PUNCTUATED INSULARITY: THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF 4TH AND 3RD MILLENNIUM SARDINIA (BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGICAL REPORTS INTERNATIONAL SERIES)

Sardinia preserves an exceptional record of its Final Neolithic and Copper Age cultures, with a diverse crafts repertory, henges and dolmens, statue-menhirs, chamber tombs - and the only known ziggurat in Europe. The present study provides a synthesis in English for a scholarly readership interested in Mediterranean adaptations during this earliest period of metallurgy. As elsewhere, the infusion of metallurgy had profound implications, as island cultures underwent a series of transformations tied directly or indirectly to it. Spanning two millennia, these changes are studied in terms of material cultures known as Ozieri, Sub-Ozieri, Filigosa-Abealzu, Monte Claro and Bell Beaker. A more overarching finding from this review is the periodic engagement between these cultures and geographically distant ones. Such punctuations of the insular condition had long-lasting effects on local expression, and some thoughts on how this might contribute to understandings of concepts like identity formation are presented by way of a conclusion. This book is a companion volume to The Sardinian Neolithic: An Archaeology of the 6th and 5th Millennia BCE by Gary Webster (2019).

Publisher: BAR Publishing

Published: United Kingdom, 31 October 2017

Format: Paperback, 174 pages

Dimensions: 29.7 x 21 x 1.2 centimeters (0.68 kg)

Writer: Gary S. Webster, Maud Webster

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ABSTRACT CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION The landscape The metal resources Archaeological record and archaeological culture Archaeological culture as cultural modality Insularity CHAPTER 2. OZIERI, EARLY 4TH MILLENNIUM BC Oriental engagement Defining Ozieri: the diagnostic pottery Eastern forms Other Ozieri crafts Lithics Metal Textiles Ozieri settlement Ozieri subsistence Tombs and mortuary practices Mortuary cave: Sa Ucca de su Tintirriolu Domus de Janas The interred Interpreting burial practices The Sanctuaries of Monte d'Accoddi Menhir-shrine phase Red Temple phase Ozieri imagery The ram The bull Anthropomorphic imagery Composite images Discussing cult expression Interpreting Ozieri CHAPTER 3. SUB-OZIERI, LATE 4TH MILLENNIUM BC Adaptive insularity Defining Sub-Ozieri: the diagnostic pottery Common ware Fine ware Other Sub-Ozieri crafts Textiles Lithics Bone and shell Metal Sub-Ozieri settlement Sunken-hut villages Cave camps Sub-Ozieri subsistence Su Coddu Canelles Tombs and mortuary practices The sanctuary of Monte d'Accoddi Interpreting Sub-Ozieri CHAPTER 4. FILIGOSA-ABEALZU, 3RD MILLENNIUM BC Revival and re-engagement Defining Filigosa-Abealzu: the diagnostic pottery Exotic styles Other Filigosa-Abealzu crafts Metal Lithics Textiles Bone, horn, shell Filigosa-Abealzu imagery Anthropomorphic figures Multi-limbed creatures "Candelabra" Cup-marks Filigosa-Abealzu settlement Open villages Fortified sites Filigosa-Abealzu subsistence Tombs and mortuary practices Domus de janas Dolmens and megalithic cist Shrines and sanctuaries Cave- or rock-shelter sanctuaries Menhir cenotaphs Megalithic henges Temple sanctuary: Monte d'Accoddi Interpreting Filigosa-Abealzu Revival Re-engagement CHAPTER 5. MONTE CLARO, MID-LATE 3RD MILLENNIUM BC Indigenous alterity Defining Monte Claro: the diagnostic pottery Production methods Decorative surface treatments Decorative patterns The diagnostic Monte Claro repertory Filigosa-Abealzu/Monte Claro hybridity Other Monte Claro crafts Metal Lithics Textiles Monte Claro settlement Open settlements Fortifications: Monte Baranta Camps and settlements of the northeast islands Monte Claro subsistence Tombs and mortuary practices Shaft tombs Other pithos-sherd burials Full pithos burial: Scaba 'e Arriu Reconstructing burial practices Monte Claro sanctuaries Sa Sedda de Biriai Interpreting Monte Claro Origins and agencies Social correlates of Monte Claro CHAPTER 6. BELL BEAKER, LATE 3RD MILLENNIUM BC Exotic incursions Defining Bell Beaker: the diagnostic pottery Forms and motifs Chronology and local convergences Other Bell Beaker crafts Metal Lithics Bone and shell Bell Beaker habitations Bell Beaker subsistence The forensic evidence from Padru Jossu Tombs and mortuary practices Conformity and contrast Interpreting Bell Beaker Modelling the Bell Beaker phenomenon A Sardinian Beaker-incursion model End note CHAPTER 7. CONCLUDING DISCUSSION A punctuated insularity BIBLIOGRAPHY

About the Author

Gary Webster is a doctor of anthropology (PhD from Penn State University) and a docent of archaeology (Umea University). He has published widely on theoretical issues as well as on archaeological field work, especially related to Bronze Age Sardinia. Maud Webster holds an MA in classical archaeology and ancient history from Uppsala University. Her research interests include Sardinian pre- and protohistory, and she has also written widely on Italian history.

Reviews

'Presents an up-to-date overview of our knowledge about the Chalcolithic cultures of Sardinia and tackles several areas of research which are poorly understood and remain areas of debate, in a manner which is not limited to literature review, but includes also constructive critique of different interpretations of various aspects of evidence from the Copper Age Sardinia.' Cezary Namirski, Durham University 'There are no comparable syntheses, either in English or other languages, on the topic of Copper Age Sardinia. This is therefore a welcome addition to the somewhat limited English-speaking academic production on Sardinia, which, moreover, covers a much-neglected phase in the local prehistoric sequence.' Peer Reviewer 'This book reflects, in a very accurate way, the state-of-the-art specialist literature and shows deep knowledge of Sardinian prehistory on the part of the authors. It is a useful synthesis of research, which discusses one of the richest prehistoric cultural contexts of the Mediterranean.' Peer Reviewer

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