The history of Su Nuraxi, from its origins to its abandonment, unfolds in several phases.

Between the 14th and 13th centuries BC, the keep and the four-lobed bastion were built. The first outer wall and the oldest nuclei of the village were also created.

Between the 13th and the beginning of the 10th century BC, the site was reinforced: the bastion was strengthened with a layer of stones, the entrances were modified and the outer wall was reorganised. At the end of the Final Bronze Age, the upper parts of the nuraghe and the terraces were destroyed.

Between the 11th and the mid-8th century BC, the village continued to develop. Buildings for collective activities also gained importance.

Between the 8th and the beginning of the 6th century BC, the village was profoundly transformed with the construction of dwellings made up of several rooms.

Abandonment and later periods. After the decline of the Nuragic settlement, the structures were again frequented and occasionally reused in the Late Punic, Roman and early medieval periods.

THE FORTIFIED CORE

The heart of Su Nuraxi is the main tower or keep, originally more than 20 metres high. Inside, two superimposed chambers are preserved, while only the lower part of the third chamber remains.

The entrance of the main tower, facing south, is topped by a lintel. Above it opens a small window that may have served to lighten the weight of the masonry. In the lower chamber there are niches and access to the stairs connecting the upper floors. Other small rooms may have had service functions.

Around the polygonal keep is a bastion with four secondary towers joined by curtain walls. Each tower of the keep originally contained two superimposed chambers.

From the entrance in the south-eastern curtain wall, a crescent-shaped courtyard is reached. From the courtyard, the keep and some of the towers are accessed through narrow passages and stairs.

THE VILLAGE

Around the bastion extended a village whose organisation changed over time. In the earliest phase it comprised about seventy huts, mostly circular, built in dry stone. The roofs, now lost, must have been made of timber and branches.

Later, the village was reorganised. A total of 109 rooms distributed in 14 articulated dwellings, each made up of several rooms, have been identified.

The dwellings were of two main types. “Row” houses had rectangular rooms built against earlier structures. “Central courtyard” houses had several rooms arranged around a common space, sometimes with a well for collecting water. Some dwellings may have had a second floor.

Small streets, alleys and passages connected the buildings, and a main road crossed the village.

THE FORTIFICATIONS AND TRANSFORMATIONS

Around the bastion developed a first outer defensive wall, called antemurale, formed by seven towers linked by curtain walls.

The antemurale also delimited and protected the spaces between the bastion and the village.

The bastion was strengthened over time with a layer of stones placed against the original wall. The reinforcement closed the old entrance, and a new raised access reached by a removable staircase was opened.

The antemurale also changed: some curtain walls were demolished and five more towers were added to the surviving ones. The new wall still comprised seven towers and two entrances. In a later phase, the upper parts of the fortress and the terraces were destroyed, while the village continued to be inhabited and transformed.

HUT 80

Among the village buildings, “hut 80” stands out: a large circular room with a ring of stone benches and niches along the walls. It is considered in studies to be the meeting place of the community’s elders.

Inside, a model of a Nuragic tower in limestone was found, interpreted as a betyl, a sacred stone with symbolic value. The find has suggested possible ritual practices.

MATERIALS

The fortress and the oldest huts are built mainly with basalt blocks, the volcanic rock present in the territory. The walls of these huts are built dry, without mortar. The inner chambers were covered with tholos, the false dome created by courses of stone projecting progressively towards the centre.

The tower model found in “hut 80” and the large shaped blocks, called corbels, help reconstruct the appearance of the original terraces on top of the nuraghe.

ROOMS WITH A BASIN

In some sector houses there are small circular rooms with benches along the walls and a basin in the centre, sometimes flanked by an oven and a water tank. The care taken in their construction has suggested use for domestic sacred rites or an early thermal use. Both functions remain hypothetical.

A DECORATED BUILDING

The “hut zz”, a village building with an oval plan and only partly preserved, has a decorative band made of small slabs arranged in a herringbone pattern. Its architecture has been hypothetically linked to a public function, perhaps connected with government activities or audiences. The building was later reused in the Late Punic and Roman periods.

ACTIVITIES AND FOOD

Inside the huts, hearths, niches in the walls, a grinding stone and a handstone for cereals and an oven cut into the thickness of a wall have been found. These elements document domestic activities, including the preparation and cooking of food, together with the storage of resources.

LATER FREQUENTATION

After the transformations and decline of the Nuragic village, Su Nuraxi also experienced periods of abandonment. The structures were later reused in the Late Punic, Roman and early medieval periods, with different intensity and for settlement, funerary and sacred purposes. Some spaces changed function, while other parts of the settlement remained recognisable.

Before the excavations, much of the monument was covered by debris and appeared as a hill. The emergence of large stones and the discovery of pottery fragments had drawn attention to the place.

Between 1949 and 1955, Giovanni Lilliu directed the archaeological campaigns that brought the structures of Su Nuraxi to light. The study of the walls, finds and sequence of interventions made it possible to reconstruct the construction phases of the fortress and the transformations of the village.

Photographs from the excavations also document the condition of the monument during the research.

Fondazione Barumini, Su Nuraxi di Barumini, brochure in italiano, pp. 3, 7-9, 11, 13-20, 22, 25-26.

Ministero della Cultura, Su Nuraxi di Barumini, scheda UNESCO: https://unesco.cultura.gov.it/projects/su-nuraxi-di-barumini/

IDESE, Complesso nuragico Su Nuraxi: https://idese.cultura.gov.it/place/complesso-nuragico-su-nuraxi/

In Sardinian, Su Nuraxi means “the nuraghe”. The name recalls the great monumental structure around which the Nuragic settlement developed.