The Nuragic Civilisation of Bronze Age Sardinia

3,000 years ago, on the island of Sardinia, flourished a remarkable society. Right across the island, between about 1800 to 800 BC, they constructed around 10,000 astonishing stone structures called nuragi. The ruins of around 7,000 of these structures can still be seen today. Evidence for the kind of society this was is also seen in the unique bronze figurines and models that they left behind. Many of these show armoured warriors bearing bows, swords and shields, along with the horned helmets they wore into battle. This society reached its peak in the late Bronze Age, when their influence spread beyond their home island. Sardinian material culture from this era is found as far away as Crete, while at the same time Mycenaean pottery and Cypriot bronzes appear all over Sardinia. So who were these people? Why did they build thousands of these enormous, complex structures? Were they really as warlike as their figurines suggest? And what happened to them? This is the story of the Nuragic Civilization. Sardinia is the second biggest island in the Mediterranean. It's about 250 km long by 110 km wide, with an area of 24,000 km2. There are extensive highland ranges and few major rivers, while the 1,800 km coastline is generally high and rocky. Human occupation of the island goes back into the deep past, with evidence of human activity here from the Paleolithic into the Mesolithic. With the arrival of Neolithic farmers, the people of the island developed fascinating agricultural societies that included skilled artists creating sacred figurines and beautiful pottery. During the Neolithic era, the people of Sardinia began creating chamber tombs cut into the rock of the island. Originally, from around 4000 BC, these were small, artificial caves for placing the bodies of the deceased. But by about 3400 BC, and continuing for around 18 centuries, this tradition developed into building sophisticated tombs that resembled the houses of the living. They could have multiple chambers and full stores carved into the rock walls. The remarkable geology of the island enabled the Neolithic people to not only carve in and down into the rock, but also to build with stone. At one famous site in the north of the island, the Neolithic people erected a massive stone platform that is thought to have served as a huge altar for rituals that included animal sacrifice. This was the era before metalworking technology had spread to the island, and the people generally lived in small houses with stone walls that formed small settlements. But even so, these were sophisticated societies with complex beliefs that supported a range of occupations and social hierarchies. Some of the late Neolithic villages consisted of 60 or even 260 houses. These settlements, however, seem to have been undefended by perimeter walls, and there is little evidence of dedicated weaponry to be found. So what changed? Well, Sardinia was never totally isolated from the mainland. They even had cultural contacts with the Cycladic civilization of the Aegean, as evidenced by influences on pottery styles. And by the end of the Neolithic, thanks to their overseas relationships, they were developing metalworking technology. However, the island had been isolated from huge changes that had spread across Europe after about 3000 BC. Pastoralists from the European steppes north of the Black Sea moved westwards, eventually reaching the Atlantic coasts after many generations. This process brought about the end of the Neolithic era in Europe, and new societies emerged in their place. The newcomers also spread their genes from Eastern Europe throughout much of the rest of the continent, a process detectable thanks to analysis of ancient and modern DNA. What archaeologists call the Bell Beaker culture came to dominate Western and Central Europe from about 2600 BC. Common material culture was shared and common belief systems were practiced, from the Baltic and the Atlantic to the Mediterranean seas, but not, at least for a while, on Sardinia. Typical Bell Beaker style pottery begins to appear on the island certainly from 2100 BC and perhaps as early as 2300 BC. The initial wave of Bell Beaker culture people came from Iberia and southern France and moved into the western side of Sardinia. A century or so later, another wave came from Bell Beaker people living in mainland Italy. Generally, archaeologists talk about these arrivals in neutral terms, describing them as immigrants, rather than the more pointed word, invaders. Clearly, these new arrivals were highly disruptive and they initiated a transformation of the native societies, but it's hard to say exactly what happened. Certainly, Bell Beaker style pottery appears in what had been native Sardinian sites and there is evidence of new burial rituals taking place in the ancient rock-cut chamber tombs. Metalworking now spread widely for the first time and the practice of cranial trepanation, cutting holes through skulls, also appears. On the face of it, we might imagine there was a widespread conquest of the island by outsiders, but DNA testing shows that cannot have been the case because modern Sardinian people have very little Bell Beaker DNA. Instead, it seems to me that this was something like a centuries-long battle for control of Sardinia that was ultimately won by the natives. However, this conflict caused profound and complex changes that eventually led to the emergence of the Nuragic civilization. The defining feature of this culture, the Nuraghi, appeared sometime after about 1800 BC. The exact process by which they developed isn't entirely clear, but this was an era when villages emerged that had defensive structures. The earliest Nuraghi are called Corridor Nuraghi or Pseudo or Proto-Nuraghi because although they had enormously thick walls, they had very narrow internal rooms that seemed more like corridors that would have been hardly usable, you couldn't live inside them. It is believed that these structures served instead as platforms of