Editing History of Sardinia (section)

==Prehistory==
{{See also|Pre-Nuragic Sardinia}}
[[File:Monted'accoddisardegna.png|thumb|right|220px|Prehistoric temple of [[Monte d'Accoddi]], one of the [[List of the oldest buildings in the world|oldest buildings in the world]].]]
[[File:Area archeologica di Pranu Muttedu 02.jpg|thumb|[[Necropolis of Pranu Mutteddu]]]]
[[File:DOLMEN DI MORES.JPG|right|thumb|220px|Dolmen of [[Mores, Sardinia|Mores]] dated to the 3rd millennium BC]]
The oldest trace in Sardinia of the [[anthropomorphic]] [[prehistoric]] primate called ''[[Oreopithecus bambolii]]'' is dated to 8.5 million years ago. In 1996 a [[hominid]] finger bone, dated up to 250.000 BC, was found in a cave in the [[Logudoro]] region.<ref>[http://www.sardegnacultura.it/j/v/258?s=19714&v=2&c=2650&t=7 SardegnaCultura, Le più antiche tracce della presenza umana]{{in lang|it}}</ref>

[[Modern humans]] appeared in the island during the [[Upper Paleolithic]], a phalanx dated to 18000 BC had been found in the ''[[Corbeddu Cave|Corbeddu cave]]'', near [[Oliena]].<ref>[http://www.eva.mpg.de/evolution/staff/spoor/pdf/Spoor_Deinsea99_Corbeddu-homs.pdf The human fossils from Corbeddu Cave,. Sardinia: a reappraisal. Spoor, F., 1999] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924004322/http://www.eva.mpg.de/evolution/staff/spoor/pdf/Spoor_Deinsea99_Corbeddu-homs.pdf |date=24 September 2015 }}</ref> [[Mesolithic]] human remains had been discovered at ''Su Coloru cave'' of [[Laerru]]<ref>[http://eprints.uniss.it/6328/1/Melis_P_Approdo_della_costa_di.pdf Paolo Melis – Un approdo della costa di Castelsardo, fra età nuragica e romana]</ref> but also in the south (Sirri, [[Arbus, Sardinia|Arbus]]).

Already in the Stone Age, [[Monte Arci]] played an important role. The old volcano was one of the central places where [[obsidian]] was found and worked for cutting tools and arrowheads. Even now the volcanic glass can be found on the sides of the mountain.

The [[Neolithic]] began in Sardinia in the [[6th millennium BC]] with the [[Cardium pottery|Cardial culture]]. Later, important cultures like the [[Ozieri culture]] and the [[Arzachena culture]] of the late Neolithic and the Abealzu-Filigosa and Monte Claro culture of the [[Chalcolithic]] period, developed in the island contemporaneously with the appearance of the [[Megalith|megalithic phenomenon]].

The dolmens culture, around the end of the 3rd millennium BC, passed with other typical material aspects of [[Western Europe]] (e.g. [[Beaker culture|Bell Beaker]]) through by the Sardinian coast even in [[Sicily]].<ref>Salvatore Piccolo, ''Ancient Stones: The Prehistoric Dolmens of Sicily''. Abingdon: Brazen Head Publishing, 2013, {{ISBN|9780956510624}}, p. 32.</ref>

Prehistoric and Pre-nuragic monuments and constructions that characterise the Sardinian landscapes are the [[Domus de Janas]] ({{langx|sc|House of the Fairies, House of the Witches}}), the [[menhir]] and [[Statue menhir]] and the [[dolmens]].

===Chronology of Pre-Nuragic Sardinia===
Archeological cultures of Sardinia in the pre-Nuragic period:<ref>Giovanni Ugas-L'Alba dei Nuraghi p. 12</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! [[Archaeological culture]]
! Years before Christ
|-
| [[Cardium pottery]] or [[Filiestru culture]]
| 6000–4000
|-
| [[Bonu Ighinu culture]]
| 4000–3400
|-
| [[San Ciriaco culture]]
| 3400–3200
|-
| [[Ozieri culture]]
| 3200–2700
|-
| [[Abealzu-Filigosa culture]]
| 2700–2400
|-
| [[Monte Claro culture]]
| 2400–2100
|-
| [[Bell Beaker culture]]
| 2100–1800
|-
| [[Bonnanaro culture]] (A phase)
| 1800–1600
|}

===Nuragic period===
[[File:Nuraghe Losa.jpg|thumb|right|220px|[[Nuraghe Losa]]]]
{{Main|Nuragic civilization}}
[[Bronze Age Europe|Bronze Age]] Sardinia is characterised by stone structures called [[nuraghe]]s, of which there are more than 8,000. The most famous is the [[Su Nuraxi di Barumini|complex of Barumini]] in the [[province of Medio Campidano]]. The nuraghes were mainly built in the period from about 1800 to 1200 BC, though many were used until the Roman period. Characteristics of this period are also the [[Nuragic holy well|holy well temples]] (for example Santa Cristina, [[Paulilatino]]), the megara temples and the [[Giants' grave]]s.

The Nuragic Sards also produced a vast collection of [[Nuragic bronze statuettes|bronze statuettes]] and the so-called [[giants of Mont'e Prama]], which might constitute the first anthropomorphic statues of Europe.

It is known that the [[Sardinians]] had contact with the [[Mycenaean Greece|Myceneans]], who traded with the western Mediterranean. Contact with powerful cities of Crete, such as [[Kydonia]], is clear from pottery recovered in [[archaeological]] excavations in Sardinia.<ref>C. Michael Hogan, [http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/10881/cydonia.html#fieldnotes "Cydonia"], ''Modern Antiquarian'', 23 January 2008</ref> The alleged connection with the [[Sherden]], one of the sea peoples who invaded [[Egypt]] and other areas of eastern Mediterranean, has been supported by scholars like the professor Giovanni Ugas from the [[University of Cagliari]];<ref>[http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/sardi_%28Dizionario-di-Storia%29/ Sardi in ''Dizionario di Storia'' (2011), Treccani]</ref><ref>[http://www.sardiniapost.it/culture/nuovo-studio-dellarcheologo-ugas-e-certo-i-nuragici-erano-gli-shardana/ Nuovo studio dell’archeologo Ugas: "È certo, i nuragici erano gli Shardana"]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sardiniapoint.it/5085.html |title=''Shardana, sardi nuragici: erano lo stesso popolo?'', Interview with Giovanni Ugas (in Italian) |access-date=13 February 2017 |archive-date=5 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200405144452/http://www.sardiniapoint.it/5085.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> this hypothesis has been however opposed by other archaeologists and historians.<ref>Stephen L. Dyson and Robert J. Rowland, ''Archaeology And History in Sardinia From The Stone Age to the Middle Ages: Shepherds, Sailors, & Conquerors'' (UPenn Museum of Archaeology, 2007: {{ISBN|1-934536-02-4}}), p. 101 (with refs).</ref>

The name of the island could result from ''[[Sardus]]'' (known amongst the Romans as ''Sardus Pater''), a mythological hero of the Nuragic pantheon.