

Pietro Maria MilitelloHakan Öniz

BAR International Series 2695 (II)2015

Università di Catania, Dipartimento di Scienze Umanistiche, Corso di laurea magistrale in

Archeologia, opzione internazionale Università di CataniaScuola di Specializzazione in

Beni Archeologici

Turkish Foundation for Underwater Archaeology

General Association of Mediterranean Archaeology

Published by

ArchaeopressPublishers of British Archaeological ReportsGordon House276 Banbury RoadOxford OX2 [email protected]

BAR S2695 (II)

SOMA 2011 Proceedings of the 15th Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology, held at the University of Catania 3–5 March 2011

© Archaeopress and the individual authors 2015

ISBN 978 1 4073 1342 9 (Volume I)ISBN 978 1 4073 1343 6 (Volume II)ISBN 978 1 4073 1344 3 (Set of both volumes)

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i

Table of Contents

Volume IPreface v

Part I – Prehistory and Protohistory of Europe and Anatolia 1

General Topics 3

Exchanges Between Paleolithic Hunter-gatherer Groups 3Neyir Kolankaya-Bostanci

Understanding Cross-cultural Communication in the European Bronze Age 11Paulina Suchowska-Ducke

Anatolia 21

Early Bronze Age (ca. 3000-2000 BC) Mining Activities in Central Anatolia, Turkey 21Derya Yilmaz

Observations on the Troy I Period in the Light of Recent Survey Finds from the Coastal Troad 27Derya Yilmaz

From the Middle Danube to Anatolia: Contacts During the Second Millennium BC. a Case Study 35Anca-Diana Popescu, Radu Băjenaru

Kitchen furniture in the second millennium BC: evidence from Salat Tepe 43Tuba A. Ökse, Ahmet Görmüş, Gamze Kaynak

Remnants of Incantation Rituals from the Middle Bronze Age Settlement at Salat Tepe: an Ethnoarchaeological Approach 51Tuba A. Ökse, Ahmet Görmüş, Tülin Bozkurt

Glass Trade in the Light of the Late Bronze Age Finds from Panaztepe 59Nazli Çinardali-Karaaslan

A Group of Urartian Metal Finds from the Karaman Archaeological Museum 65Makbule Ekici

Investigations in the Çaldiran Plain/Lake Van Basin: the Middle Iron Age 71Aynur Özfirat

Europe 81

Antique Bone and Antler Anvils Discovered in Romania 81Corneliu Beldiman, Diana-Maria Sztancs

A Joint Consideration of the Lithic Industries of Shell Middens in Muge, Portugal, and the Coastal Mediterranean Mesolithic Sites 89Anabela Joaquinito, Nuno Ribeiro

Daily Life and Social Reconstruction of an Argaric Settlement at Peñalosa (Baños de la Encina, Jaén) 93Juan Miguel Rivera Groennou, Eva Alarcón García

Greece 101

Archaeological Models and the Archaeology of Mesara (Crete) between the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age 101Rosario Maria Anzalone

Reconstructing the Landscape of the Dead. Some Observations on the Minoan Funerary Space in the Agiopharango Valley 111Sylviane Déderix

Some Eccentric Linear A Tablets from Ayia Triada 121Pietro Militello

Studying Grey Ceramics in the Adriatic Area. A Preliminary Report 127Eleonora Ballan

Protogeometric and Geometric Pottery from the Kos Early Iron Age Necropolis Revisited. Some Features of the Local Ceramic Production 135Maria Grazia Palmieri

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Italy 143

Settlement Strategies and Territorial Organization: a Methodological Approach to the Sardinian Bronze Age Context 143Francesca Cadeddu

Ceramic Ethnoarchaeometry in Western Sardinia: the Case of Oristano 155Evanthia Tsantini, Giuseppe Montana, Miguel Ángel Cau

Lyres in the Daunian Stelae: Towards a Better Understanding of Chordophones in the Mediterranean Iron Age 161Raquel Jiménez Pasalodos, Placido Scardina

Sicily 175

An Analytical Study of Neolithic Combustion Structures in the Province of Messina 175Francesca Cannizzaro, Maria Clara Martinelli

Material Culture and People. Some Methodological Remarks on the Study of Aeolian Middle Bronze Age Settlement Contexts 185Gianmarco Alberti

Oversea Lithic Exchanges Between the Aeolian Islands and Malta from an Inland Perspective: Preliminary Data from a Late Neolithic Site in Licodia Eubea, Catania - Sicily 197Damiano Bracchitta

Decorated Footed Bowls: Type, Distribution and Use 203Valeria Grasso, Carla Maria Caterina Cirino

