During the second half of the 6th century B.C. Carthage began to make its presence known in Sardinia in a more pressing manner, sometimes with a few battles.

In the first treaty stipulated between Carthage and Rome, dated 509 B.C., Sardinia was included in the metropolitan area of Carthage. We can speak of a Punic Sardinia from this date.

While the Phoenician settlement of Tharros has almost totally disappeared, and the data we have only comes from the necropolises, Punic Tharros enjoys a slight better situation.

In fact, the houses were destroyed and covered by massive urban interventions carried out by the Romans over the centuries, that have almost erased all traces of the previous city.

There are still a few signs, however, and together with the information from the necropolises, help to restore a picture of a rich, flourishing city. The top of the Su Muru Mannu hill, at the edge of the actual settlement, also provides a good amount of Punic Age evidence (fig. 1).

Fig. 1 - The top of Su Muru Mannu, with the Punic Age evidence highlighted: A) tophet; B) craftsmen’s quarter; C) defensive wall; D) Republican Era defensive walls (from Google Earth. Review C. Tronchetti)

The tophet, the cemetery for stillborn children or babies who died shortly after birth, which stood on the remains of huts from a Nuragic village, covers the centuries from 7th to 2nd centuries B.C.; further west, in a non-urban, separate area, there is a craftsman’s area that operated from 4th century B.C. where iron and ceramics were used.

Towards the end of the 4th century B.C., a city wall, of which one part is still in tact (fig. 2) was also built in the same area. The wall was built in sandstone, sometimes taken from older buildings used as places of worship, as shown by the remaining inscriptions engraved on the blocks themselves.

Fig. 2 - Punic defensive wall (from E. ACQUARO ET ALII 1997)

In the part of the city adjacent to the Gulf of Oristano, we can find the central area of the Roman city, that must have been just as important in the Punic Era. In fact, the temple of semi-columns, dated to the 4th century B.C. can be found there, an imposing monument hewn from rock to form a terraced base for an altar (figs. 3-5).

Fig. 3 - The central quarter with the temple of semi-columns (photo by Unicity S.p.A.)

Fig. 4 - The base of the temple of semi-columns (photo by Unicity S.p.A.)

Fig. 5 - The base of the temple of semi-columns (photo by Unicity S.p.A.)

The places of worship are the best preserved, and there is proof of this on the eastern side of the San Giovanni hill (figs. 6-7)

There are a small temple (temple K) and a portico on a platform of blocks, built in the 2nd century B.C., therefore in the Roman Era, but blocks from a previous buildings with engravings on them were used in the construction. There was probably already a Punic place of worship on the site, that was dismantled.

Fig. 6 - Area of temple K on the slopes of San Giovanni hill (photo by Unicity S.p.A.)

Fig. 7 - Temple K and the portico on the slopes of San Giovanni hill (photo by Unicity S.p.A.)

The Tharrus area contains many open cisterns, with the shortest side being round and covered in sloping slabs to cover it (fig. 8). This type of cistern is typical of the Punic world, but were built in Sardinia until the Imperial Roman Age. We cannot therefore specify the period of the Tharros cisterns with precision. They were used in Roman Times, but at least a part of them were probably renovated Punic cisterns that had already been built.

Fig. 8 - Cistern covered with double sloping blocks (photo by Unicity S.p.A.)