Between the ninth and the middle of the sixth century B.C., Sardinia was affected by the phenomenon of the colonisation of the western Mediterranean carried out by the Phoenicians. From the second half of the sixth century to 238 B.C., it passed, however, under Carthaginian rule.

In the Municipality of Sardara there are several settlements attributable to the Punic phase which were developed in the Nuraghic areas, as is evidenced by the findings in the localities of Nuraghe Arrubiu, Canali Linu, Nuraghe Axiurridu, Nuraghe Perra, Nuraghe Arrigau and Santa Caterina.

In particular, one of the towers of the nuraghe Ortu Commidu returned artefacts testifying to its reuse during the Punic age: these are fragments of amphorae and ceramic pieces with rough "finger-mark" grooves, attributable to a particular type of oven for baking bread, still in use in North Africa, called tabouna.

Fig. 1 - The conical structure interpreted by A. Taramelli as the remains of a smelting furnace (from TARAMELLI 1918, coll. 111-112, fig. 112).

At the time of discovery, in 1913, the archaeologist Antonio Taramelli understood it to be a facility for melting metal (fig. 1-2) , while between 1975 and 1978, excavations conducted by Miriam S. Balmuth allowed a comparison with the North African "tabuns" bearing finger-marks (fig. 3).

Fig. 2 - Graphic reconstruction of the alleged melting furnace identified by A. Taramelli (from TARAMELLI 1918, coll. 115-116, fig. 114).

Fig. 3 - An example of tabouna oven (from http://www.nabeul.net/?nomPage=rec_details&ma_recette=43).