Creating Boundaries: Elaborate Tombs and Trade Goods in the Early Bronze Age Necropolis at Castelluccio (Sicily, Italy) 211Anita Crispino, Massimo Cultraro

Dwelling in the Darkness: the Prehistoric Caves of the Hyblaean Mountains (Sicily) 217Dalma Cultrera

An Early Bronze Age Settlement Near Ragusa 227Francesco Cardinale, Giovanni Di Stefano, Milena Gusmano, Saverio Scerra

The Late Copper Age Phase in Rocchicella di Mineo: Preliminary Data 233Ivana Vacirca

Innovation and Tradition in the Technology of Large Storage Jars from the Sicilian Middle Bronze Age 239Carlo Veca

Piano dei Casazzi (Mineo, Catania). Data on the proto-historic inhabitation 249Francescaromana Alberghina

Ceramic ethnoarchaeometry in Sicily: recent traditional productions as a tool for understanding past manufactures 253Giuseppe Montana, Anna Maria Polito, Evanthia Tsantini

Use of Space in the Early Bronze Age on the Basis of Artefact Distribution: the Village of Coste Di Santa Febronia 259Roberta Mentesana

Archaeology and Sciences 265

Gis, Geographical Models and Archaeology: a Case Study for Late Prehistory Populations (5500-550 Bc) on the Ripoll River (Catalonia, Spain) 265Maria Yubero Gómez

Technical and Typological Approaches to Bronze Age Worked Bone from Central Iberia. The Settlement of Motilla del Azuer 273Manuel Altamirano García

Birch Resin Not Only As Climate Marker. Integration Between Chemical And Paleobotanical Analysis In Sicilian Prehistory 285Roberta Mentesana, Giuseppe De Benedetto, Girolamo Fiorentino

Part II – History and Archaeology of the Classical World I 291

Archaeology Greece and the Mediterranean 293

Seeing the Attic Vase: Mediterranean Shapes from 635 to 300 B.C. – The Beazley Data 293Filippo Giudice, Rossano Scicolone, Sebastiano Luca Tata

The Walled Towns of Thesprotia: from the Hellenistic Foundation to the Roman Destruction 313Marco Moderato

Ionian Sanctuaries and the Mediterranean World in the 7th Century B.C. 321Kenan Eren

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Stoa–bouleuterion? Some Observations on the Agora of Mantinea 329Oriana Silia Cannistraci

Archaeology The East 335

Two Fragmentary Sarcophagi from Aphrodisias in Caria: Imported Sculptors in the City of Sculpture? 335Esen Ogus

Hellenistic and Roman Pottery of Zengibar Kalesi (Isaura Nova?): from the South Necropolis Survey 349Zafer Korkmaz, Osman Doğanay

Some Archaeological Material from Seydişehir 361Asuman Baldiran

Archaeological Survey in Aksaray (Cappadocia): a Preliminary Report 379Mehmet Tekocak

Ancient Monuments between Research and Development: the Theatre of Kyme (Turkey) 391Stefania Mancuso

The Agora Basilica, Smyrna 399Burak Yolaçan

Archaeological Excavations at Istanbul’s Lake Kucukcekmece–2010 407Hakan Oniz, Sengul Aydingun, Emre Guldogan

Excavations in Ancient Smyrna 411Akin Ersoy, Gülten Çelik

The Cult of Zeus in Lykaonia 417Asuman Baldiran

‘Hierapolis of Phrygia’: a Roman imperial pottery deposit (US 274) found in the Northern Necropoli (Atlante di Hierapolis, foglio 18) 421Dario Sergio Corritore

Kyme of Aeolis. Excavations in the Necropolis (2007-2008): Preliminary Data 431Fabrizio Sudano

A Grave Dated to the Late- and Sub-Geometric Period at Mengefe 435Makbule Ekici

Archaeology The West and Africa 439

Beyond Aleria. Local Processes and Tyrrhenian Connections in the Early Corsican Iron Age (8Th–5Th Centuries Bc) 439Marine Lechenault

Genesis and Development of the First Complex Societies in the Northeastern Iberian Peninsula During the First Iron Age (7th-6th Centuries BC). The Sant Jaume Complex (Alcanar, Catalonia) 445David Garcia i Rubert, Isabel Moreno Martínez, Francisco Gracia Alonso, Laia Font Valentín, Marta Mateu

Sagué

Phoenicians in the Azores, Myth or Reality? 453Nuno Ribeiro, Anabela Joaquinito, Sérgio Pereira

