Le Donne nella Sardegna fenicia e punica: tradizioni ed evoluzione delle identità: il caso di Monte Sirai

This study focused of Women’s Archaeology and Gender in Phoenician and Punic culture, with special emphasis on Sardinian data (8th-2nd century BC). The research focuses on, amongst others, the archaeological, historical, epigraphical and literary sources. Our approach to Phoenician and Punic women follows the methodology of the so-called “Gender Archaeology”, which relies on a body of theory developed over the last two decades. The study also provides a history and summary on women and gender studies.In the regard of sacral dimension, women played an active role in the religious life and were allowed to serve as priestesses and attend religious festivals. It is perhaps because of their importance in religion, as well as life stages (birth, marriage, and death), that women are so well important in the construction and transmission of social ties.Concentrating our attention about the domestic life, we present several contexts and material not previously published from the ancient phoenician-punic site of Monte Sirai (Carbonia-Italy). We also present various feminine burials from the local necropolis, dated from the late 7th to 4th century BC. The domestic spaces and the funerary dimension work how the social “scenario” in which the women play their important role for the life and the development of the settlement.