nuraghe Arzu
DatedEst. 1900–730 BCE
No licensed photograph yetWe have no photograph we may publish for this site, so the interpretive 3D view leads instead.
Overview
About this site
Overview
Nuraghe Arzu is a ruined nuraghe, a Nuragic tower-building, at Monte Jana in the territory of Siligo, in Sardinia, Italy. It stands not far from the nuraghi Conzattu and S'Aspru.
The building is partly collapsed and buried, and only traces of its circular plan and a few stretches of wall are visible.
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Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
Article
nuraghe Arzu
Its ground plan is at present difficult to read, although traces of a circular structure are visible, with a diameter of 11,50 metres.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Italian): Nuraghe ArzuCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Italian): Nuraghe ArzuCC BY-SA 4.0
The nuraghe lies along the edge of a rocky ridge, 400 m from the rise of Monte Jana. Its ground plan is at present difficult to read, although traces of a circular structure are visible, with a diameter of 11,50 metres. The building is partly collapsed and buried.
Only some stretches of the wall facing can be seen. They are made of medium-sized limestone stones, carefully roughly dressed. On the north-west side the wall runs for a length of 4,30 metres in three courses of stones, with a height of 0,82 metres. On the east side two courses remain, with a height of 0,50 metres over a length of 2,30 metres.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Italian): Nuraghe ArzuCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Italian): Nuraghe ArzuCC BY-SA 4.0
The nuraghe is the main type of ancient megalithic building in Sardinia, and it has become the symbol of the island and of its Nuragic civilization. Nuraghi were built during the Nuragic Age, between 1900 and 730 BCE. More than 7,000 have been found, and archaeologists believe that originally there were more than 10,000. A nuraghe has the outer shape of a truncated conical tower, rather like a medieval tower, with a tholos-like vault inside.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Sardinian nuraghi
The nuraghe is the main type of ancient megalithic building in Sardinia, and it has become the symbol of the island and of its Nuragic civilization. They were built during the Nuragic Age, between 1900 and 730 BCE. More than 7,000 have been found, and archaeologists believe that originally there were more than 10,000. A nuraghe has the outer shape of a truncated conical tower, rather like a medieval tower, with a tholos-like vault inside.
The finest is Su Nuraxi at Barumini, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. Its oldest part is a central tower with three superposed chambers, 18.6 metres high, built of basalt blocks between the seventeenth and thirteenth centuries BCE. In the Late Bronze Age four corner towers joined by a curtain wall were added, and a village grew around it, inhabited from the thirteenth to the sixth century BCE. Scholars consider it the most impressive expression of the Nuragic civilization.
There is no consensus on what the nuraghi were for: rulers' residences, military strongholds, meeting halls, temples and ordinary dwellings have all been proposed. The Nuragic civilization lasted from the eighteenth century BCE until the Iron Age or the beginning of Roman colonisation in 238 BCE, and building of nuraghi had stopped by the twelfth or eleventh century BCE. Its origins are disputed: the traditional theory of Giovanni Lilliu, from 1966, saw migrants related to the Beaker culture, while others argue for local development. Even the word nuraghe has an uncertain and disputed etymology.
Many nuraghi have never been excavated, and their dates are inferred from their form.
When visiting, look for the stone courses, the entrance corridor, and the village of huts that often surrounds the tower.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Nuraghe, Wikipedia: Nuragic civilization, Wikipedia: Su Nuraxi · CC BY-SA 4.0
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 1900–730 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for nuraghes in Italy; this site has not been dated itself. The nuraghe is the main type of ancient megalithic edifice of Sardinia developed during the Nuragic Age between 1900 and 730 BC.Source for this date
Where it stands
Italy
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 40°35′15″ N, 8°42′56″ EFor a GPS or map app: 40.58748, 8.71551
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
- Nuraghenuraghe Ortolu1900–730 BCE
- NuragheNuraghe su Runaghe1900–730 BCE
- Giants' tomb (tomba di giganti)Tomba di giganti Sa Marghine1900–730 BCE
- NuragheNuraghe Sa Marghine II1900–730 BCE
- NuragheNuraghe Sa Marghine I1900–730 BCE
- Nuraghenuraghe sa Marghine1900–730 BCE
- Nuraghenuraghe Crastula1900–730 BCE
- Nuraghenuraghe Santu Ortolu1900–730 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q112044669wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Nuraghe Arzu" (Italian), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors
- Wikipedia (Italian): Nuraghe ArzuCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q112044669CC0