The Roman uilla of Sa Mesquida: A rural settlement on the island of Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Spain) 461Catalina Mas Florit, Bartomeu Vallori Márquez, Patricia Murrieta Flore, María José Rivas Antequera,

Miguel Ángel Cau Ontivero

Lamps From the Anonymous Temple of the Main Decumanus at Leptis Magna 467Veronica Riso

New Data on the Roman Wall Paintings of Leptis Magna. A Preliminary Report 475Giuseppe Cinquemani

The Coin Hoard from Misurata: the Container 483Francesca Trapani

Archaeology Sicily and Italy 495

Francavilla Marittima: a Contextual Analysis of Male Burials in the Necropolis of Macchiabate (9Th-6Th Century BC) 495Claudia Speciale

The Fortified Settlement at Mura Pregne: an Indigenous Site Close to the Greek chora of Himera 507Calogero Maria Bongiorno

Licodia Eubea-Style: Some Remark 511Marco Camera

iv

Recent Discoveries at the Sanctuary of the Divine Palikoi 517Laura Maniscalco, Brian E. McConnell

Rock Architecture and Some Colonial and Indigenous Centres: the Case of Leontinoi and Montagna Di Ramacca (Ct) 523Maria Nicotra, Giuseppina Gisella Lidia Verde

The Necropoleis of Gela: Updated Researches and Topographical Observation 529Marina Congiu

A Sanctuary of Apollo (Re)discovered in Sicily? Archaeological Evidence, Topography and Historical Source 535Francesca Buscemi

Elite and Society in a Settlement in the Sicilian Hinterland: a New Interpretation of Some Funerary Assemblages from the Monte Castellazzo Necropolis Near Marianopoli 543Rosalba Panvini

A Female Clay Bust from the ‘Artemis Well’ in Syracuse 557Mario Cottonaro

Material Culture as an Indicator of Adoption and Resistance in the Cross-Craft and Cultural Interactions Among Greek and Indigenous Communities in Southern Italy: Loom Weights and Cooking Ware in Pre-Roman Lucania 563Alessandro Quercia, Lin Foxhall

Archaeological Analysis of Roman Naval Warfare in Iberia During the Second Punic War 575Eduard Ble Gimeno

Sailing Towards the West: Trade and Traders on the Routes Between the Iberian Peninsula and Campania Between the 2nd Century BC and the 1st Century AD 585Michele Stefanile

Roman Period Theatres in Sicily: a Structuralist Approach 593Zeynep Aktüre

A Fish-Processing Plant in Milazzo (ME) During the 1st Imperial Age 603Annunziata Ollà

Some Observations On The Road Network Through The Peloritani Region, North-Eastern Sicily 609Anna Lisa Palazzo

Volume II

Part III – History and Archaeology of the Classical World II 615

Iconography and Artistic Production 617

The ‘Mosaic of the Sages’ from Lyrbe / Seleukeia 617Nazlı Yildirim

Some Remarks on the Iconography of Hermes Kriophoros in Magna Graecia and Sicily in the 5th Century BC 627Ambra Pace

The Origins of the lorica segmentata 633Marco Conti

Handmade Terracotta Figurines: Subjects Of Daily Life 639Vanessa Chillemi

Hellenistic Plastic Vases in Sicily: Some Reflection 651Alessandra Granata

Between Myth and History: Mediterranean Funerary Monuments in the 4th Century BC 657Alessandro Poggio

Archaeology of Gesture and Relics: Early Signs of the Sacred In Veii 661Laura Maria Russo

History 677

The Dionysus Cult in Antioch 677İnanç Yamaç

Economy and Institutions in Ancient Greek Proverbs. A Contribution on Trade and Taxation 685Carmela Raccuia

Attic Weights and the Economy of Athen 691Mario Trabucco

v

Sitodosia, euerghesia and emporia: Some Examples from Sicily 695Elena Santagati

Greeks and Sikels in the Hyblaean Area: an Historical Interpretation of the Epigraphic Evidence in the Chalcidian Hinterland 699Nella Sudano

Reconstructing Aspects of pre-Roman History, Political Organization, Religion and Trading Contacts of Greek Colonies of ‘Thracia Pontica’: the Case of Histria and Kallati 709Maria Girtzi

The Role of Professional Associations in the Romanization Process of the Western Provinces. A Study Proposal 717Ilenia Gradante

The Eastern Mediterranean in the Greek Anthroponymy of Roman Hispania: the Case of Aegyptu 723Pedro Marques

In the Land West of the Euphrates: the Parthians in the Roman Empire 731Leonardo Gregoratti

The Ecclesia Dei in Early Christian Inscriptions: Bishops, Presbyters and Deacons in Sicily 737Giuseppe Falzone

