Monti Arcosu bronzes
Thousands of sturdy Laestrygonians sprang up from every quarter – giants,
not men. They threw vast rocks at us from the cliffs as though they had been
mere stones, and I heard the horrid sound of the ships crunching up against one
another, and the death cries of my men, as the Laestrygonians speared them like
fishes and took them home to eat them.
Homer, The Odyssey, book X
Voyage en Sardaigne, Description géologique, Alberto della Marmora
Alberto della Marmora travelled through Sardinia between 1819
and 1825. In 1826 he published Voyage en Sardaigne, an extraordinary
paleontological, geological, and archaeological description of the island, and
a first token of his lifetime passion for this land. Back then, these
journeys were quite adventurous: lack of any comfort, risky roads,
malaria, villages inhabited by not always friendly people. But he was a
naturalist and his account was scientific. The descriptions of the seabed, the
coastline, the rock formations were accompanied by explanatory drawings. We can
use these drawings to compare the work of nature to the work of the Nuragic men.
Both seem to have sculpted massive boulders on the mountaintops.
Voyage en Sardaigne, Description géologique, Alberto della Marmora
The Nuraghi are stocky towers shaped like truncated cones.
They were built to defend men, crops, animals and gods from looting and theft,
raids and invasions. The appearance of severe grandeur was probably meant to
scare off intruders. They generally have a circular plan, bare and inclined dry
stone walls, very few and narrow openings. The thickness of the wall mass varies between 5
and 15 meters and is related to the diameter of the ground floor room. A spiral
staircase whose access is carefully concealed leads to a smaller room on the
second floor. The height
of the towers can reach up to 20 meters. They were
located on naturally
fortified positions and could serve as sentry towers.
Nuraghe Orolio, Silanus
Voyage en Sardaigne, Antiquites, Alberto della Marmora
Similar construction
methods were used for excavating holy wells. They generally consisted of three parts:
an outside vestibule provided with benches, a flight of covered descending steps,
and a tholos chamber covering a pit below.
Water was considered the element of germination
and regenerative par excellence. With its periodic rhythms controlled by the
moon, it symbolized for the Sardinians the primordial substance that precedes
all forms and rules all creation.
Holy Well at Santa Vittoria di Serri
References
The
Department of Cultural Heritage of the Sardinia Province has digitalized a
relevant part of its archival material. The Sardegna Digital Library was a
fundamental research tool.
Della
Marmora, Alberto. Voyage en Sardaigne.
Paris: Delaforest, 1826-57.
Della
Marmora, Alberto. Itinéraire de l'île de
Sardaigne. Turin: Frères Bocca, 1860.
Dessì,
Giuseppe, ed. Scoperta della Sardegna.
Milano: Edizioni Il Polifilo, 1965.
Lilliu,
Giuseppe. La Civiltà Nuragica.
Sassari: Carlo Delfino Editore, 1999.
Lilliu,
Giuseppe. “Nuovi Templi a Pozzo della Sardegna Nuragica.” Studi Sardi, Vol. XIV-XV (1955-1957).
