Ricerche di archeologia dei paesaggi nell’alto oristanese

The present contribution, on the basis of a reconstruction of Antique and Medieval cultural landscapes, proposes the analysis of a Central-Western area of Sardinia embracing the Southern ridge of the Montiferru volcanic mountain chain. The examined region, comprise within the modern territories of Bonarcado, Milis, Narbolia and Seneghe belonging to Oristano’s Province, widens over an area of circa 145 square kilometres. The region is morphologically characterized by limited plains and mountains and prevailing hills. The reasons beyond the choice of such territories as a basis for a landscape archaeology approach are manifold. Among other things can be highlighted a substantial geo-morphological homogeneity, natural borders able to circumscribe the region together with the intrinsic characteristic of the territory as an in-between zone among the coastal and plain region of the Campidano and the mountainous internal regions. The region has also been a boundary area in different historical phases characterized by abundance of natural resources which have influenced the original human settlement and subsequent settlement dynamics. The research presented here, using instruments and strategies typical of landscape archaeology together with a systematic and holistic approach to the territory and the historical evolution has attempted to reconstruct settlement dynamics and landscape transformations, in diachronic order, from early settlement to the end of Medieval times.