The Two Agorai of the Piraeus: Literary, Epigraphic and Archaeological Source 749Valentina Consoli

From Earthquake to Archaeological Rediscovery: Two Unpublished Epigraphs from the Aquila Province 757Carla Ciccozzi, Alessandra Granata, Walter Grossi

Numismatic 763

Water Fauna and Sicilian Coins from the Greek Period 763Mariangela Puglisi

Coinage and Indigenous Populations in Central Sicily 779Lavinia Sole

Greek and Hellenistic Coins in the Central Adriatic Apennines Between the 5th and 2nd Centuries BC 789Maria Cristina Mancini

Coins in Messapia: Research and New Perspective 793Valeria G. Camilleri, Paola d’Angela, Valeria R. Maci, Stefania Montanaro, Lorenzo Rinaudo,

Giuseppe Sarcinelli, Aldo Siciliano, Adriana Travaglini

The ‘Six Emperors’ Coin Hoard’ from the Bay of Camarina 805Giovanni Di Stefano, Giuseppe Guzzetta, Viviana Lo Monaco, Maria Agata Vicari Sottosanti

Archaeology and Sciences 809

Trapeza: A Computer Approach to the Study of Domestic Pottery in Greek Sicily 809Alessandra Cilio

Punic Amphorae from Entella (Sicily): Archaeometric Characterisation of This Possible Consumption Centre 815Giuseppe Montana, Anna Maria Polito, Mariella Quartararo

Physical And Chemical Causes of Deterioration in Excavated Gla 825Ceren Baykan

Some Archaeological and Archeometric Observations on Two Amphorae from the Venice Lagoon 837Iwona Modrzewska, Giancarlo Taroni, Franco Pianetti

Part IV – Byzantine and Medieval Archaeology and History, Museography, Historiography 847

Byzantine and Medieval Anatolia 849

Byzantine Bronze Coins Found in Anatolia and Their Circulation 849Zeliha Demirel Gökalp

An Early Byzantine Graveyard Area in Ankara 857Ayse Fatma Erol

Stoneworks with Animal Motifs Along the Mediterranean Coast of Anatolia During the Byzantine Period 865Ferda Önengüt, Pinar Serdar

The Usage of the Golden Ratio in East Mediterranean Early Byzantine Churche 871Sener Yildirim

The Contribution of Women in the Construction and Decoration of Churches in the Holy Land 881Lihi Habas

vi

The Beçin–Yelli Madrasah 895Kadir Pektaş

Taş (Stone) Madrasah – The Akşehir Archaeological Museum 901Melda Arca Yalçın

Some Medieval Glazed Wares Uncovered from the Archaeological Excavations at Alanya Castle, Southern Turkey 911Sema Bilici

The 18th-Century Saliha Sultan Tomb 915Bilge Karaöz

Mediterranean Ships in the Russian Medieval Written and Graphic Tradition 919Petr Sorokin

Some Seljukid Tiles Uncovered from the Archaeologıcal Excavatıons at Alâıyye Castle, Southern Turkey 925Leyla Yılmaz

Italy, Sicily and the Mediterranean 929

Urban Topography in the Adriatic Italic Area: the Cult of S. Lorenzo in the Middle Age 929Carmen Soria

Late Medieval Pilgrim Ampullae from Southern Apulia. An Indicator of Long-Distance Pilgrimage or Local Shrines? 937Marco Leo Imperiale

Typological Analysis of a Cooking Ware Vessel for the Dating of Medieval and Post-Medieval Archaeological Contexts in Salento 941Patricia Caprino

The Serapieion and the Church of St. Pancratius in Taormina. The Building from Antiquity to the Middle Age 945Leonardo Fuduli

Importation and Trade of African Pottery in the Ancient Ecclesia Carinensis During the Late Roman Age 959Emma Vitale

Production and Circulation of Palermitan Amphorae in the Medieval Mediterranean 963Fabiola Ardizzone

Agrigento between Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Dynamics of Transformation in the Area of the Early Christian Cemetery from the 3rd to the 11th Centuries A.D. 975Giuseppina Cipriano

Vandals in the Mediterranean: a Problematical Presence 987Vincenzo Aiello

Vandals in the Mediterranean: Sicily and its Role 991Elena Caliri

Vandals in the Mediterranean: the Monetary System 997Daniele Castrizio

The Settlement in the District of Grammena-Valcorrente Near Belpasso (Ct) between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages 1001Elisa Bonacini, Maria Turco, Lucia Arcifa

Qui eadem aqua utuntur. A Late Antique and Early Byzantine Village in Rural Calamonaci (Agrigento, Sicily) 1011Maria Concetta Parello, Annalisa Amico

