L’altar from the prenuragic period, located at the edge of a plateau, constitutes a unique monument not only in Sardinia but in the entire western Mediterranean. Its structure, composed of a large truncated pyramid-shaped terrace, accessed via a long trapezoidal staircase, indeed recalls the Middle Eastern ziggurats of the 3rd millennium BC. The building overlaps a previous structure that featured, on the terrace summit, the so-called “red temple,” a rectangular chapel plastered and predominantly painted with ochre red, of which the floor and, partially, the perimeter wall are still preserved. This structure, , of considerable proportions, was built in an advanced phase of the Ozieri culture (3200-2800 BC), at the center of a village developed on the plateau from the second half of the 4th millennium BC. The building’s destruction made necessary, around 2800 BC, the construction of 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, already 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 Altare di 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
