Sa Testa
The sacred well ( Italian Pozzo sacro ) of Sa Testa was discovered in the 1930s by shepherds searching for water on the coastal road from Olbia to Golfo Aranci in Sardinia . The excavation was carried out by Francesco Soldati in 1938. The structure was restored in 1969 by Ercole Contu.
The monument, made of worked granite and slate blocks, lies on a slight slope in a saddle between low hills on an axis running NNW-SSE. It has a total length of 17.5 m. Sa Testa consists of a round courtyard, a trapezoidal anteroom, a staircase and a tholos that surrounds the spring .
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The attachment
The 8.3 × 7.4 m courtyard was probably intended for rituals. It is bordered by a low circular temenos , the remaining height of which was 0.3 m. The thickness of the wall surrounding the complex was 0.9 m. At the inner wall base of the paved courtyard, which is provided with a drainage channel, there is a partial bank altar . The courtyard is accessed via four descending steps that lead to the passage on the north side.
The small area in front of the fountain, which is on a slightly lower level than the courtyard, is trapezoidal; 2.65 m long and 1.87 m at the front and 2.62 m wide at the back. The area is paved with a gutter and bench altars on the sides.
The staircase leading to the fountain level can be reached from the vestibule. It has 17 steps made of granite, the width of which decreases towards the bottom.
A cone-shaped tholos that grows larger downwards covers the source and closes off circularly at the water level. Originally this room was covered by a second tholos, of which only a few rows of stones remained. Structural elements protect the well from the ingress of surface water.
Time position and finds
The long staircase as well as the narrowness and depth of the well indicate that it was formed in the last centuries of the 2nd millennium BC. Chr.
The excavation is unpublished. There is only information about the find material that comes from the excavation manual. It was used from the Nuragic period (1600–850 BC) to the early Roman Empire .
The use of the nuragic period is demonstrated by numerous cup fragments and some bronze objects . Among other things, a ribbon bracelet, a small ring, a needle, a spiral and a dagger with a gammadion handle, which probably belongs to a statuette, were found. This group of finds is dated to the Bronze Age.
The finds from the Phoenician - Punic period (850–238 BC) are characterized by numerous black glazed plates and cups. Of particular interest are three thymiateria as well as a head and a mask, the style of which belongs to the Hellenistic period. The discovery of a statuette made of juniper wood is also significant because of its stylistic features. The late 7th or first half of the 6th century BC The figure to be dated to BC comes from the Greco-Oriental area.
Among the finds from the Roman period, in addition to less important vases, numerous fragments of a large amphora and a cup made by Arretine should be mentioned.
The artifacts discovered during the excavation are kept in the National Museum of Cagliari. Nearby are Cabu Abbas and the Milis Well Sanctuary .
See also
literature
- Dionigi Panedda: L'argo di Olbia nel periodo preistorico punico e romano . Bretschneider, Rome 1954, ( Collana di studi storici 2), ( Forma Italiae Sardinia ), pp. 65-68.
- F. Nicosia: La Sardegna nel mondo classico . In: Enrico Atzteni (ed.): Ichnussa. La Sardegna dalle origini all'età classica . Scheiwiller et al., Milan 1981, ( Antica madre 4), p. 421 ff.
Web links
Coordinates: 40 ° 56 '4.48 " N , 9 ° 32" 45.43 " E