Ram shaped pestle
A pestle in the shape of a ram (fig. 2) was found in the hut close to the megaron 1 temple (fig. 1).
This is an item made in stone with a rather refined and carefully polished, an element linked to the symbolic and religious sphere as part of the common beliefs of the Nuragic community that frequented the sanctuary.
The use of stone pestles, mostly oval in shape, together with grinders, shows the that cereals were ground (fig. 3) but it cannot be excluded that these items were also used to grind mineral dyes, as suggested by the archaeologist Giovanni Ugas in relation to grinders found in hut n. 46 in the Nuragic village of Monte Zara-Monastir (fig. 4).
Bibliografia
- FADDA M.A., Il villaggio santuario di S'Arcu 'e Is Forros, Sardegna archeologica. Guide e itinerari , 48, Sassari 2012, pp. 8-9.
- FADDA M.A., Villagrande Strisaili. Il santuario nuragico di S'Arcu 'e Is Forros e le insulae degli artigiani fusori, in Nel segno dell’acqua. Santuari e bronzi votivi della Sardegna nuragica, Sassari 2014, p. 203.
- MERELLA S., Pestello-scheda 21, in MORAVETTI A., ALBA L., FODDAI L. (a cura di), La Sardegna Nuragica. Storia e materiali, Sassari 2014, pag. 272.
- UGAS G., Torchio nuragico per il vino dall’edificio – laboratorio n. 46 di Monte Zara in Monastir, in Architettura arte e artigianato nel Mediterraneo dalla Preistoria all’Alto medioevo, Atti in Memoria di Giovanni Tore, Oristano 2002, pp.77-112.