THE WARRIORS OF ANCIENT SARDINIA

The Nuragic culture of Sardinia (the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea) lasted from roughly the eighteenth century BC until 238 BC, when the island was colonized by the Romans. We know very little about any form of writing on Sardinia in this period. The largest and best source of information about Sardinian warriors in the Bronze Age and early Iron Age comes from hundreds of small bronze figures called bronzetti and from the stone statues found in the Mont’e Prama heroon (mortuary temple).

By Alessandro Atzeni

A large amount of this Sardinian material survives from the Bronze Age. It depicts various figures in society as well as animals, objects and monuments. These bronzetti date to a time following the construction of Sardinian nuraghi (the dry-stone towers that give the civilization its name), between the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. The Nuragic culture flourished in Sardinia at the end of the Early Bronze age (the Ancient Bronze Age in Sardinia), and the towers are thought to have been erected during the middle of the Bronze Age (approximately 1700-1400 BC). Nuraghi reached heights of 22-25 metres, and some still reach a considerable height – Santu Antine in Torralba survives to 17.55 metres. For a long time, the towers were considered fortresses, like the Scottish broch, but…

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Ancient Warfare (Digital) - 1 Issue, AW XV.3

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