Su Nuraxi of Barumini: Nuraghi in Sardinia, UNESCO Heritage

Su Nuraxi (“the nuraghe”) of Barumini is the only UNESCO World Heritage site in Sardinia. While on one hand UNESCO recognized the architectural uniqueness of the nuraghi, stating that “no parallel exists anywhere else in the world,” the choice of Su Nuraxi of Barumini among the approximately 7,000 nuraghi in Sardinia is due to the fact that it was the first case where the excavation campaign was carried out scientifically (this was in the 1950s). At Barumini, the entire surrounding village was also excavated, giving us a complete vision of the history of the complex, which lasted about 1,800 years.

Su Nuraxi: the discovery

Su Nuraxi was discovered and studied by the father of Sardinian archaeology, the Academician of the Lincei Giovanni Lilliu, who was also born and raised in Barumini and had always noticed a strange hill in the countryside just outside his town. Besides being a skilled archaeologist, Lilliu was also lucky. In fact, in the central tower that forms the initial core of the entire complex, he found a wooden beam, probably a rung of a ladder.

This beam, thanks to carbon-14 analysis, allowed dating the beginning of the site’s history and, more generally, to give a more precise chronological definition to the Nuragic age. We are in the full Bronze Age, with the central tower of Barumini dateable to 1600-1500 B.C.

Construction features of Su Nuraxi

The construction features of Su Nuraxi are classic for this type of monument: large basalt blocks, coming from the nearby Giara Plateau, are placed next to each other creating a truncated conical shape, and they stand autonomously without the need for cement mortars. The internal spaces have a pseudo-dome or tholos vault, built with rings of projecting stones that become progressively narrower. Although they may seem very tall to us, what we see today of the nuraghi is only one of the two or three floors they were originally built with, accessible by a spiral staircase running between the outer wall and the tholos masonry. A trace of this staircase can be seen inside the central tower of Su Nuraxi, to the left of the entrance.

The second construction phase dates back to the 13th-12th centuries B.C. and features the building of a defensive wall with four towers wrapping around the central tower: Su Nuraxi became a quadrilobate nuraghe. The walls and new towers enclose a courtyard of 56 square meters with a well connected to a water spring in the center. Considering the living conditions of the prehistoric age and how important water was in a land like Sardinia, where rainfall is often scarce, we can easily state that the fortress was built to protect the water source, a guarantee of survival for the community.

Relations with neighboring tribes were probably not peaceful: about a century later, the entrance to the central courtyard and all the loopholes were enclosed within a massive masonry rework wall about 3 meters thick that fits the citadel like a second skin, increasing the thickness of the walls to 5-6 meters. Access was no longer at ground level but by climbing a rope ladder to an elevated opening.

At this point, the complex became truly imposing: as already noted, we must imagine the towers not only much taller than we see them today but also equipped with terraces from which the territory could be more effectively monitored, giving the nuraghi an appearance vaguely reminiscent of medieval castles. These terraces have not survived, but the large corbels that supported them have, separated from the towers. One rests on the edge of the well of Su Nuraxi. The reworked wall might have allowed for the construction of even broader terraces, enhancing the defensive function of the structure.

During this period, an external defensive wall was also built, equipped with seven towers, and the village developed with about sixty circular, single-room huts. One of these, larger and equipped with a row of stones along the internal perimeter that served as seating, is identified as the meeting hut.

Su Nuraxi through the centuries

In the following centuries, the site experienced a decline phase, leading it to be abandoned and fall into ruin by the 8th century B.C. Therefore, in the fourth settlement phase (8th-6th century B.C.), the Nuragic fortress lost its military importance, but the tower became a symbol, possibly with religious meanings. Indeed, as evidenced in other sites as well, a model of the stone nuraghe was found inside the meeting hut. It was likely placed in the center of the space, almost like a totem to inspire decision-making.

The village, instead, saw a new development phase: part of the external defensive wall was demolished, and the 150 huts built during this period crowded at the base of the ancient citadel. Where huts leaned against the straight walls of the ancient fortress, mostly rectangular and trapezoidal plants with multiple rooms now appeared. Houses were grouped in blocks linked by narrow lanes, and some infrastructure appeared, such as primitive sewage water channeling systems.

The last phase coincides with the Punic and Roman periods (6th century B.C. – 3rd century A.D.). About fifty huts in the village continued to be inhabited by the rural population. In the silo of one of the nuraghe’s towers, a deposit of votive offerings dating from the 6th to the 1st century B.C. was found. This suggests that at that time, part of the space had become a sanctuary dedicated to Demeter and Kore, deities associated with agriculture, similarly to the nearby Genna Maria nuraghe of Villanovaforru.

Over the centuries, collapses and accumulation of other materials gradually filled the courtyard and other nuraghe structures, which became overgrown with vegetation, taking on the appearance of the hill that initially caught the attention of the young Giovanni Lilliu.

At Barumini there is also another site of great interest: Casa Zapata, a noble house from the late 16th century A.D., beneath which a nuraghe was hidden, now visible thanks to a fine system of glass walkways. Casa Zapata also houses a small museum that preserves the most important artifacts of Su Nuraxi, including the wooden beam that enabled dating of the central tower and the stone nuraghe model.