Su Nuraxi di Barumini Italy
The nuraghi of Sardinia, of which Su Nuraxi is the pre-eminent example, represent an exceptional response to political and social conditions, making an imaginative and innovative use of the materials and techniques available to a prehistoric island community.During the middle and late Bronze Age (c . 1500-800 BC) on Sardinia a unique form of architecture developed: circular defensive towers in the form of truncated cones built from dressed stone, with corbel-vaulted internal chambers. Some (as at Barumini) were surrounded by quadrilobate enclosures consisting of towers linked by massive walls. Villages of small circular-plan houses developed around these strongpoints.
Continent: Europe
Country: Italy
Category: Cultural
Criterion: (I)(III) (IV)
Date of Inscription: 1997
Social and defensive reasons
The precise dating of the period of building the nuraghi on Sardinia is still the subject of debate among scholars, as there is some conflict between radiocarbon dates and those obtained by conventional archaeological stratigraphy. The influence of the Mycenaean tholos tombs, reflected in the corbelled roofs, now favours an earlier rather than a later dating. It is generally accepted that the central tower at Barumini dates from the later 2nd millennium BC.The central defensive structures are considered to have been built by single families or clans. As Sardinian society evolved in a more complex and hierarchical fashion, there was a tendency for the isolated towers to attract additional structures, for social and defensive reasons.
