L’età del Rame in Sardegna: origine ed evoluzione degli aspetti autoctoni

The Copper Age in Sardinia: origin and evolution of local characteristics.
The beginning of the Copper Age in Sardinia, which produced fundamental innovations in Pre-Nuragic economics and society, does not seem to have been characterised by sudden transformations but rather by gradual and apparently continuous changes. The focus of this study is that of cultural horizons, which succeeded the Late Neolithic culture of S. Michele or Ozieri; they inherited some features, developed other ideas and introduced technological innovations such as metallurgy. Archaeological literature has assigned the names Sub-Ozieri, Filigosa and Abealzu to these horizons; they maintained the evolutionary line of Ozieri while being distinguished by full Eneolithic events such as the Monte Claro and Bell Beaker cultures, with which were still in contact.
This research highlights the relationships between the chrono-cultural facies. Additionally, it examines the evolutionary dynamics from the most ancient to the most recent periods. Finally, it identifies similarities and differences of material culture, civil, religious and funerary architecture alternatives for settlement, and socio-economic and religious features.
The research has been developed through the following stages: bibliographical survey, brief history of studies, graphic documentation of artefacts, analysis of both published and unpublished artefacts - examples available from the Soprintendenze and museums – (ceramic, lithic, bone and metal), analyses of sites (recording, environmental analysis, analysis of structures, analysis of funerary rituals).
Ceramic artefacts have been studied by several methodologies: typology and combinatorial data analysis, which has produced a table of associations between types and sites of discovery; this latter approach is applied for the first time in Sardinian contexts. Data on lithic, bone and metal artefacts is scarce, consequently enabling limited study. However, they do fulfil the outline of the cultural phenomena under consideration. The territorial survey is characterised by the analysis of environmental data, which includes development of a locational typology and application of site catchment analysis to some sample sites. The use of statistical approaches has contributed to a better interpretation of the data collected for the purpose of understanding the cultural phenomena under consideration.
This research has achieved the aim of standardising the data, even at a terminological level, to ascertain the real chrono-cultural seriation, to reconstruct the genetic relationships between facies and their relationships with the extra-insular world. The integration of the results of territorial analysis has helped to identify the evolutionary sequence from continuity of settlement strategies between the late Neolithic and early Eneolithic phases, whereas from the middle Eneolithic phase a significant change has been represented by defensive structures and control of territory.