The Dump of Burgio: the Kiln Wastes of the First Pottery Workshops (16th-17th Centuries A.D.) in the Garella District 1019Maria Concetta Parello

Interdisciplinary Study of a Rupestrian Site Differently Utilized from 5Th-6th to 14th Centuries (South-East Sicily) 1025Noemi Billeci, Lorella Pellegrino, Giacomo Caruso, Francesco Paolo Mancuso, Franco Palla

Marble Production and Marble Trade Along the Mediterranean Coast in the Early Byzantine Period (5th-6th centuries AD): the Data from Quarries, Shipwrecks and Monument 1033Elena Flavia Castagnino Berlinghieri, Andrea Paribeni

Medieval Byzantine Shipwrecks in the Eastern Adriatic 1043Vesna Zmaić

Museums, Historiography, Enhancement 1051

The Archaeological Museum of Thassos: the New Permanent Exhibition 1051Dimitria Malamidou, Zisis Bonias, Konstantinos Galanaki

Ancient Sardinia on the Move 1063Barbara Costa

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From the Universal Museum to the Public Museum: the Role of Archaeological Finds in Palermo Between the 18th and 19th Century 1075Rosanna Equizzi

The Legend of Mount Nemrud: Commagene Kingdom 3D Reconstruction of the Archaeological Remains of the Holy Sanctuary on Mount Nemrud 1081Ahmet Denker, Hakan Onız

Some Examples of Traditional Housing from the Village of Eskikizilelma and the Aktopraklik Höyük Excavations, Bursa 1089Abdullah Deveci

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Ancient Sardinia on the Move

Barbara CostaUniversita’ di Cagliari, Sardegna, Italia, Dipartimento di Scienze Archeologiche e Storico Artistiche

Ancient Sardinia on the move is a project funded by the Sardinian Regional Government and EC for a period of two years from the first of June 2010 to the first of June 2012. The idea was born during an internship at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford during 2008-2009. After coming into contact with a considerable amount of Sardinian archaeological objects stored in the museum, mostly in fragments and undocumented in any publication, and also having had the opportunity to study, display and install them in a showcase in a gallery devoted to Italy before Rome, I thought that for the benefit of Sardinian Archaeology it would be useful to create a census of all the material from the island, both studied and unstudied, found in the United Kingdom’s main museums.1

Introduction

‘Of the western barbarians the Sardinians offered a bra-zen statue of Sardus, from whom their island took its name.

For its size and prosperity Sardinia is equal to the most celebrated islands.

What its ancient name was among its original inhabitants I do not know, but the Greeks who sailed there for com-merce called it Ichnusa, because its shape was like that of a man’s foot-print.’2

Italian and foreign collectors, often instigators in the looting of archaeological sites, travellers driven by mere curiosity, anonymous art lovers: these are the main ‘collectors’ of the objects that can now be admired in museums around the world, or discovered in the most cramped stores of some of the more famous museums.

The motives behind the creation of these museum collections range from the desire for greater scientific knowledge to 19th-century antiquarian passion and sometimes even the illicit trafficking of archaeological artifacts for financial gain. Not all items are intact and aesthetically pleasing, but the fragments, as a messenger and indication of the whole, provide a source of important information.

Through it, it is possible to consolidate our previous knowledge and also to provide something new, helping to rebuild a history without written texts.

The project concerns a catalogue of all the items of ancient Sardinia brought from Italy to the United Kingdom in the period between the late 1800s and the early 1900s. The main focus for this material is from the 6th millennium to the 6th century B.C., a long sequence of human events which, through the archaeological data and the classical sources, reveals a Sardinia in fact ‘on the move’ within the Mediterranean Sea (Fig.1), if we consider the

1 I would like to thank all the many curators and assistants of the museums I have visited. Their help in finding the objects and all the documents relating to them is hugely appreciated.2 Pausanias, Book X, Phocis 248, Chapter XVII

interchange of raw materials (such as amber, tin, and obsidian), of objects, people, and ideas between the island and the various Mediterranean regions. This is why the materials are often the fruits of native invention, influenced by contacts from outside.

The project comprises various stages: research of the findings ‘from the field’, that is to say, the museums; the creation of new photographic and graphic material, accompanied by careful and detailed description. The data collected will be included in a catalogue, which then will be the first tangible product of this research. The second product is the display of a temporary exhibition in the archaeological museum in Cagliari and in some museums in the UK, not yet determined. It will be a travelling exhibition that suggests the dynamic idea of movement in the distant past, in the recent past and finally in the present, as well as the prospects for the future. The exhibition will perform this role as a means of conveying knowledge and critical reconstruction of cultural identities. The exhibition is meant to speak a plain language, with a solid scientific basis that allows the visitor to feel part of something larger, like Europe, starting from a well defined Sardinian base.

