The altar from the pre-Nuragic era, located at the edge of a plateau, is a unique monument not only in Sardinia but throughout the western Mediterranean. Its structure, consisting of a large truncated pyramid-shaped terrace, accessed by a long trapezoidal staircase, actually recalls the Middle Eastern ziggurats of the 3rd millennium BC. The building overlays a previous structure that featured, at the top of the terrace, the so-called “red temple,” a rectangular shrine plastered and painted mainly in ochre red, of which the floor and partially the perimeter wall are still preserved. This structure, of considerable size, was built during an advanced phase of the Ozieri culture (3200–2800 BC), at the center of a village that developed on the plateau from the second half of the 4th millennium BC. The destruction of the building made it necessary, around 2800 BC, to construct a new structure—precisely the one we see today. The building retained its religious function for several centuries until it was abandoned. Around 1800 BC, by then in ruins, it was sporadically used for burials. The archaeological area also includes the remains of a Nuragic village (15th–10th century BC) and a necropolis with domus de janas tombs.
Information about the Altar of Monte d’Accoddi
Strada Statale 131 – Km 222,200
07100 Sassari (Sassari)
334 8074449 – 079 2008072
infosassari@comune.ss.it
https://www.comune.sassari.it/
Source: MIBACT
