Some Observations On Bronze Productions In Nuragic Sardinia Between Aegean Influences And Autonomous Creations

The protohistoric phase in Sardinia is noteworthy for the archaeological phenomena called the “Nuragic Civilization”. Sardinia is historically recognized as an island rich in metal resources, among which stand out above all the mines of copper, lead and silver, and it’s from the Final Bronze Age that start one important and organized exploitation of these resources. Between the end of Final Bronze Age and the beginning of Iron Age it starts a production of work tools for agriculture, carpentry and crafts. Final Bronze Age is also the moment of the flourishing of contacts and trade between Sardinia and other parts of the Mediterranean sea. The first contacts between Nuragic and people from other areas date back to the Middle and Recent Bronze age, as show micenaean pottery and Aegean provenience goods found in nuragic settlements in the South of the island. In the Final Bronze Age there is a clear increase of foreign goods presence, widely overspread all over the island, as a consequence of the enhancement of traffics passing through Sardinia and of the new role of the island in them. Nuragic people are still involved in relationship with the Aegean area, but especially with Cyprus, as demonstrated by many Cypriot bronze artifacts such as tools and tripod stands. At the very end of Bronze Age we also see the first tracks of contacts with the Iberian Peninsula: atlantic swords, daggers, axes and tools overspread and imitated all over Sardinia. Sardinia doesn’t just receive foreign goods, but also technology and models, especially in the metallurgy field. For example, from Cyprus Sardinia learns the lost wax technique for bronze artefacts production, new tools types especially for metal work. The same happens with the Iberian Peninsula, from where Nuragic people take new weapons and tools models. Nuragic bronze work and production become mature, complex and original, also with a good capability of imitation and elaboration of foreign products. In the Final Bronze Age there is a change in the approach of Nuragic people to contacts and traffics with external people. The recent discoveries of nuragic pottery in Cyprus, Crete, Spain, have led to the hypothesis of nuragic groups being actively involved in Mediterranean traffic and routes. These routes, connected to metal traffic, considered Sardinia not only as intermediary base and “customer” for raw metals and artefacts, but as an integral part of trading groups. Aim of the paper is to make a new reflection on the times, the Aegean areas and the models that could have influenced the metallurgical production of Sardinia in Final Bronze and in Early Iron Age. Will be also considered the elements that allow to hypothesize about the role of hinge between East and West played by Sardinia in these times.