| NURAGHI
Throughout Sardinia, there are about 7000 nuraghi to admire.
According to the most reliable archeological sources, the idea
was to construct an impenetrable defensive bulwark against the
powerful attacks of their war-waging neighbours, or an unbreakable
barrier to interrupt the ceaseless march of unidentified armies,
tenacious invaders of Sardinia.
This bulky, conical construction, built with great, polyhedral
slabs of rock, often inserted in series, cannot but be linked
with other sophisticated and complex defensive systems, composed
of aggregated towers in trilobal, quadrilobal and pentalobal designs.
Examining several nuraghi with similar architectonic characteristics,
it is quite easy to demonstrate that the nuraghe is a fortress
(e.g. Barumini, losa, Santu Antine ana Arrubiu nuraghe). On the
other hand, looking at the single tower nuraghi, it is almost
certain that these were not military constructions, since they
are practically indefensible.
Beyond this, there is a certain amount of uncertainty among scholars.
The most accredited theories are:
- 1)The nuraghe was possibly a spiritual place, for sun-worship;
- 2)The tomb of the most valiant warriors, or the abode of
Homeric shepherds;
- 3)More likely, it came about as a fortress, a sort of castle
where one could spend the night away from the aggression of both
man and beast.
Thus, one can conclude that the nuraghi were either structures
intended for habitation or worship or look-out towers for unknown
invaders. From studies carried out in the area, it has been established
that in Castiadas there are no nuraghi as such. There are, however,
the following:
- Twenty proto-nuraghi.  This
definition refers to a construction using megalithic methods and
made ready for use in the prenuragic era. It is composed of huge
blocks of
polyhedric or quadrangular rock, arranged in largely irregular,
tightly-packed rows. The shape was semi-circular if constructed
against rock, circular if in the open countryside and of variable
height and size if built on a hill-top;
AVANTI |
