La dimensione simbolica e sociale della Sardegna preistorica attraverso le manifestazioni funerarie. Alcune osservazioni

Burial aspects of prehistoric Sardinia are analysed and its relations with the Western Mediterranean between the middle of the fifth millennium and the last centuries of the third millennium cal. BC. At the beginning of that period first hypogea had appeared in Sardinia, while megaliths developed later, which were linked by close ties with Corsican megalithic structures. The Late Neolithic was a lively period and the development of hypogea was extraordinary in comparison with other Mediterranean regions, except for Malta. Funeral rituals showed more clearly social changes during the Chalcolithic. The competitiveness among human groups for the management of natural resources leaded to the creation of monumental tombs dedicated to individual inhumation or small groups of high status people.