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The territory of Dorgali during the Phoenician-Punic Age

There is some evidence to date allowing the recognition of a Phoenician-Punic presence in the territory of Dorgali, which however is not sufficient in order to hypothesise the existence of a port along the coast.

Archaeologist Ferruccio Barreca, who explored the East Coast in 1966, recognized in the pottery fragments and structural remains of the two Roman buildings of the Nuraghe Mannu (fig. 1) an older Punic construction phase, found, moreover, also in the nearby village of Nuragheddu and on Monte Tului.

1
Fig. 1 - Nuraghe Mannu-Dorgali (from DELUSSU 2009, fig. 1, p. 1).

To this the discovery of three Punic coins in the sites of Motorra and Thomes should be added, these are attributed to the Sardinia mint (300-264 B.C.), and of necklace glass paste beads from the Nuraghic graves of Biristeddi I and Pranos, from the shelters under the rock of Ispinigoli and Littu, Sos Tusorzos, Balu Virde and Flumineddu. Two imported ceramic fragments concerning a Massaliote amphora recovered from the cave of Sos Sirios and an eastern Greek cup with painted bottom found in the Nuraghic village of Oroviddo (580-480 B.C.), prove the existence of relations with the Greek-eastern world, where the Carthaginians may have played the role of commercial intermediaries (figs. 2, 3).

2
Fig. 2 - Cave of Sos Sirios-Dorgali, fragment of a Massaliote amphora (from MANUNZA 1995, fig. 262, p. 197).
3,43,4
Figs. 3, 4 - Oroviddo-Dorgali, fragment of an eastern Greek cup with painted bottom (from MANUNZA 1995, fig. 263a-b, p. 198).

Bibliografia

  • ACQUARO E., Arte e cultura punica in Sardegna, Sassari 1984, p. 215.
  • BARRECA F., La civiltà fenicio-punica in Sardegna, Sassari 1988, p. 296.
  • DELUSSU F., Nuraghe Mannu (Dorgali, Nu): scavi dell’abitato tardo-romano e altomedievale (campagne 2005-2006), in FastiOnline, 165, 2009, pp. 1-13.
  • MANUNZA M.R., Dorgali. Monumenti antichi, Oristano 1995, p. 177, pp. 197-198.
  • MORAVETTI A., Serra Orrios e i monumenti archeologici di Dorgali, Sardegna Archeologica. Guide e itinerari, 26, Sassari 1998, p. 32.
  • MORAVETTI A. (a cura di), Carbonia-Fonni, in La Sardegna. I Tesori dell’Archeologia, La Biblioteca della Nuova Sardegna, vol. 3, Sassari 2011, p. 77.
  • PULACCHINI D., Il museo archeologico di Dorgali, Sardegna Archeologica. Guide e itinerari, 27, Sassari 1998, p. 29, p. 40.
  • TARAMELLI A., Relazione dell'attività svolta dalla direzione del Museo e degli scavi di Dorgali nel trimestre Luglio-Settembre 1927, in Bollettino d'Arte, VII, 2, 1928, p. 474.
  • TARAMELLI A., Sardinia. IX.-Dorgali (Nuoro). Esplorazioni archeologiche nel territorio del Comune, in Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, vol. IX, 1933, p. 370, pp. 365-369.
  • USAI E., Dorgali ed il suo territorio in epoca fenicio-punica, in AA.VV., Dorgali. Documenti archeologici, Sassari 1980, pp. 215-219.

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