Up to now I have contacted 37 museums in total. 28 have no Sardinian material. five have Sardinian material belonging to a more recent period (Fig.2). Liverpool Museum has two muskets, both published (Spencer and Philpott 1992:88, 90). In Canterbury, the Museum has mineral from Sardinia, a piece of galena or lead ore from a very old collection that has no documentation; Durham, a modern knife3 and Edinburgh Museum two glass vessels from Tharros, both published (Lightfoot 2007: 179, 253). In Cambridge there is a small jug said to be Hellenistic, 323-146 BC (Gardner 1897:175). The Manchester Museum has two bronze figurines of Heracles said to be from the 4th to the 2nd BC, Etruscan (Macintosh Turfa 1982:166-195).

The percentage in terms of the number of museums with Sardinian materials is very low; it means they are concentrated in the most important museums and mostly in the south of England. This is probably related to the fact that in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland the further you go from the big cities the more you find small local museums which contain private collections whose focus is on artifacts from the relevant locality.

I will mention in this paper the British Museum in London, the Pitt Rivers and Ashmolean Museums in Oxford, and the MAA in Cambridge.

British Museum, London

The Sardinian collection at the BM is the most studied, clearly because of the importance of the museum itself and its high profile. It also promotes research and the study of its collections and attracts attention from scholars all over the world. I went

3 DUROM.O46, Mediterranean eating knife. Decorative handle, with bands of horn(?) and inlaid wire decoration. Punched decoration on the blade, 19th century AD.

Copyright material: no unauthorized reproduction in any medium

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SOMA 2011

through materials thoroughly studied in the past years and already studied and documented in publications.

I spent most of my time investigating the famous bronze hoard from Santa Maria in Paulis, which had been first studied by the scholars Ellen Macnamara, David Ridgway and Francesca R. Ridgway in 1984 (MacNamara et al. 1984). The ‘hoard’ contains 139 bronzes (Fig.3) bought by the Trustees of Signor G. Massala (Masala?) of Sassari for the sum of £50, said to have been excavated at Santa Maria di Paulis, near Sassari.

I have also looked at the three bronze figurines and other bronzes studied by the late Francesca Serra Ridgway (Balmuth 1983) (Fig.4). I am now comparing the early ideas about the pieces with the subsequent archaeological research, and considering the literature on the period and the hoard which was believed to have been manufactured and used between the Bronze and the Iron Ages. This research has improved since the approach adopted by Macnamara and Ridgway, through new excavations and new interpretations from various scholars. What everyone agrees is that there is no reason to suppose that any of the items of the hoard were manufactured outside Sardinia, and specifically in Cyprus, as some scholars had suggested before. This interpretation came after reading a report on the composition of the bronzes written by P.T. Craddock and M.S. Tite from the Research Laboratory of the BM, included in the Macnamara and Ridgway publication (MacNamara et al. 1984:19-21). They wrote that “the range of composition of the items in the hoard suggests that they were made from the same general supply of metal, presumably local copper mined and smelted in Sardinia… and it is possible to show that certain items were made together” (MacNamara et Alii 1984:20).

Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford

It is an old Victorian-style Museum. I had the opportunity to examine two of the 10 objects from Sardinia, a small pot and an axe (Fig.5, 6). The pot was donated by Henry Balfour in 1895: he was the first curator of the museum and he also gave his fine library to it.

The pot comes from a nuraghe in Arbus, as the register says. This object was re-categorized as archaeological, in fact it was previously considered ethnographic. The axe was collected prior to 1874 and donated in 1884 by an unknown donor. It comes from Sant’Antioco as the label suggests: ‘P.R. SANT’ANTIOCO, SARDINIA’. It is a village located in the south-west of the island.

Pitt Rivers sent this object to Bethnal Green Museum in London for display, as part of the first batch of objects distributed there, probably in 1874. This object was listed in the Delivery Catalogue as having been transferred from South Kensington Museum in 1884. It was again displayed in Bethnal Green and South Kensington Museums, London in 1995. The comparison suggested a date for the carinated miniature pot (h. 6.8cm; D. Rim 4.8cm; D. base 2.6cm) to the Middle-Final Bronze age (1600-1150 BC) (Comparisons: Campus-Leonelli 2000:350, Tav.195 533/10; Ugas 1987:77-128, fig. 5.24, n.18) . The axe (Max L = 13.1cm, W = 4.2cm, D = 1.6 cm) is a large, heavy tool; a butt with large central notch and curved sides, narrow haft with elongated oval wings, very slight shoulder at joint to blade, and slightly marked stop-ridge. Long flaring blade with thick oval section and curved cutting edge can be dated to the Final Bronze Age (110-850 BC, Ugas 2000:12) (Sardinian comparisons: Lo Schiavo et al. 1999: 504; Giardino 1995: 200-205) and compared

with various exemplars also in Umbria, Tuscany, Latium and Campania (Bieti Sestieri: 72-74).

