Landscape construction in southern Sardinia in the 4th Millennium BC: an approach using clay procurement

Landscape is constructed through the diverse activities of individuals in the environment
that surrounds them. In this article, we address the role that coastal and lagoonal areas
played in the way in which the human communities that inhabited southern Sardinia
during the Final Neolithic/Early Copper Age constructed their landscape. To this end, we
approach how individuals managed the mineral raw materials available in these locations
and constructed taskspaces embedded in the landscape. We studied the provenance of
the clays used to make diverse types of artifacts (i.e., pottery, coatings on architectural
structures and loom weights) using optical microscopy based on thin-section analysis.
In addition, microfossils present in the samples have been identified. The link of these
archaeological materials with certain sedimentary deposits from the surrounding area
enables us to suggest a close interrelationship and knowledge exchange between different
technologies with respect to the possibilities of the diverse resources available in the
environment and the elements that formed the landscape of these communities. Thus,
the preference to exploit raw materials from lagoonal and coastal areas demonstrates
that these environments became a reference point in the construction of landscape and
identity in these communities.