Editing Nuraghe

{{Short description|Ancient type of tower common in Sardinia}}
{{use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
[[File:Nuraghe Losa.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Nuraghe Losa]]]]
[[File:Central tower of the Nuraghe at Saint Antine of Torralba.jpg|thumb|200px|Central tower of the [[Nuraghe Santu Antine]] of [[Torralba, Sardinia|Torralba]]]]
[[File:Nuraghe Su Nuraxi.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Su Nuraxi (Barumini)|Nuraghe "Su Nuraxi"]]]]
The '''nuraghe''', or '''nurhag''',<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nurhag |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/nurhag |access-date=29 March 2023 |website=Collins Dictionary}}</ref> is the main type of ancient [[megalith]]ic [[Building|edifice]] found in [[Sardinia]], Italy, developed during the [[History of Sardinia#Nuragic period|Nuragic Age]] between 1900 and 730&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Depalmas, A. |author2=R. T. Melis |article=The Nuragic People: Their settlements, economic activities and use of the land, Sardinia, Italy. |title=Landscapes and Societies: Selected Cases |editor1=Martini, I. P. |editor2=Chesworth, W. |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media]] |location=New York, NY |year=2010}}</ref> Today it has come to be the symbol of Sardinia and its distinctive culture known as the [[Nuragic civilization]]. More than 7,000 nuraghes have been found, though archeologists believe that originally there were more than 10,000.<ref>Sergio Vacca, Angelo Aru, Paolo Baldaccini, ''Rapporti tra suoli e insediamenti nuragici nella regione del Marghine-Planargia (Sardegna centro-occidentale), in Il sistema uomo-ambiente tra passato e presente'', a cura di Claude Albore Livadie e Franco Ortolani, Edipuglia, Bari, 1998, {{ISBN|88-7228-197-0}}</ref>

==Etymology==

Natively, the structure is called a ''nuraghe'' ({{IPA|sc|nuˈɾaɣɛ|lang}}, {{IPA|it|nuˈraːɡe|lang}}; plural: [[Logudorese dialect|Logudorese Sardinian]] {{lang|sc|nuraghes}}, [[Campidanese dialect|Campidanese Sardinian]] {{lang|sc|nuraxis}} {{IPA|sc|nuˈɾaʒizi|}}, [[Italian language|Italian]] {{lang|it|nuraghi}}). According to the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' the etymology is "uncertain and disputed": "The word is perhaps related to the Sardinian place names ''Nurra'', ''Nurri'', ''Nurru'', and to Sardinian ''nurra'' 'heap of stones, cavity in earth' (although these senses are difficult to reconcile). A connection with the Semitic base of Arabic ''nūr'' 'light, fire, etc.' is now generally rejected."<ref>''Oxford English Dictionary'' (online ed.), s.v. ''nuraghe''.</ref> The Latin word ''murus'' ('wall') may be related to it,<ref>M. Pittau, philologist</ref> being a result of the derivation: ''murus''–''*muraghe''–nuraghe. However, such theories are debated.

An etymological theory suggests a [[Proto-Basque language|Proto-Basque]] origin by the term ''*nur'' (stone) with the common {{nowrap|-''ak''}} plural ending;<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/1559257/Recensione_di_Blasco_Ferrer_Paleosardo Recensione di Blasco Ferrer, Paleosardo]</ref> the [[Paleo-Sardinian language|Paleo-Sardinian]] suffix {{nowrap|-''ake''}} is also found in some [[Indo-European languages]] such as [[Latin]] and [[Greek language|Greek]].<ref>M. Wagner, La lingua sarda, Berna 1951</ref> Another possible explanation is that the term ''nuraghe'' came from the name of the [[Iberians|Iberian]] mythological hero [[Norax]], and the root ''*nur'' would be an adaptation of the Indo-European root ''*nor''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Ugas|first=Giovanni|title=L'alba dei Nuraghi|publisher=Fabula|year=2005|isbn=88-89661-00-3|location=Cagliari|pages=25}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Arquer|first=Sigismondo|title=Sardiniae brevis historia et descriptio|publisher=CUEC|year=2008|editor-last=Laneri|editor-first=Maria Teresa|pages=16|quote=Nowadays Sardinia is part of Spain and ancient tower-like ruins tapered towards the upper end dot the rural and mountainous areas, and they are built with solid rocks and have narrow openings; to the center are small steps leading to the top: they seem like fortresses. The native Sardinians call this type of ruins Nuraghes, perhaps because they are what is left of Norax's feats. [original text: Hodie insula paret regi Hispanorum habetque passim antiquissimas ruinas in locis agrestibus et montosis instar rotundarum turrium in angustiam ascendentium, quae robustissimis saxis sunt extructae, habentes ianuas angustissimas; intra vero muri mediam latitudinem sunt gradus per quos in altum conscenditur: prae se ferunt formam propugnaculorum. Incolae vocant huiusmodi ruinas nuragos, fortassis quod reliquiae quaedam sint operum Noraci.]}}</ref>