some kind, perhaps with timber houses or other structures on top. Because they were often built on high, rocky areas beside villages, it is speculated that they were watchtowers or the last line of defence, a last refuge for the local defenders. After this type comes the far more widespread and long-lasting Tholos Nuraghi, which may or may not have developed from the Corridor Nuraghi structures. The Tholos Nuraghi come in many forms, but the earliest and most common kind has a truncated cone shape. The largest stones form the lowest courses and the stones get smaller and lighter as they go up towards the top. The roof is constructed as a corbelled ceiling that is layered rings of stone placed on top of one another with ever decreasing diameter until the ceiling is complete. This style of structure is also seen in the Tholos tombs of contemporary Mycenaean Greece and so the temptation is to see them as connected in some way. However, careful analysis of the development and specific designs of these structures suggests they are separate traditions. Inside the circular chamber of Tholos Nuraghi, there are often three niches built into the walls opposite the entrance and a passageway was built within the walls that led up to the next floor or onto the roof of the structure. The name Nuraghi for these structures is an ancient one and although there are theories, no one is quite sure of the etymology. What is clear is that building these structures was a complex operation requiring a huge amount of design and planning and the employment and organisation of the workforce. And these structures became ever more sophisticated over the centuries. They started to build multi-towered Nuraghi, some with multiple lobes radiating from the central structure, some regular and symmetrical and others irregular. They could have between one and five towers, often linked to one another by powerful bulwark walls inside which were passages and rooms. Between the central and added towers, courtyards opened off that allowed communication between the various sections. In some cases, an outer ring of towers was linked together by walls forming an outer enclosure. Some of these Nuraghis could reach 20 metres or 60 feet in height. The tallest of all was 25 to 30 metres. There has long been a debate about what these structures were actually for. Clearly, the chiefs or rulers of these areas put enormous resources into building and maintaining them and perhaps this is where they lived with their family and servants. Clearly though, these were also defensive structures that served a military purpose. Warfare, no doubt often in the form of raiding, was certainly a feature of the Nuraghic civilisation. We know this not only from the size of the fortifications they built but also from other artefacts they left behind in the form of small bronze warrior figurines. There are about a thousand bronze figurines known. These figures were unearthed in the Nuraghi as well as from deposits in sacred springs and sanctuaries or temples. Over a hundred of them, dated to the 11th and 10th centuries BC, depict warriors and archers. The warriors usually carry a sword and shield, only one carries a spear. About 50 of them wear horned headgear, mostly these are small horns, but 14 of them have large, long horns with pointed tips. Perhaps the small horns were worn by rank-and-file warriors. This is just my speculation, but perhaps you had to earn your horns and they were reserved for veterans of some kind. And perhaps the long-horned helmets were worn by the chiefs and commanders as a status symbol and as a means of identifying them on the battlefield. Interestingly, only a few archers have the long horns while the rest were worn by the sword- and shield-bearing warriors. These horned figurines are one reason why the warriors from the Nuragic civilization have been suggested as the real identity of the Sherden or Shardana, the name given by Egyptians as one of the sea peoples that invaded the eastern Mediterranean at the end of the Bronze Age. Artwork in Medinet Harbu in Egypt shows warriors in horned helmets fighting the pharaoh's armies and the name given for these invaders, Sherden, is thought to refer to Sardinia. The Sherden are also depicted as sailing in ships with prominent animal figureheads on the prow, which provides another link with Bronze Age Sardinia. There are around 120 small bronze ship models known from the era. The exquisite, intricate details on many of these models demonstrate the incredible skill of the Nuragic bronze workers. It is believed these models were used as oil lamps. They had rings at the top for suspending them from something. They also provide evidence for the kinds of ships that the Nuragic people built and sailed. Assuming that the models do in fact represent real watercraft, researchers have identified two kinds of deep-keeled seagoing vessels and a flat-bottomed river and coastal craft. And we know that Bronze Age Sardinians were in contact with foreign societies, especially those on mainland Italy and across to Iberia. Artifacts from Mycenaean Greece have been found on Sardinia, and Nuragic pottery has been found on Sicily, Crete and Cyprus. And the famous oxide-copper ingots of Cypriot manufacture have been found all over Sardinia. The Sardinians used their supplies of copper and tin not only to cast figurines, but also to create tools and weapons. They maintained a long tradition of producing copper and bronze axes, but the most common weapons found are daggers, spearheads and bronze spear butts. Swords are rarer and some that have been found have been imported from Iberia. Later on, the men of Sardinia also embraced the warrior culture that swept across Europe from the end of the Bronze Age, and they began importing fibula to fasten their cloaks and used bronze razors, tweezers and mirrors to keep their hair, beards and bodies ritually cleansed. The bronze figurines that show these warriors were often left as votive offerings in the Nuragic temples, along with other bronze