Nuraghe S'Ortali 'e su Monti
DatedEst. 1900–730 BCE
Photo SebComelli · CC BY-SA 4.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The nuraghe S'Ortali 'e su Monti, also called nuraghe San Salvatore, is a nuraghe of complex plan at Tortolì, in the Province of Ogliastra, Sardinia, Italy. It belongs to the Nuragic civilization, and the central tower was built about 1500 BCE.
The site forms part of the San Salvatore - S'Ortali 'e su Monti Archaeological Park.
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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 S'Ortali 'e su Monti
The nuraghe has an enclosure wall of irregularly elliptical plan, which is not the canonical form, together with a central tower and lateral towers.
DescriptionSources for this section
Sources for this section
The nuraghe has an enclosure wall of irregularly elliptical plan, which is not the canonical form, together with a central tower and lateral towers. The entrance has a lintel surmounted by a small triangular window, intended to lighten the weight of the masonry. The lintel block was reused from a menhir, perhaps from the alignment, of which two stones survive, on the nearby hill.
ExcavationsSources for this section
Sources for this section
The central tower was excavated in 2010, reaching the layer of the construction period (about 1500 BCE). Burials of the Roman period were found in the stratigraphy.
FindsSources for this section
Sources for this section
Outside the enclosure wall, a number of Nuragic huts had previously been found and, towards the north, an area used for the storage of grain, kept in ten silos. Many of the huts were also equipped with millstones. This find has led to the hypothesis that the main activity of the villagers was the cultivation and processing of wheat.
SettingSources for this section
Sources for this section
Near the Neolithic sacred area on the neighbouring hill, the inhabitants of the village built a giants' tomb for the burial of their dead. A tomb of the Late Neolithic type known as tomba a grotticella (domus de janas) is also present near the nuraghe.
ContextSources for this section
Sources for this section
The nuraghe is the main type of ancient megalithic building in Sardinia. Nuraghi were built during the Nuragic Age, between 1900 and 730 BCE. More than 7,000 have been found.
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
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 1500 BCE
La torre centrale è stata scavata nel 2010, arrivando allo strato del periodo di costruzione (circa 1500 a.C.).
Source
Photographs
2 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
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
- 39°54′48″ N, 9°40′04″ EFor a GPS or map app: 39.91333, 9.66778
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 Santa Giusta1900–730 BCE
- NuragheNuraghe Corti Accas1900–730 BCE
- NuragheNuraghe Serra 'e Ladamini I1900–730 BCE
- NuragheNuraghe Serras in Terazzas1900–730 BCE
- Giants' tomb (tomba di giganti)Tomba dei giganti Is Murdegus1900–730 BCE
- NuragheNuraghe Serra 'e Ladamini II1900–730 BCE
- NuragheNuraghe Costa Arangiu1900–730 BCE
- NuragheNuraghe Baccu Arzula1900–730 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q16583240wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
- Nuraghe Santa Giusta0.9 km W
- Nuraghe Corti Accas1.6 km S
- Nuraghe Serra 'e Ladamini I2.2 km S
- Nuraghe Serras in Terazzas2.4 km S
- Tomba dei giganti Is Murdegus2.6 km NW
- Nuraghe Serra 'e Ladamini II2.6 km S
- Nuraghe Costa Arangiu2.9 km NW
- Nuraghe Baccu Arzula3.2 km S
- Nuraghe Baccu Arzula II3.2 km S
- Nuraghe Muxieddu4.1 km S
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Nuraghe S'Ortali 'e su Monti" (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