The Use of cork in antiquity: some archaeological data in Sardinia

In this paper, we report some archaeological data from Sardinian contexts useful to summarize the use of the cork and the cork oak in antiquity. This use has its roots in the prehistory of Sardinia Island. Many archaeological researches document that it was already used during the Nuragic period (Bronze Age). The cork was extracted and processed in order to obtain plates, foils, planks, shavings and it was shaped to create various artefacts, such as footwear, containers, boxes, cases, stoppers, etc. Cork wedges were also used in nuragic dry stonewalls as thermal insulating.