artefacts that were miniature versions of the important things in their lives, like animals, furniture, ships, chariots and even models of the Nuragi themselves. The Nuragic structures intended for worship are varied in type, but the most common two are linked to water. Well temples consisted of a narrow staircase leading down to the water, which was enclosed in the shaft of the well and was covered by a tholos-type corbelled roof. In the sacred springs type, water was collected at the surface in a simple basin, sometimes covered by a small tholos. Both types of temple had a paved atrium and side benches for ritual use. The other types of sacred buildings were not linked to springs, however large and small basins and water channels can be found on all of them, suggesting that their sacred rites required some kind of ritual cleansing. This was not a literate society and so we have no written record of their beliefs, however we can at least see through archaeology what they thought was important. And as well as their temples, we can examine their tombs. The characteristic burials of the Nuragic age are called giant's tombs, because they are collective tombs that are often very large, the largest being about 30 metres long and the smallest about 5-8 metres. They consisted of an elongated, often paved burial chamber and a semicircular ritual area with a large monolith or stelae in the centre. Sometimes these could be 4 metres tall. The tombs were originally covered with an earth mound, and unlike the other warrior societies of Bronze Age Europe, these were not great burial mounds for individual chiefs and heroes, but were collective tombs without burial goods. Analysis of remains suggests that there was no clear selection based on age or sex or any obvious social or family distinction for who was laid to rest inside. However, the ritual space outside was clearly for honouring the ancestors of the living, reinforcing the collective heritage of each local group. The enormous tombs themselves were also statements of permanence and ancestry imposed on the land, much like the spectacular Nuragi and the various kinds of temples. And one aspect that the temples and giant tombs have in common is the presence of votive swords. These were very long and narrow straight blades with small hilts that were likely too impractical for use in warfare and so were made specifically to be offerings. They are found tied together in bundles or placed inside large jars and were usually linked to the construction phase of sacred buildings. They are also found stuck into the gaps between stones themselves, fixed in place with lead, and sometimes combined with other symbolic objects or the small bronze figurines. These swords are also found complete or fragmented in the giant tombs, suggesting that throughout the Nuragic period, weapon worship and ancestor worship was of enormous importance. The Nuragic civilization was wealthy, successful and long-lasting. By the Late Bronze Age, around 900 BC, powerful rulers and their warriors established full management of their local resources by direct control of their territories, facilitated by the complex Nuragi they built, and by management of resources like cereal production. The Nuragi began to include silos for grain storage and large containers and open-shaped bowls began to be used for the control and distribution of food. They also cultivated grapes for wine production and developed special pottery for its storage and transport. The population increased and some villages grew to enormous sizes, while the ancient burial tradition began to change. Individual burials in stone kysts became ever more common, along with burial goods, suggesting a new emphasis on the importance of heroes, chiefs and the aristocracy generally. The people of Bronze Age Sardinia were exceptionally skilled in mineral exploitation, metallurgy and weapon making. They were experts in sea travel and were skilled traders with contacts from one end of the Mediterranean to the other. Surely they were also pirates and mercenaries, who employed their skill in battle against one another and against foreign peoples. They were also masters of their own land, growing abundant food and imposing themselves on the landscape with their enormous, sophisticated Nuragi temples and tombs. There was no sudden collapse of this civilization that brought a sharp end to their ancient way of life. Instead, the weight of history and foreign influence began to change their society from about 900 BC until their technologies, beliefs and traditions changed into new forms. And the coming of the Iron Age brought the Phoenicians as traders and settlers and a trend for urban living in coastal cities developed. With this came a transformation in religious practices and Sardinians began exporting wine to Italy and Iberia via this Phoenician-mediated trade. Roman history records that in 540 BC, the Carthaginians attempted to conquer the island but were repulsed. This failed conquest was so politically devastating, it resulted in a revolution back in Carthage. But the Carthaginians returned in 509 BC and this time conquered the coastal cities and the interior plain. However, the remnants of the Nuragic society continued in the mountains for centuries more, much changed and diminished, though recognisable. After the Roman victory over the Carthaginians in the First Punic War, the control of Sardinia passed to Rome and still, the ancient way of life continued in remote places into the Imperial Age. Even later, Pope Gregory the Great wrote to a Sardinian chief in the 6th century AD to complain about the persistence of the followers of the ancient cults. And the people of Sardinia today are the descendants of one of the most remarkable and successful civilisations of ancient Europe. If you enjoyed this video, please hit like and do subscribe if you'd like to see more videos like this one. Now, please watch this video on the long-distance trade and cultural links throughout Late Bronze Age Europe. Thank you for watching.