Ercole Contu. Un profilo scientifico-accademico

Ercole Contu: An Academic and Scientific Profile The present paper examines the academic and scientific career of Ercole Contu within both the Italian and the Sardinian historical and cultural context. His archaeological training began with a degree in Classics at the University of Cagliari in 1948, under the supervision of Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli and Giovanni Lilliu, followed by his first academic appointments as an assistant in Classical Archaeology. After working for the Italian Administration of Antiquities and Fine Arts in Bologna, Cagliari and Sassari as a temporary employee, draftsman and conservator-restorer, in 1964 he successfully passed the competitive examination for the position of Archaeological Inspector at the Superintendency of Antiquities of Sassari. He was promoted to the rank of Director in 1970 and to Deputy Superintendent in 1975. In the same year he left the Superintendency after being appointed Extraordinary Professor at the University of Sassari, where he had been teaching Sardinian Antiquities since 1970. From 1978 he served several terms as Director of the Institute of Antiquities and Art within the Faculty of Education, and from 1979 as Dean of the same Faculty. In 1980 he was appointed Full Professor. In 1952, following the advice of Antonio Segni, Contu initiated his pioneering nvestigations at the prehistoric sanctuary of Monte d'Accoddi. During the early 1960s he directed numerous excavations at some of Sardinia's most important Nuragic sites, including the nuraghi of Peppe Gallu (Uri), Fronte Mola (Thiesi), Noddule (Nuoro), and, subsequently, Santu Antine (Torralba) and Palmavera (Alghero), as well as the rock-cut necropoleis of Mandra Antine (Thiesi), Anghelu Ruju and Santu Pedru (Alghero). Contu also played a major role in the development of Sardinian museology. In 1973 he oversaw the new exhibition layout of the Sanna Museum in Sassari, placing particular emphasis on educational and interpretative displays. Following his retirement in 1994, he was awarded the title of Professor Emeritus of the University of Sassari in 2003.