Attaquer, parer, riposter : hypothèses sur le rôle de la guerre dans la Protohistoire de la péninsule italienne et de la Sardaigne

Considering the archaeological and anthropological evidence as well as monuments (Sardinia) and fortified villages, and bearing in mind the scarce information in literary and juridical sources, the data useful for the reconstruction of war strategies and techniques in the two very different territorial areas on the two opposing shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea are evaluated. The examination will therefore include observations in relation to the characteristics observed in the Italian peninsula and Sardinia from a diachronic perspective. For this purpose, the weapons used in the different periods are analysed not only from a typological approach but in particular as functional elements, in order to understand their effective use and the tactics practiced. The landscape will also be taken into account in determining whether and when one is engaged in ambush warfare (forested and mountainous terrain) or open-field battles (valley floors, plains). Considerations are made in relation to the extension, in terms of surface and perimeter, of the naturally defended areas of the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic areas, also in reference to the effective capacity to defend the settlement by more or less numerous groups of warriors. In this way, the objective differences between the mainland and Sardinia will be highlighted. An attempt will be made to identify different components and specialisations within the armies: archers, fromboliers, light or heavy infantry, mounted fighters, and to hypothesise the numbers and consistency of the war units based on the presence and extension of the existing defensive circuit of fortresses, their number and, in some territorial cases, their location. From this perspective, Sardinian Early Iron Age figurative bronze productions constitute a significant context of evidence, showing an articulated group of differently specialised armourers. More complicated is the issue of the duration and modalities of sieges and, above all, the presence of possible siege machines. In the Italian peninsula, the evidence of war outbreaks and the construction of fortresses, equipped places to house dwellings and/or shelter people and material goods, implies the existence of wars with a strong destructive impact, probably conducted in relation to defined territorial borders; the presence of coastal forts implies that large groups of enemies could arrive not only by land but also by sea. War on the sea must also be assessed in relation to the social organisation which, through various stages of growth, can achieve a naval structure as a prelude to an institutional fleet. War on the sea goes from being episodic and pirate-like to fleet warfare only with the consolidation of state entities.