Tornano alla luce le statue di Mont’e Prama

Testo divulgativo sulle ricerche nella necropoli tardo-nuragica di Mont'e Prama e sul complesso scultoreo ivi rinvenuto

Evolution of a single incised valley related to inherited geology, sea level rise and climate changes during the Holocene (Tirso river, Sardinia, western Mediterranean Sea)

We performed a morpho-stratigraphic study of the Tirso River incised valley (Sardinia Island, western Mediterranean Sea), an erosional feature crossing the Sinis fault, a major normal fault bordering the Campidano basin between the Gulf of Oristano and the western Sardinia shelf. High-resolution seismic reflection profiles and multibeam echosounder data, integrated by age-constrained stratigraphic logs derived from 9 sediment cores enabled us to reconstruct the valley evolution during the Holocene. We found that the Tirso valley is the result of a single event of incision and infill during the last eustatic cycle, strongly controlled by the presence of the Sinis fault. In fact, this structure represents a geological threshold that marks an abrupt change in substrate lithology and seabed slope, which controlled the valley morphology, narrow when downcutting early Pliocene formations along the steeper open shelf, and wider inside the Gulf, in the Pleistocene alluvial deposits of the flatter Gulf of Oristano. The sedimentary record starts with alluvial sediments filling the valley along the shelf during the initial phase of sea level rise, i.e., over 10 ka. During the last ~9.0 ka, a bay head delta developed, with the formation of barriers at the gulf entrance. In the mid-late Holocene, the progressive sea-level rise led to rapid drowning of the barrier system, recorded by marine and estuarine sediments filling the valley. Analysis of ecological associations in the cores, collected along a valley-normal transect, allowed for a detailed reconstruction of the paleo-environmental conditions during the latest phase of the incised valley filling controlled by global climatic variations in the Mediterranean region between ~9.0 and ~ 4.5 ka. Together with eustasy, our work reveals that the evolution and sedimentary infill of the Tirso incised valley was strongly controlled by inherited geological constraints, which influenced the morphology of the valley and the stratigraphic pattern

Climatic changes and human impact on coastal areas of Sardinia: the example of the Mistras-Cabras barrier-lagoon system (Central-Western Sardinia)

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Climate changes and human impact on the Mistras coastal barrier system (W Sardinia, Italy)

© 2017 Elsevier B.V. Integrated archaeological and geological studies conducted on Mistras coastal barrier system of central Sardinia showed that it developed as transgressive systems during the final stages of the Holocene sea level rise (final stage of the Holocene Climate Optimum, about 6300–6000 cal y BP), and become regressive (prograding) from about 2500 cal y BP, when sea level reached the present elevation. The regression of the coast was, however, not continuous, but characterized by distinct Transgressive-Regressive phases (T-R), associated to precise climatic fluctuations, tied with global eustatic and climatic phases. The first regression occurred between 2500 and 1900 cal y BP. This time interval, known as Roman Warm, coincides with the Phoenician, Punic and Roman attendance of the west Sardinia coast. At that time, areas close to the coastal cities had to host landings and perhaps ports probably located at short distance from the shoreline. Archaeological excavations and findings have documented that in the Mistras area Punic constructed a long boulder structure (probably dated from the 4th century BCE) to better protect an incipient lagoon used as the harbour of the city of Tharros. This had the effect to modify the normal behaviour of the beach system that transformed from spit to barrier lagoon. During the second regressive phase, the well-established beach lagoon system developed quasi continuously for > 1200 y (650 and 1850 CE). This progradation started during a new warm period (Medieval) and continued favoured by gentle sea level fall occurred during the cold Little Ice Age time. During this time, after the abandonment of the city of Tharros and of the Sinis Peninsula, the Mistras area was poorly populated. As consequence, there was no more an active harbour and large sandy dunes developed and nourished the shore allowing a no man-influence progradation of the coast. The third stage is the current one and begun about 165 y ago (post 1850 CE) after the relative sea level rise occurred after the end of the Little Ice Age. Geological and archaeological data of western Sardinia barrier lagoon systems revealed that the Mistras barrier lagoon evolution was human influenced since the Punic time. The study pointed that little human activities on the coast could influence its natural behaviour and landscape, and that little climatic changes both positive and negative can induce progradation or erosion of the system as well

First finds of Prunus domestica L. in Italy from the Phoenician and Punic periods (6th-2nd centuries BC)

Abstract During the archaeological excavations in the Phoenician and Punic settlement of Santa Giusta (Oristano, Sardinia, Italy), dating back to the 6th–2nd centuries bc, several Prunus fruitstones (endocarps) inside amphorae were recovered. The exceptional state of preservation of the waterlogged remains allowed morphometric measurements to be done by image analysis and statistical comparisons made with modern cultivated and wild Prunus samples collected in Sardinia. Digital images of modern and archaeological Prunus fruitstones were acquired with a flatbed scanner and analysed by applying image analysis techniques to measure 26 morphometric features. By applying stepwise linear discriminant analysis, a morphometric comparison was made between the archaeological fruitstones of Prunus and the modern ones collected in Sardinia. These analyses allowed identification of 53 archaeological fruitstones as P. spinosa and 11 as P. domestica. Moreover, the archaeological samples of P. spinosa showed morphometric similarities in 92.5% of the cases with the modern P. spinosa samples currently growing near the Phoenician and Punic site. Likewise, the archaeological fruitstones identified as P. domestica showed similarities with the modern variety of P. domestica called Sanguigna di Bosa which is currently cultivated near the village of Bosa. Currently, these findings represent the first evidence of P. domestica in Italy during the Phoenician and Punic periods. Keywords Archaeobotany · Image analysis · Morphometric features · Prunus · Sardini

Tharros XXI-XXII. Lo scavo dei quadrati I-L 17-18

Rapporto di scavo relativo alle indagini nel quartiere metallurgico di Tharros; in particolare si sono scavati strati artigianali che hanno restituito materiali databili tra il VII e la fined el IV sec. a.C

La Montagnola di Marineo. Ceramica a vernice nera di età ellenistica

Studio della ceramica a vernice nera di età ellenistica proveniente dal centro indigeno ellenizzato di Marineo (PA)

177 Brocchetta con orlo circolare

Scheda di un vaso punico di probabile provenienza sulcitana

L’abitato fenicio-punico e romano

Nell’ambito di uno studio generale sulla cattedrale romanica di Santa Giusta (OR), si ripercorre la storia della città antica di Othoca, a partire dai dati in bibliografia e soprattutto dalle nuove acquisizioni dovute alle recenti ricerche nella necropoli e nella laguna da parte dell’Università di Cagliari e della Soprintendenza Archeologica di Cagliari e Oristano. Si presentano, in via preliminare, sepolture inedite e si delinea un quadro di sintesi sulle nuove ricerche