Editing Sardinia (section)

=== Prehistory ===
{{See also|Pre-Nuragic Sardinia}}

[[File:Menhir Monte Corru Tundu Sardinia.png|thumb|Monte Corru Tundu Menhir in [[Villa Sant'Antonio]] (5.75 meters high)]]

Sardinia is one of the most geologically ancient bodies of land in Europe. The island was populated in various waves of immigration from prehistory until recent times.

Remains from [[Corbeddu Cave]] in eastern Sardinia have been suggested by some authors to represent the earliest evidence of human presence on Sardinia, around 20,000 years ago, during the [[Last Glacial Maximum]]. However, other authors contend that there is no solid evidence for the occupation of the island until the early [[Mesolithic]], around 10,000 years ago.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Palombo |first1=M.R. |last2=Antonioli |first2=F. |last3=Lo Presti |first3=V. |last4=Mannino |first4=M.A. |last5=Melis |first5=R.T. |last6=Orru |first6=P. |last7=Stocchi |first7=P. |last8=Talamo |first8=S. |last9=Quarta |first9=G. |last10=Calcagnile |first10=L. |last11=Deiana |first11=G. |last12=Altamura |first12=S. |date=May 2017 |title=The late Pleistocene to Holocene palaeogeographic evolution of the Porto Conte area: Clues for a better understanding of human colonization of Sardinia and faunal dynamics during the last 30 ka |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1040618216301781 |journal=Quaternary International |language=en |volume=439 |pages=117–140 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2016.06.014|bibcode=2017QuInt.439..117P |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The [[Neolithic]] began on Sardinia during the [[6th millennium BC]] resulting from the migration of [[Early European Farmers]], replacing the Mesolithic hunter-gatherer populations, with a material culture including the widespread [[Cardium pottery]] style.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lugliè |first=Carlo |date=March 2018 |title=Your path led through the sea … The emergence of Neolithic in Sardinia and Corsica |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1040618217305426 |journal=Quaternary International |language=en |volume=470 |pages=285–300 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2017.12.032|bibcode=2018QuInt.470..285L |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Marcus |first1=Joseph H. |last2=Posth |first2=Cosimo |last3=Ringbauer |first3=Harald |last4=Lai |first4=Luca |last5=Skeates |first5=Robin |last6=Sidore |first6=Carlo |last7=Beckett |first7=Jessica |last8=Furtwängler |first8=Anja |last9=Olivieri |first9=Anna |last10=Chiang |first10=Charleston W. K. |last11=Al-Asadi |first11=Hussein |last12=Dey |first12=Kushal |last13=Joseph |first13=Tyler A. |last14=Liu |first14=Chi-Chun |last15=Der Sarkissian |first15=Clio |date=2020-02-24 |title=Genetic history from the Middle Neolithic to present on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia |journal=Nature Communications |language=en |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=939 |doi=10.1038/s41467-020-14523-6 |issn=2041-1723 |pmc=7039977 |pmid=32094358|bibcode=2020NatCo..11..939M }}</ref> In the mid-Neolithic period, the [[Ozieri culture]], probably of [[Aegean Islands|Aegean origin]], flourished on the island spreading the [[hypogeum]] tombs known as [[domus de Janas]], while the [[Arzachena culture]] of [[Gallura]] built the first [[megalith]]s: circular tombs. In the early 3rd millennium BC, the [[metallurgy]] of [[copper]] and [[silver]] began to develop.

During the late [[Chalcolithic]] the so-called [[Beaker culture]], coming from various parts of [[Continental Europe]], appeared in Sardinia. These new people predominantly settled on the west coast, where the majority of the sites attributed to them had been found.<ref>Giovanni Ugas, ''L'alba dei Nuraghi'' p.22-23-24-25-29-30-31-32</ref> The Beaker culture was followed in the early [[Bronze Age]] by the [[Bonnanaro culture]] which showed both reminiscences of the Beaker and influences by the [[Polada culture]].

As time passed the different Sardinian populations appear to have become united in customs, yet remained politically divided into various small, tribal groupings, at times banding together against invading forces from the sea, and at others waging war against each other. Habitations consisted of round thatched stone huts.
[[File:Nuraghe Losa.jpg|thumb|[[Nuraghe Losa]]]]

==== Nuragic civilization ====
{{Main|Nuragic civilization}}
From about 1500 BC onwards, villages were built around a kind of round tower-fortress called ''[[nuraghe]]''<ref>''Nuraghes'' in [[Logudorese dialect|North-central Sardinian]], ''nuraxis'' in [[Campidanese dialect|South-central Sardinian]], the plural forms being ''[[nuraghe]]'' and ''nuraxi'' respectively.</ref> (usually pluralized as ''nuraghes'' in English and as {{Lang|it|nuraghi}} in Italian). These towers were often reinforced and enlarged with battlements. Tribal boundaries were guarded by smaller lookout Nuraghes erected on strategic hills commanding a view of other territories.

Today, some 7,000 Nuraghes dot the Sardinian landscape. While initially these Nuraghes had a relatively simple structure, with time they became extremely complex and monumental (see for example the ''[[Nuraghe Santu Antine]]'', ''[[Su Nuraxi (Barumini)|Su Nuraxi]]'', or ''[[Nuraghe Arrubiu]]''). The scale, complexity and territorial spread of these buildings attest to the level of wealth accumulated by the Nuragic Sardinians, their advances in technology and the complexity of their society, which was able to coordinate large numbers of people with different roles for the purpose of building the monumental Nuraghes.
[[File:Sa ena e thomes 2.jpg|thumb|left|[[Giants' grave]] in [[Dorgali]] ([[Bronze Age]])]]
The Nuraghes are not the only Nuragic buildings that stand in place, as there are several sacred wells around Sardinia and other buildings with religious purposes such as the [[Giants' grave]] (monumental collective tombs) and collections of religious buildings that probably served as destinations for pilgrimage and mass religious rites (e.g. ''[[Su Romanzesu]]'' near [[Bitti]]).
[[File:Età nuragica, giganti di monte prama, xiii-ix secolo ac ca., da cabras, guerriero 05, 01.jpg|thumb|One of the so-called [[Giants of Mont'e Prama]]]]
At the time, Sardinia was at the centre of several commercial routes and it was an important provider of raw materials such as [[copper]] and lead, which were pivotal for the manufacture of the time. By controlling the extraction of these raw materials and by trading them with other countries, the ancient Sardinians were able to accumulate wealth and reach a level of sophistication that is not only reflected in the complexity of its surviving buildings, but also in its artworks (e.g. the votive [[bronze]] statuettes found across Sardinia or the statues of Mont'e Prama).

According to some scholars, the Nuragic people(s) are identifiable with the [[Sherden]], a tribe of the [[Sea Peoples]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sardiniapoint.it/5085.html|title=SP INTERVISTA>GIOVANNI UGAS: SHARDANA|website=www.sardiniapoint.it|access-date=17 June 2010|archive-date=5 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200405144452/http://www.sardiniapoint.it/5085.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Ugas 2016"/>

The Nuragic civilization was linked with other contemporaneous megalithic civilization of the western Mediterranean, such as the [[Talaiotic culture]] of the [[Balearic Islands]] and the [[Torrean civilization]] of [[Corse-du-Sud|Southern Corsica]]. Evidence of trade with the other civilizations of the time is attested by several artefacts (e.g. pots), coming from as far as [[Cyprus]], [[Crete]], [[Geography of Greece#Mainland|Mainland Greece]], Spain and Italy, that have been found in Nuragic sites, bearing witness to the scope of commercial relations between the Nuragic people and other peoples in Europe and beyond.