The larger area in which Tharros is situated, i.e. The region of Sinis, also includes Montiferru, and had several prehistoric settlements, due to the land rich in game, fish and favourable for agriculture (fig. 1)

Fig. 1 - The area of Sinis and Montiferru in relation to Tharros (from Google Earth. Review C. Tronchetti)

Of the many pre-Nuragic settlements found, the most important is the village found at Cuccuru S’Arriu, on the lakeside of Stagno di Cabras. In addition to the several Neolithic huts (4th millennium B.C.) hypogeum tombs have also been found filled with important artefacts. In particular, one (figs. 2-3) revealed a corpse curled up in foetal position, with a hand held upwards to the face and holding a statue of a mother goddess with a steatopygic shape.

Fig. 2 - Neolithic tomb at Cuccuru S’Arriu (second half of the 4th millennium B.C.) (Archaeological Superintendency Archive)

Fig. 3 - The mother goddess statue’s profile, with the elaborate headdress (Archaeological Superintendency Archive)

In the Nuragic Age, from the 15th century B.C. onwards, the area was heavily populated by Nuraghe and Nuragic villages on the Capo San Marco peninsula and inland (figs. 4-5), showing it to be a wealthy area open to cultural contact.

Fig. 4 - The nuraghe of Funtana Meiga, north of Tharros (photo Unicity)

Fig. 5 - The nuraghe of Funtana Meiga, north of Tharros, axial view (photo Unicity)

It is no coincidence that Mont'e Prama in Sinis,  saw the arrival of the phenomenon of large stone statues in the late Nuragic Age, which are connected with elements from contacts with the Phoenicians who frequented the Gulf of Oristano, before Tharros was founded.