**NURAGIC SARDINIA – part 4: sacred Nuragic wells**

Sixth and last part of the series of threads on Prenuragic and Nuragic Sardinia. Today is all about cult of water and sacred wells/fountains.

📸 Romanzesu, Bitti
The cult of water was very important in Sardinia, as the 100+ sacred wells and fountains show. We don't know with certainty which rites were practiced, but we know we found many votive statuettes representing people or ships in these sites. Some cults may have lived on through-
-new rituals, still living today.

There are three main types of wells (or fountains), depending on their position and orography.

▪️Hypogean wells. These are the most famous and important ones, represented by Santa Cristina of Paulilatino and Santa Vittoria of Serri.
They have a peculiar "keyhole" shape, seen from above. They are composed of a long stairway which leads underground, usually with an inverted-stairway ceiling; the actual pit, with the walls which gradually close on top; enclosing walls -

📸 Santa Cristina, Santa Vittoria
-around the well. The water collects at the bottom directly from the source intercepted by the well.

Hypogean wells are the best example of the constructing skills of Ancient Sardinians. Some of these structures are of great precision-

📸 Santa Cristina x2, Santa Vittoria x2
-for their time.

Some people hypothesised the external part of the well could be closed with a bigger structure, similar to that of a nuraghe single tower, so that to collimate the sun ray through a smaller slit.

📸 Santa Vittoria, Santa Cristina x2
Particular events happen in determined days of the year in Santa Cristina. The alignments of the stairway and the pit allow for lighting effects during the equinoxes.

For more on the archaeoastronomical alignments of the well of Santa Cristina:
▪️ Fountains. Architecturally, they're similar to the hypogean wells but these are built on the ground, intercepting the source of water at ground level. These are generally found at the side of mountains or hills, while the previous ones were built directly-

📸 Su Tempiesu
-on plain. The best and most representative one is su Tempiesu of Orune.
▪️ Round wells. The last kind is the circular or round wells, built at ground level, not necessarily near a source.

Romanzesu of Bitti is a mix between a round and a hypogean well. It's built at ground level but with a series of stairs and a canal which-

📸 Romanzesu
-links it to an amphitheatre that could well up. Romanzesu is also surrounded by huts, a village and as said, an amphitheatre.
Another example of wells is the megaron type, rectangular constructions with subsequent rooms. It is rarer than the previous kinds but it's still thought to be linked to the cult of water.

📸Sa Domu 'e S'Orgìa, Esterzili

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with ⭐Dr.Watson📚

⭐Dr.Watson📚 Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @DrWatson_writer

3 Nov
**NURAGIC SARDINIA – part 3: the tombs of the giants**

Third part of the series regarding Nuragic Sardinia. We'll talk about collective burials.

📸S'Ena 'e Thomes, Dorgali
The so-called tombs of the giants are collective tombs (better, ossuaries) of the Nuragic period. The name "giants" derive from popular folklore and the great dimensions of the constructions. There are around 100 tombs distributed in the whole Island.
These tombs are characterized by a long corridor, several metres long and 3 metres high, covered with huge horizontal stones. The front is closed by a monolith (in S'Ena'e Thomes, the monolith is around 6 metres high), with an engraved frame and a small little door at the base.
Read 9 tweets
27 Oct
**NURAGIC SARDINIA – part 2: Nuraghes**

Second thread in the Nuragic Sardinia series, following the peculiar Sardinian constructions of nuraghes.

📸 Reconstruction
Nuraghes belong to the category of megalithic constructions of the Mediterranean, with some resemblance to buildings in the Balearic Islands and in Malta, but still these sites are all different from each other.

Nuraghes are like primordial castles, structures that could be-
-as tall as 30 metres (nuraghe Arrubiu, when intact). There's no agreement on the origin of the name (that's because there's no agreement on "paleo-Sardinian" language), but one hypothesis sees in "nur" a paleo-Sardinian word for rock, as it's often found in toponyms.

📸Arrubiu
Read 20 tweets
23 Oct
**OTTOBRATA Iglesiente**

Special thread about the festival held in Iglesias each October for the festivity of the Virgin of Buon Cammino.

📸 Countryside church of Our Lady of Buon Cammino
The Ottobrata is my favourite festival, so here is a special thread about it. Religious festivals are typical Sardinian tradition, calling people from all around the neighbouring areas to celebrate. This happen(ed) every year in Iglesias, where the streets filled with stalls-
-selling toasted chickpeas (I can't tell you how good and addicting they are), nougat, or setting up games, or trying to sell old objects... Recently, a new event was added, sa Sortija of Iglesias, rediscovered from old documents in the archive ⬇️

Read 10 tweets
19 Oct
**NURAGIC SARDINIA – part 1: the culture**

Thread about the most peculiar Sardinian culture, lasting several millennia and still largely unknown.

📸 Modern representation of a nuraghe
▪️ Timeline. The Nuragic period covers a millennium and a half and roughly divided in:

Nuragic I 1800-1450 BCE (Bronze Age)
Nuragic II 1450-1200 BCE
Nuragic III 1200-900 BCE
Nuragic IV 900-500 BCE (Iron Age)
Nuragic V 500-200 BCE (interaction with Punics)
▪️The name. We don't know for sure how the Nuragic people called themselves. The first mention of the inhabitants/island comes from the stele of Nora, written in Phoenician, and says SHRDN.

Nuragic derives instead from Nuraghes, the name of the most characteristic construction.
Read 23 tweets
13 Oct
**PRENURAGIC SARDINIA – part 2: domus de janas**

This thread follows the introductory part regarding Prenuragic cultures. You may want to check that one first, if you didn't already.
Domus de janas (=houses of the fairies) are old tombs typical of the Culture of Ozieri in Sardinia. They get their name from the Sardinian folk tale that wants small fairies (janas) to inhabit them.

They are excavated in the rock and count up to 2,400+ in the whole --
-Island, not considering the ones which are still unknown. They were collective tombs, as the findings confirmed. Each domus could have several rooms, even consecutive, all of them accessible through a very small hole. Two of the biggest ones (Anghelu Ruju near Alghero ⬇️ and-
Read 12 tweets
6 Oct
**PRENURAGIC SARDINIA – part 1: the culture**

First thread regarding the history of Prenuragic Sardinia. Next part will be about the domus de janas.
The first human remains in Sardinia date back to the Mesolithic Age, that is 10,000-6,000 BCE, and found mostly in caves.

Around the 6,000BCE, the first Indo-Europeans arrived in Europe, bringing the tradition of agriculture and stationary life.
In the early Neolithic, we find corded ware in Sardinia too and a thorough use of the obsidian, precious stone found in great measure around Monte Arci. Sardinians traded it and created fine blades, with little effort to find the first matter.
Read 18 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(