[[File:Sardegna densità nuragica.svg|thumb|160px|Density map of nuraghes on [[Sardinia]] per km<sup>2</sup>.]]

==General layout==
The typical nuraghe is situated in areas where previous prehistoric Sardinian cultures had been distributed, that, is not far from [[alluvial]] plains (though few nuraghes appear in plains currently as they were destroyed by human activities such as agriculture, dams and road building) and has the outer shape of a truncated conical tower, thus resembling a medieval tower, with a [[Tholos (architecture)|tholos]]-like vault inside.<ref name="museo">[[:it:Museo archeologico nazionale di Nuoro]], [http://www.museoarcheologiconuoro.beniculturali.it/index.php?it/32/siti-e-monumenti/14/il-sarcidano-orroli-nuraghe-arrubiu Il Sarcidano: Orroli, Nuraghe Arrubiu] at www.museoarcheologiconuoro.beniculturali.it. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150630132832/http://www.museoarcheologiconuoro.beniculturali.it/index.php?it%2F32%2Fsiti-e-monumenti%2F14%2Fil-sarcidano-orroli-nuraghe-arrubiu |date=2015-06-30 }}</ref>

The structure's walls consist of three components: an outer layer (tilted inwards and made of many layers of stones whose size diminishes with increasing height: mostly, lower layers consist of rubble masonry, while upper layers tend to be of [[ashlar]] masonry); an inner layer, made of smaller stones (to form a [[Corbel arch|corbelled dome]] of the bullet-shaped ''[[Beehive tomb|tholos]]'' type, and where ashlar masonry is used more frequently); and an intermediate layer of very small pieces and dirt, which makes the whole construction very sturdy: it stands only by virtue of the weight of its stones, which may each amount to several tons. Some nuraghes are about {{Convert|20|m|ft|round=5}} in height, the tallest one known, [[Nuraghe Arrubiu]], reached a height of {{Convert|25|-|30|m|ft|round=5}}.<ref name="museo"/>

The entrance leads into a corridor, on whose sides are often open niches, that lead to the round chamber. A spiral stone stair, leading to upper floors (if present) and/or to a terrace, was built within the thick walls and it was illuminated by embrasures. The Nuragic towers might have as much as three corbel chambers one on top of the other. In complex nuraghes corridors were often present, sometimes corbelled, such as at [[Nuraghe Santu Antine|Santu Antine]], in which the corbelled arch corridors were superimposed on two levels, and reached a length of {{Convert|27|m|ft}}.

Today fewer than 7,000&nbsp;nuraghes remain standing; their number was originally larger. Nuraghes are most prevalent in the northwest and south-central parts of the island.<ref>''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'', "Italy."</ref>
<gallery name="Construction" details="">
File:Buddusò - Nuraghe Loelle (08).JPG|Access
Nicchia est del Nuraghe Pranu.JPG|Niche of the central chamber
File:Bortigali - Nuraghe Orolo (33).JPG|Stairwell
Santa antine (6).JPG|Tholos of Sant'Antine nuraghe
Su_mulinu_-_vista.jpg|Window and embrasures
Nuraghe, 1600 B.C..jpg|Reconstruction of a nuraghe from 1600 B.C.
</gallery>

==Function==
[[File:Nuraghe la Prisciona.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Nuraghe La Prisciona]], Nuraghe village near [[Arzachena]], Sardinia]]
There is no consensus on the function of the nuraghes: they could have been rulers' residences, military strongholds, meeting halls, religious temples, ordinary dwellings or a combination of any of these things. Some of the nuraghes are, however, located in strategic places – such as hills – from which important passages could be easily controlled. They might have been something between a "status symbol" and a "passive defence" building, meant to be a deterrent for possible enemies.

