ARCHITETTURE IN TERRA CRUDA DELLA SARDEGNA: MATERIALI E TECNICHE COSTRUTTIVE DELLE FORME DELL’ABITARE DELL’UOMO TRA PREISTORIA E PROTOSTORIA.

This doctoral thesis investigates the use of building materials—particularly earth, wood, and cork—in the settlement contexts of prehistoric and protohistoric Sardinia, with special attention to the Nuragic period. While archaeological research has traditionally focused on durable stone structures, the role of organic and earthen materials in shaping domestic and productive spaces has remained largely understudied. This research seeks to address that gap by examining architecture not only as a material product but also as the outcome of complex technological, economic, social, and cultural processes. The study adopts an interdisciplinary approach that combines archaeological analysis, architectural studies, ethnography, and ethnoarchaeology. A comprehensive review of the archaeological literature and archival documentation was undertaken to reconstruct the state of research on earthen architecture in the Mediterranean and to identify evidence of earth, wood, and cork in Sardinian settlement sites from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. The collected data were organized into a systematic catalogue of archaeological evidence and analyzed through geographical, chronological, technological, and functional criteria. A central contribution of the thesis is the development of a methodological protocol for the identification, classification, and interpretation of earthen building remains. The protocol integrates morphological, technological, and stratigraphic observations and aims to standardize the study of materials that are often poorly preserved and inconsistently documented in archaeological records. The methodology was tested through detailed analyses of selected case studies from the archaeological sites of Biriai (Oliena), Iloi (Sedilo), and Palmavera (Alghero), where direct examination of earthen fragments provided new insights into construction techniques, building maintenance, and the functional organization of domestic and productive spaces. The research is further enriched by an examination of Sardinia’s ethnographic heritage, including traditional pastoral shelters (pinnettos/pinnettas) and mudbrick houses (domos de ladiri) of the Campidano region. These examples provide valuable comparative data for understanding building practices, resource procurement, labor organization, and technical knowledge transmission, while avoiding simplistic assumptions of cultural continuity. The results demonstrate that earthen architecture and other perishable materials played a far more significant role in Sardinian prehistoric and protohistoric settlements than previously recognized. Their study reveals important information about settlement organization, environmental adaptation, technological choices, social structures, and cultural perceptions of domestic space. By restoring analytical visibility to these often-overlooked components of the built environment, the thesis contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of ancient dwelling practices and offers new methodological tools for the investigation of earthen architecture in Sardinia and across the wider prehistoric Mediterranean.