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

The material is currently in display-case K101 within the ‘Italy before Rome’ gallery. Most of the artifacts belong to the Ozieri culture (3200-2700 BC, Ugas 2005:12) of the Sardinian Neolithic, and some of them to the Sardinian Middle Bronze Age-First Iron Age (1600-580 BC, Ugas 2005:12). All the Ozieri fragments (Fig.7) are a gift, and are accompanied by an interesting correspondence stored in the archive, between the then Keeper of the Antiquities Department, Humphrey Case, recently deceased, and Mr Kevin Laurie, from a village near Oxford. Apparently he gave the Ozieri fine-ware sherds to the Museum, firstly on loan, then as a gift, as the Keeper was very keen to obtain them. The reason given was that “I find that we have no Ozieri Culture finds and I should very much like to exhibit some, for the benefit of general education, in a display I am making on the Neolithic and Bronze Age in the West and Central Mediterranean” (correspondence between Case and Laurie dated 25th April 1970, and now stored in the archive of the Antiquities Department, Ashmolean Museum). He made an offer £10 for the whole collection, or less for a part; alternatively he asked for a long loan, but Laurie was happy to give his collection as a gift to the Museum. So, the main use of the sherds was for teaching and, as the Keeper says on the 18th of June 1970, “it has attracted great interest”. In one of his letters Laurie attached a hand- drawn map which shows where the artefacts were found (Fig.8). The note: “a great quantity of material was seen in searching of pits including massive polishing stones” was written on the accompanying piece of paper.

In regarding the Nuragic culture, named after the typical conical towers considered to be the residence of the chieftain, one of the most interesting objects is a bronze figurine amongst the more than 500 known (Fig.9). They are usually found as votive deposits in sacred wells of the 9th and 8th centuries BC. They represent the Nuragic world: warriors often bearing a round shield, archers, priests and priestesses; a tribal chieftain, grotesque figures which are probably not human, with two shields, and four eyes. The figurine in the Ashmolean is a shepherd offering a sheep, probably to a divinity. Elsewhere, a vessel or flat bread might be offered. I had the opportunity to study and date it to the 8th-7th century BC (Costa 2010: 8,9), through a typological comparison with known models. According to a recent chronological system, this date is between the Geometric II (850-725 BC, Ugas 2009:169) and the Orientalizing period (725-600 BC, Ugas 2009:169), and it is possible to consider it as a final period of the Nuragic culture, when the Nuraghi were no longer built (after the 900-850 BC), but were still used – as temples and then cemeteries–until the 2nd century AD (Ugas 2009:163-182). The bronze figurine was presented in 1894 by Sir Arthur Evans, having been bought by him in Cologne, Germany. It is unknown how the figurine was brought to Cologne from the island, or where exactly most of the objects are from.

Archaeological and Anthropological Museum, Cambridge

The museum has a collection of more than 50 sherds belonging to the cultures of Ozieri (3200-1700 BC, Ugas 2005:12), Monte Claro (2400-2100 BC, Ugas 2005:12) and Nuragic (1600-500 BC, Ugas 2005:12) (Fig.9). They are not on display but in a store of the museum on the outskirts of Cambridge. There is


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also a group of 51 beads coming from Tharros, recorded in the ‘Catalogue of the Beck collection’.4

Amongst the sherds, only some of them, brought to the museum in 1963, are mentioned in the Annual Report 1962-63: Chalcolithic and Nuragic pottery from various sites in Sardinia, donated to the museum by Bray Warwick. The others, brought in 1974 by the scholar David H. Trump, are not mentioned in the Annual Report. The only document that exists is the label which accompanies the objects. I would say that the fragments may come from ‘Bonu Ighinu Valley’, an area well investigated by Trump (1983). The Bonu Ighinu is a pre-nuragic culture of the 3rd and 4th millennia BC (4600-2900 BC, Ugas 2005:12), named from a location near Mara, a village near Sassari. Here is a cave Sa Ucca de su Tintirriolu (‘the mouth of the bat’), where first Renato Loria and David H. Trump, in 1971 found archaeological traces ascribed to this culture. Trump also published The American Heritage guide to Archaeology with Bray Warwick. One of the most interesting objects is a fragment of a possibly ceramic statue of a mother goddess from the Ozieri culture and in a ‘geometric style’ (Fig.10). I have suggested a hypothetical reconstruction (Fig. 2). The Mother Goddess is represented in different styles during the Neolithic in Sardinia, reflecting the influence of Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean. The figure is realized using materials such as clay, alabaster, marble or bone. Speaking in general terms it is possible to identify the spread of two different main styles, the volumetric and the geometric.