Nuraghes could also have been the "national" symbol of the Nuragic peoples. Small-scale models of nuraghe have often been excavated at religious sites (e.g. in the "maze" temple at the Su Romanzesu site near [[Bitti]] in central Sardinia). Nuraghes may have just connoted wealth or power, or they may have been an indication that a site had its owners. Recent unconfirmed theories tend to suggest that Sardinian towns were independent entities (such as the [[city-state]]s, although in a geographical sense they were not cities) that formed federations and that the building of these monuments might have depended on agreed-on distributions of territory among federated unities.

They were not tombs of princes and their families, as was mistakenly believed by taking as an argument the discovery of human remains there, but of strata of a later age than the Nuragic, that is, Carthaginian and Roman. Neither were they monumental temples, which today are known to be of different shapes and types, even for prehistoric island times, likewise burials (domus de janas or "fairy houses"; tumbas de sos gigantes or "tombs of the giants").<ref>{{Cite web |last=lostcivilizations |date=2023-09-20 |title=Vestiges of a remote civilization: the nuraghi of Sardinia |url=https://www.neperos.com/article/s1a0v4545b26b4fc |website=Neperos.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 2002, Juan Belmonte and Mauro Zedda measured the entrance orientations ([[declination]]s and [[azimuth]]s) of 272 simple nuraghes and of the central towers of 180&nbsp;complex ones. The data revealed clear peaks corresponding to orientations pointing to the sunrise at winter [[solstice]] and to the Moon at its southernmost rising position. These alignments remained constant throughout the history of nuraghe.<ref name="Belm">{{cite journal |author1=Zedda, M. |author2=Belmonte, J.A. |year=2004 |title=On the orientations of Sardinian nuraghes: Some clues to their interpretation |journal=Journal for the History of Astronomy |issn=0021-8286 |volume=35 Part&nbsp;1 |issue=118 |page=92|doi=10.1177/002182860403500104 |bibcode=2004JHA....35...85Z |s2cid=120386421 }}</ref> The most common declinations revealed were of around −43° for the earlier nuraghes, shifting to just −45½° for the later. Zedda has suggested that the target is likely a star, quite possibly [[Alpha Centauri]].<ref name="Belm"/>
[[File:Particolare del Nuraghe Bruncu Madugui.JPG|thumb|Protonuraghe Bruncu Madugui, [[Gesturi]]]]
[[File:Silanus - Nuraghe di Santa Sabina (07).JPG|thumb|Nuraghe di Santa Sabina, from [[Silanus, Sardinia|Silanus]], an example of a monotower nuraghe.]]
[[File:Villanova Truschedu - Nuraghe Santa Barbara (49).JPG|thumb|Nuraghe Santa Barbara, [[Villanova Truschedu]], an example of a tancadu nuraghe.]]

==Types==
===Protonuraghe===
[[Protonuraghe]]s are considered to be the most archaic type; they differ somewhat from the "classical" (tholos-vaulted) nuraghes in their stockier look. Protonuraghes generally follow an irregular plan and lack the large circular room present in presumed later forms; instead, they are laid out along one or more corridors or long rooms. Although lacking the central circular room, they are sometimes similar in size to later nuraghes.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Melis, Paolo.|title=Civiltà nuragica|date=2003|publisher=C. Delfino|isbn=88-7138-287-0|oclc=729900794}}</ref>

===Mixed nuraghe===
This type is distinguished by the restorations made in later times, supposedly because of a change to the protonuraghes design, or for other needs.

===Single-tower nuraghe===
This is considered to be the predominant type of nuraghe, and it represents the most diffused typology.<ref name=":1" /> The single tower, of a truncated conical shape, contains one or more superimposed chambers, covered by a [[Beehive tomb|tholos-shaped]] chamber. The access, generally located at the ground level, leads into a passageway that leads, in the front, into the central chamber and in one side (usually the left) in the helical staircase, built inside the wall mass, that lead to the terrace or to the upper-floor chamber.

