Su Nuraxi di Barumini Italy

The nuraghi of Sardinia, of which Su Nuraxi is the pre-eminent example, represent an exceptional response to political and social conditions, making an imaginative and innovative use of the materials and techniques available to a prehistoric island community.During the middle and late Bronze Age (c . 1500-800 BC) on Sardinia a unique form of architecture developed: circular defensive towers in the form of truncated cones built from dressed stone, with corbel-vaulted internal chambers. Some (as at Barumini) were surrounded by quadrilobate enclosures consisting of towers linked by massive walls. Villages of small circular-plan houses developed around these strongpoints.

Continent: Europe

Country: Italy

Category: Cultural

Criterion: (I)(III) (IV)

Date of Inscription: 1997

Social and defensive reasons

The precise dating of the period of building the nuraghi on Sardinia is still the subject of debate among scholars, as there is some conflict between radiocarbon dates and those obtained by conventional archaeological stratigraphy. The influence of the Mycenaean tholos tombs, reflected in the corbelled roofs, now favours an earlier rather than a later dating. It is generally accepted that the central tower at Barumini dates from the later 2nd millennium BC.The central defensive structures are considered to have been built by single families or clans. As Sardinian society evolved in a more complex and hierarchical fashion, there was a tendency for the isolated towers to attract additional structures, for social and defensive reasons.

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Early Defensive Works

The major effort towards the extension and elaboration of the defensive works at Barumini is dated to the early Iron Age (10th-8th centuries BC) when Sardinia was exposed to Carthaginian incursions. It is significant that the larger nuraghic settlements of this type are located on those parts of the coast, or on the wide coastal plain of the eastern half of the island (as is the case of Su Nuraxi), that were most vulnerable to seabome attacks. It was during this period that the defences at Barumini and elsewhere were strengthened and the villages accreted around the central defences for protection. They became in effect small urban settlements, housing self-sufficient communities with their own range of craftsmen.

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