SU NURAXI DI BARUMINI

The excellent state of conservation of the nuraghe and its enlargement in the course of the centuries make its visit particularly interesting. It is besides the most visited nuragic site of Sardinia and the most famous. Its construction began in the XV century B.C. with a tower in tholos with defensive purpose that rose to 18,60 m above the ground. In the Middle Bronze Age, the keep was surrounded by a quadrilobe formed by 4 towers placed at the cardinal points and connected by a thick wall of 4 meters thick. Access to the bastion was through the southeast wall. It opened onto a semicircular courtyard with a well. Each of the cardinal towers had two superimposed and unconnected rooms. The first village was established at the same time, at the foot of the bastion wall, but there are few traces of it. Between 1100 and 900 B.C. the wall protecting the quadrilobe was enlarged and provided with new towers. The wall of the quadrilobe itself was renovated with a 3 meter thick wall ring. The entrance, now raised, was moved to the northeast wall. The village grew and the present remains date from this period. Each house consists of a circular hut with a stone wall, topped by a roof made of wood and branches. The most important structure in the village is the meeting hut, which probably served as a place of assembly. The room, of circular form, is bigger than the huts of habitation, and includes 5 niches where objects of worship were found. It seems that the nuraghe and its village were almost completely destroyed at the beginning of the Iron Age, around 800 BC. A new settlement was built near the ruins, using new techniques that testify to the evolution of the Nuraghic civilization. The new houses have a central courtyard and several small rooms inside the hut. The Punic occupation (the Carthaginians) that occurs from the^fifth century BC marks the decline of the Nuraghic civilization. The village ceases to develop, but will continue to be inhabited until the third century. The ruins of the fortress were discovered around 1950 by the great Sardinian archaeologist Giovanni Lilliu and were buried under a hill covered with vegetation. Today, perfectly restored, the nuraghe is a Unesco World Heritage Site. Near the archaeological site, the exhibition center G. Lilliu presents a reconstituted model of the site which allows to visualize its size.