Nuraghe La Prisgiona

General view, on the right the main tower

The Nuraghe La Prisgiona is located near Arzachena in the province of Sassari in Sardinia . The facility has not yet been fully excavated. Historical evidence so far shows that it was used between the 14th and 9th centuries BC. Chr. In addition, it was used in the Roman Empire .

The round main tower (mastio) and two side towers are surrounded by an enclosure wall together with the larger courtyard. The mastion is more than six meters high and has a false dome ; the entrance is spanned by an asymmetrically built, massive, 3.2 m long lintel . Inside there are three niches arranged in a cross shape. In the seven-meter-deep well in the courtyard, vessels were found that suggest a sacred use.

The village around the bastion consists of around 90 individual buildings. Some are arranged in ensembles of five each, which are interpreted as workshops that enable production beyond local use.

A semicircular oven, which was probably used for baking, was discovered in one of the huts. In addition, a vault-like stone cover and a flat granite slab, both strongly compressed by high heat, indicate the production of flatbread . Such bread is still made today in the nuraghi area.

The bastion is additionally protected by a double fortification wall that encloses another courtyard. The wall begins at an important building, the "assembly hut", which, apart from the actual nuraghe, is the only room with access to the fortified courtyard. A kind of round basin in the middle of the room and two combustion surfaces indicate a cultic use.

The type of Bronze Age round building with cantilever vaults that can be found here is called Tholos construction and is quite unusual for Gallura .

In the immediate vicinity of the Nuraghe La Prisgiona is Coddu Vecchiu , and a little further on Li Muri and Li Lolghi . The temples of Malchittu and Protonuraghe Albucciu are also located near Arzachena .