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The area of the Cornus basilicas

  • Early Christian Age, IV-VII / VIII century A.D.

The area of Cornus was used since the prehistoric era up to modern times.
In the last decades of the 6th century B.C. The Carthaginians built a town probably located on the Campu ’e Corra plateau Cornus. Architectural structures and the materials regarding the living quarters in the area around the Corchinas hill; a plateau where the acropolis stood, defended by a wall. Cornus was the promoter of the anti-Roman revolt in 215 B.C., following its commander Ampsicora.

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Fig. 1 - Hill Corchinas (photo by Unicity S.p.A.).

After the Romans conquered Sardinia, that was in 238 B.C., the town was probably built over the previous one. Villas sprung up in the surrounding area, in the Imperial age, as in Sisiddo, Lenaghe and perhaps Columbaris. This last region was placed in the northern suburbian area of the town and was served by a road to connect it with Cornus and Gurulis Nova (fig. 2). The finding of waterproof structures brought about the hypothesis of the existence of a thermal spa complex, probably linked to the suburban villa. 4000 m² of this area were brought to light through digs that continued for twenty years, that re-vealed ruins of a episcopal complex structured as burial and worshipping sectors, per-haps part of the ancient diocese of Senafer.

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Fig. 2 -  joining sheet of the tables of the De Candia cadastral registry (Cuglieri): The roads to Bosa are shown (from Cagliar State Archive).

Here a large burial area was built, extending southwards. The oldest funeral use was in the first half of the 4th century, with the creation of tombs dug directly out of the rock, part of which occupied a square cistern dated to the 3rd century A.D. The latter was probably part of the villa’s thermal spa structure. Later, the area was monumentalised: the northern burial sector (sector IV, 1 - fig. 3) was organised on terraces and occupied by sarcophagus tombs. The cistern room also welcomed new burials: four sarcophagi were placed over the older ones, that made it a patrician burial ground.

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Fig. 3 - Map of the Columbaris-Cornus complex with indication of stages and sectors (Graphic reproduction by L. SALADINO, M. C. SOMMA, from Cornus I.1, p. 200, table II).

At the same time, a funeral basilica with an apse was built (figs. 4, 6 B-L) with a single-nave plan, two concentric apses to the north and five adjacent rooms. Between the end of the 5th and the beginning of the 6th century A.D., a short cross corridor was created that gave access to the square mausoleum, while a room with a tub was created in the south-east corner, that was oval externally and rectangular internally, which was the smaller baptismal font. The funeral basilica was connected to the bishop’s complex that was further south by a wide courtyard; it was probably arranged in a path in order to guarantee connection between these areas and the necropolis that rose to the east.

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Fig. 4 - Cemetery basilica, apse area, North-East view of the area (picture by C. Cocco).

Between the second half of the 4th and the beginning of the 5th century A.D., south of the funeral basilica, two parallel, communicating rooms of worship were built (fig. 5), but facing in opposite directions: the greater, the “episcopal” (fig. 6, no. 1, fig. 7) was the place for ordinary worship, while the southern one (fig. 6, no. 2, fig. 8) was smaller and was used only for baptisms.

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Fig. 5 - Reconstruction hypothesis of the Cornus-Columbaris complex (from Cornus I.1, table III, p. 202).
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Fig. 6 - Detailed plan of the area undergoing dig at Columbaris-Cornus (from GIUNTELLA et al. 1985, p. 16, table II).

The cathedral was characterised by narthex, three naves, a raised apse, with a raised altar - included in a straight wall and supported by two pastophoria (fig. 7).

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Fig. 7 - Cathedral church (photo by F. Collu).

The altar (fig. 8), was located in a middle position of the central apse and originally had a canopy over it.

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Fig. 8 - Altar in basalt rock with side plinths, seen from the west (photo by C. Cocco).

The baptism church (fig. 9) has an apse to the west, with three aisles, an entrance to the east which was then blocked up and a baptism font.

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Fig. 9 - Baptistery basilica, view from the East (photo by C. Cocco).

The structure underwent some important changes between the end of the 5th and the first half of the 6th century. The basilica apse was supported by two pastophoria: the right-hand area (diaconicon) had an opening that ensured entrance to the church for people being baptised; new rooms were created, the baptismal font became a polygon. A new path was created for the novices, into the larger basilica. At the same time, the funeral area was expanded to the south.
A set of dwelling and craft rooms extended from the south side of the baptismal basilica, where it was possible to recognise the bishop’s residence with its annexes. A workshop for chisels has been identified in these structures, inside which materials were stored as a probable element for the altar and architectural fragments of a similar taste to the ones found in the baptistery (fig. 10).

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Fig. 10 - The stone specialist’s workshop (by Cornus I.1, p. 44, fig. 27).

Between the end of the 6th and the beginning of the 7th century A.D., the sarcophagi were re-used after the remains of the previous deceased people were placed inside an ossarium in the same tombs, next to the newly buried person.
The first damage to architecture was by fire in the episcopal basilica, that then collapsed on the eastern wall around the end of the 7th-8th century. The ruins were arranged on the adjacent funeral area, covering it: this event meant that first the basilicas and then slowly the burial areas were gradually abandoned.

Bibliografia

  • F. BARRECA, Ampsicora tra storia e leggenda, in AA. VV., Ampsicora e il territorio di Cornus. Atti del II Convegno sull'archeologia romana e altomedievale nell'Oristanese (Cuglieri, 22 dicembre 1985) = Mediterraneo tardoantico e medievale. Scavi e ricerche, 6, Taranto 1988, pp. 25-30.
  • D. COCCO, Gli ambienti a destinazione rituale, in D. COCCO, L. USAI, Un monumento preistorico nel territorio di Cornus, in AA. VV., Ampsicora e il territorio di Cornus. Atti del II Convegno sull'archeologia romana e altomedievale nell'Oristanese (Cuglieri, 22 dicembre 1985) = Mediterraneo tardoantico e medievale. Scavi e ricerche, 6, Taranto 1988, pp. 13-16.
  • E. CONTU, La Sardegna preistorica e nuragica, II, Sassari 1998, p. 66.
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  • L. USAI, Gli ambienti a destinazione sepolcrale, in D. COCCO, L. USAI, Un monumento preistorico nel territorio di Cornus, in AA. VV., Ampsicora e il territorio di Cornus. Atti del II Convegno sull'archeologia romana e altomedievale nell'Oristanese (Cuglieri, 22 dicembre 1985) = Mediterraneo tardoantico e medievale. Scavi e ricerche, 6, Taranto 1988, pp. 16-18.
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  • R. ZUCCA, Osservazioni sulla storia e la topografia di Cornus, in AA. VV., Ampsicora e il territorio di Cornus. Atti del II Convegno sull'archeologia romana e altomedievale nell'Oristanese (Cuglieri, 22 dicembre 1985) = Mediterraneo tardoantico e medievale. Scavi e ricerche, 6, Taranto 1988, pp. 31-57.

 

Credits

Scientific coordination
dr. Claudia Cocco
dr. Francesca Collu

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