Pirosu Grotto
The sacred grotto of Pirosu ( Italian Grotta sacra di Pirosu - also called Su Benatzu), south of the city of Santadi in the province of Sud Sardegna in Sardinia , is a nuragic cave sanctuary that was discovered in 1968 and the range of Sardinian cult sites of the nuragic culture by a variant enriched.
In the approximately 120.0 m long cave sanctuary there is a natural water basin and a fire altar , which was surrounded by a 50 cm high layer of ash and charcoal. The deposited votive offerings consisted of over 1000 clay vessels, over 100 metal objects made of bronze , gold and copper , including a votive boat loaded with dogs and birds (perhaps of Etruscan origin), a talisman in the form of a cult ax, a mirror and a tripod (all made of bronze) . The latter is said to have stood on the stalagmite used as a fire altar . The tripod is the local imitation of Cypriot prototypes from the 11th century BC. Also worth mentioning are the fragments of an ox skin bar made of copper and a dagger .
The grotto in today's Parco del Sulcis is one of the most important places of worship at this time. Already visited by the pre-Uraghic era, it was of great importance in the nuragic era, as evidenced by the variety and number of materials deposited.
The Nuragher not only set up places of worship such as well and spring shrines, they also used caves where they believed they were particularly close to the gods. They conjured this up in the Grotta di Ispinigoli near Dorgali . There, in the 35 m deep connecting shaft to the “Grotta Su Anzu”, 18 bracelets made of bronze and silver and over 1000 glass river pearls were found, which were once thrown down but remained on a ledge halfway up. Today the shaft is called "Abisso delle vergini" (Maiden of the Virgin). The grotto is a tourist attraction with its huge, almost 40 m high stalactite column.
See also
literature
- E. Atzeni: La preistoria del Sulcis-Iglesiente. In: AA VV .: Iglesias. Storia e Società. Iglesias, 1987, pp. 7-57.
Web links
- Description in Italian and pictures ( Memento from December 15, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
Coordinates: 39 ° 3 ′ 16 ″ N , 8 ° 42 ′ 24 ″ E