In addition to the usual circular rooms, in their inside can be found other smaller environments such as niches.

===A "tancadu" nuraghe===
A "tancadu" nuraghe ([[Sardinian language|Sardinian]] term for courtyard) represents the evolution of the single-tower nuraghe; another circular building was later added to the main tower, with two enclosing curtain walls connecting the two. A courtyard was present within the structure, sometimes provided with a well.
[[File:- Palmavera.JPG|thumb|right|Nuraghe Palmavera, Alghero]]
[[File:Gonnesa-Seruci01.jpg|thumb|right|Nuraghe Seruci, [[Gonnesa]]]]

===Polylobed nuraghe===
Also called ''Nuragic royal palaces'', the polylobed nuraghes are the least frequent typology. Very elaborate and often designed in a unified manner, they look like veritable fortresses with several towers linked by high ramparts, whose function was to offer more useful space and perhaps to reinforce the central tower. These "Megalithic castles" were surrounded by additional walls, sometimes also provided with towers (the so-called bulwark).

==Notable nuraghes==
[[File:Ricostruzione nuraghi complessi.jpg|thumb|Graphic reconstruction of some complex nuraghes]]
Nuraghes are inscribed on the [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]] list. [[Su Nuraxi di Barumini]], in the south of the island, has been chosen to represent all the nuragic patrimony, but one of the highest and most complex nuraghes is the [[Nuraghe Santu Antine]] near the village of [[Torralba, Sardinia|Torralba]], in northern Sardinia. Other famous nuraghes are near [[Alghero]] ([[Nuraghe Palmavera]]), [[Macomer]], [[Abbasanta]] (see [[Nuraghe Losa|Losa]]), [[Orroli]] ([[Nuraghe Arrubiu]]), [[Gonnesa]] ([[Nuraghe Seruci]]) and [[Villanovaforru]] ([[Nuraghe Genna Maria]]).

==Date and cultural significance==
The nuraghes were built between the middle of the [[Bronze Age]] (18th–15th&nbsp;centuries&nbsp;BCE) and the [[Late Bronze Age]]. The claim that the El-[[Ahwat]] structures from [[Israel]] might be related has been contested; those are dated to either the 12th or the 11th century BCE.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Finkelstein|first=Israel|date=2008|title=Radiocarbon Dating and Philistine Chronology with an Addendum on el-Ahwat|journal=Ägypten und Levante|volume=17|pages=73–82|doi=10.1553/aeundl17s73|issn=1015-5104}}</ref> The only buildings widely accepted as being related to nuraghes are the [[Torrean civilization|''torri'']] (plural of ''torre'') from [[southern Corsica]] and the [[talaiot]]s from [[Menorca]] and [[Mallorca]].<ref name=":0" />

According to [[Massimo Pallottino]], an Italian archaeologist specialized in [[Etruscology]], the architecture produced by the [[Nuragic civilization]] was the most advanced of any in the western Mediterranean during this epoch, including those in the regions of [[Magna Graecia]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pallottino, Massimo, 1909–1995|title=La Sardegna nuragica.|date=1950|publisher=Edizioni del Gremio|oclc=1091906621}}</ref> Of the 7,000 extant nuraghes, only a few have been scientifically excavated.