In these figures in the round, the goddess is shown in a seated position as a dispenser of abundance. The date of this type is the 5th-4th millennium BC (Lilliu 1999). In the 4th millennium BC, the Ozieri figures become flattened, stylized, T-shaped, with the lower half in the form of a cone, and rigorously geometric. The goddesses recall the Cycladic type (Fig.11), in their striking resemblance to the most famous ones found on those islands (Lilliu 1999).

Final Consideration

The interest in collecting objects between the 1800s and 1900s, and the consequential creation of private collections is totally

4 In 1997 the Bead Study Trust published European Beads as part 1 of a proposed full catalogue of the Beck Collection of beads held in the University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology of Cambridge.

different from the systematic lootings of today, accelerated by the common use of advanced instruments and technologies. These practices are seriously impoverishing the archaeological heritage and also damaging the few precious remaining traces of the delicate connecting fabric, which could potentially provide valuable information for further deduction.

Bibliography

Bietti Sestieri, A.M., Macnamara, E., Duncan, H., 2007. Prehistoric Metal Artefacts from Italy (3500-720 BC) in the British Museum (British Museum Press).

Campus, F., Leonelli, V., 2000. La tipologia dellaceramica nuragica, (Viterbo-Sassari 2000).Costa, B., 2010. A bronze figurine from Sardinia, inAshmolean Museum Magazine 60, Ashmolean Museum.Gardner, E.A., 1897. A catalogue of the Greek vases in the

Fitzwilliam museum (Harvard University press).Lightfoot, C.S., 2007. Ancient Glass in NationalMuseums Scotland, (Edinburgh: NMSE Publishing).Lilliu, G., 1999. Arte e religione della Sardegnaprenuragica, (Carlo Delfino editore).Macintosh Turfa, J., 1982. ‘The Etruscan and ItalicCollection in the Manchester Museum’, Papers of the British

School at Rome 50, pp.166-195.Macnamara, E., Ridgway, D., Ridgway, F., 1985.‘The bronze hoard from S. Maria in Paulis, Sardinia’, in British

Museum occasional paper 45.Spencer, M.G., and Philpott, F.A., 1992. EarlyEuropean hand-firearms in Liverpool Museum (Sutton, Stroud).Trump, D.H., 1983. La grotta di Filiestru a BonuIghinu, Mara (Sassari), (Carlo Delfino editore).Ugas, G., 1987. Un nuovo contributo per lo studiodella tholos in Sardegna. La fortezza di Su Mulinu di

Villanovafranca, in M.Balmuth (ed.) Studies in Sardinian Archaeology III, B.A.R. 387 (Oxford).

Ugas, G., 2005. L’alba dei nuraghi (Fabula s.r.l.).Ugas, G., 2009. Il I Ferro in Sardegna, in Atti dellaXLIV riunione scientifica, La Preistoria e la Protostoria della

Sardegna, (Firenze 2009).


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Fig. 2 Map showing Sardinian objects in UK

Fig. 1 Topographic map of Sardinia (© 2011 mapsof.net)


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Fig. 3 Bronze ‘hoard’ from Santa Maria in Pauli (courtesy of the British Museum, London)


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Fig. 4 Sardinian bronzes (courtesy of the British Museum, London)


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Fig. 6 Axe from Sant’Antioco (courtesy of the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford)

Fig. 5 Pot from Arbus (courtesy of the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford)


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Fig.7 Ozieri fragments (courtesy of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford)


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Fig.9 Nuragic figurine (courtesy of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford)

Fig.8 Map of Golfo di Oristano, Sardinia (courtesy of the Ashmolean Museum,

Oxford)


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Fig.10 Ozieri, Monte Claro and Nuragic sherds (courtesy of the Archaeological and Anthropological Museum, Cambridge)


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Fig.11 Ozieri fragment and reconstruction of a ceramic statuette of a mother goddess in ‘geometric style’ (courtesy of the Archaeological and Anthropological Museum,

Cambridge)


Ancient Sardinia on the move

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