Nuragic Culture and Architecture (Bronze Age to Iron Age)

Introduction

The term “Nuragic” refers to an extensive, shared material culture that developed on the island of Sardinia beginning in the Early or Middle Bronze Age and continued at least through the Early Iron Age. Most visibly, the societies of the Nuragic culture shared a distinctive type of architectural construction: megalithic stone towers called nuraghi(sg. nuraghe). Archaeologists estimate that over ten thousand nuraghi once existed throughout Sardinia, although now only a few thousand are extant. In addition to the nuraghi, Nuragic societies shared other types of material culture. Similarities in the construction of tombs and cult places as well as in ceramic styles, agricultural and food processing equipment, and household objects all indicate a high degree of interaction among Nuragic societies. Although the nature of this interaction is not fully understood, it probably included trade, intermarriage, and shared rituals and may also have involved intergroup raiding and...