==Image gallery==
<gallery>
File:Orroli, Nuraghe Arrubiu ..JPG|Nuraghe Arrubiu, [[Orroli]]
File:Nuraghe_santa_barbara,_veduta_01.JPG|Nuraghe Santa Barbara, [[Macomer]]
File:Nuraghe Adoni, lato Est.JPG|[[Nuraghe Adoni]]
File:Nuraghe Is Paras 3.jpg|[[Nuraghe Is Paras]]
File:Il Nuraghe Nolza e i suoi ambienti interni.jpg|Stairwell inside Nuraghe Nolza
File:Nuraghe Iloi - Sedilo 2.jpg|Nuraghe Iloi, [[Sedilo]]
File:Giave, nuraghe Oes (03).jpg|Nuraghe Oes, [[Giave]]
File:Chiaramonti - Nuraghe Ruiu (08).JPG|Nuraghe Ruiu, [[Chiaramonti]]
File:Silanus, nuraghe Orolio (04).jpg|Nuraghe Orolio, [[Silanus, Sardinia|Silanus]]
File:Torralba, nuraghe Santu Antine (07).jpg|Nuraghe Santu Antine, [[Torralba, Sardinia|Torralba]]
File:Nuraghe loelle budduso.jpg|Nuraghe Loelle, [[Buddusò]]
File:Bortigali - Nuraghe Orolo (10).JPG|Nuraghe Orolo, [[Bortigali]]
File:Codrongianos - Nuraghe Nieddu (06).JPG|Nuraghe Nieddu, [[Codrongianos]]
File:S'Urachi nuraghe.jpg|[[Nuraghe S'Urachi]]
File:Su mulinu 3.jpg|[[Nuraghe Su Mulinu]], [[Villanovafranca]]
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Ahwat]] – site in Israel
with structure similar to nuraghes 
*[[Beehive tomb]]
*[[Broch]] of Scotland 
*[[Giants' grave]] of Sardinia 
*[[Girna]] of Malta 
*[[Motillas]] of Spain

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book|last=Dyson Stephen L.|first=Rowland Robert J.|title=Shepherds, sailors, & conquerors – Archeology and History in Sardinia from the Stone Age to the Middle Ages|location= Philadelphia |publisher= University of Pennsylvania, Museum of Archeology and Anthropology|year=2007|isbn=978-1-934536-02-5}}
* Giovanni Lilliu, [https://web.archive.org/web/20130923020912/http://www.sardegnacultura.it/documenti/7_49_20060511103620.pdf ''I nuraghi. Torri preistoriche della Sardegna''], Nuoro, Edizioni Ilisso, 2005. {{ISBN|88-89188-53-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Lilliu |first=Giovanni |title=La civiltà dei Sardi. Dal Paleolitico all'età dei nuraghi |publisher=Edizioni il Maestrale |year=2004 |isbn=978-88-86109-73-4 |language=it }}
* Paolo Melis, [http://www.sardegnacultura.it/documenti/7_26_20060401123630.pdf ''Civiltà Nuragica''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180523222253/http://www.sardegnacultura.it/documenti/7_26_20060401123630.pdf |date=2018-05-23 }}, Sassari, Delfino editore, 2003. {{ISBN|88-7138-287-0}}
* Giovanni Ugas, ''L'alba dei Nuraghi'', Cagliari, Fabula, 2005. {{ISBN|88-89661-00-3}}
*{{Cite book|title=Shardana e Sardegna : i popoli del mare, gli alleati del Nordafrica e la fine dei Grandi Regni (XV-XII secolo a.C.)|last=Ugas|first=Giovanni|publisher=Edizioni della Torre|year=2016|isbn=9788873434719|location=Cagliari|language=it}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Nuraghi|Nuraghe}}
*[https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=39.705899,8.990604&spn=0.004964,0.009408&t=k&hl=en Aerial photograph of ''Su Nuraxi'']
*[http://www.nuraghi.org Nuraghi.org Su Nuraxi of Barumini]
*[http://www.tharros.info/NuraghiMap.php A map of all Nuraghes in Sardinia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019143525/http://www.tharros.info/NuraghiMap.php |date=2013-10-19 }}
*[http://nurnet.crs4.it/nurnetgeo/ Another map providing the location of each Nuraghe – Nurnet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150104213240/http://nurnet.crs4.it/nurnetgeo/ |date=4 January 2015 }}
*[http://www.archeologiasarda.com ArcheologiaSarda.com ] {{in lang|it}}
*[http://www.neroargento.com/index.htm NeroArgento.com ] {{in lang|it}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20091213003140/http://www.isolavirtuale.it/index.php/archeologia/52-nuragica Virtual Reconstructions ] {{in lang|it}}
*[http://www.virtualtravel.cz/sardinia/barumini/nuraghe-su-nuraxi-di-barumini.html Virtual Tour in HD ]{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

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[[Category:Nuraghe| ]]
[[Category:Archaeology of Sardinia]]
[[Category:Types of monuments and memorials]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Sardinia]]
[[Category:Megalithic monuments in Italy]]