Marco Serra

Geo-material provenance and technological properties investigation in Copper Age menhirs production at Allai (central-western Sardinia, Italy)

ABSTRACT During the 2nd millennium BC anthropomorphic menhirs belonging to a 3rd millennium BC sanctuary were reused as building material in the Arasseda Nuraghe (Sardinia, Italy). To analyse the Arasseda menhirs and the local Monte Ironi geological samples (presenting similar visual features), chemical (pXRF, ICP-OES, ICP-MS), mineralogical-chemical (PXRD) and physical (Mohs hardness) measurements were performed. Through the experimental data, the menhirs source provenance and the technological properties (workability, durability) of the raw material chosen for sculptural purposes during Copper Age were investigated. To the authors’ knowledge this is the first archaeometric study on the Arasseda menhirs (the third on Sardinian menhirs) and one between the few recently developed on European megaliths.

Una fibula villanoviana dal nuraghe Costa (Burgos-SS): archeologia e prospezioni archeominerarie nel territorio del Goceano

Riassunto: Le pluriennali ricerche sulle modalita insediative pre e protostoriche condotte dal C.I.P.P.M. nell’Alta Valle del Tirso (Goceano), in vari siti tra cui il nuraghe Costa a Foresta Burgos (SS), hanno consentito il ritrovamento di una fibula in bronzo risalente al I Ferro. La scoperta, di estremo interesse per la rarita del tipo di manufatto in Sardegna, consente nuove e circostanziate riflessioni in merito al crogiolo culturale che contrassegna le regioni tirreniche del periodo. Si presentano qui i caratteri peculiari del prodotto metallurgico e se ne fornisce un inquadramento tipologico e cronologico alla luce del clima di contatti e scambi commerciali, e piu in generale culturali, esistenti tra le popolazioni nuragiche del Nord-Sardegna e quelle d’oltre mare durante i primi secoli del I millennio a.C. Si riportano, infine, alcune considerazioni di carattere introduttivo in merito alle ricerche archeo-minerarie avviate nella regione storica del Goceano allo scopo di individuare eventuali tracce di sfruttamento delle locali georisorse metallifere nel periodo protostorico. Abstract: During the long-standing researches carried out by CIPPM on the pre-protohistoric settlements of the Tirso river High Valley (Goceano), a bronze fibula dating to the Iron Age was discovered in the Nuraghe Costa (Foresta Burgos-SS). This find has a great scientific interest because of its rarity in the Sardinian archaeological context. This object allows new considerations about the cultural melting-pot that involved the Tyrrhenian regions during the Iron age. The authors present the typological, chronological and cultural features of the fibula. Finally, they report the first remarks about the archaeological mining survey carried out in the Goceano, to identify traces of metalliferous geomaterials exploitation in protohistoric times.