Cuglieri

The best-known historical news regarding the territory of Cuglieri is that of the largest anti-Roman revolt in Sardinia, which took place in 215 BC and was centered in the ancient city of Cornus, located on the hills behind the coastal area.

Material evidence and the presence of domus de janas and nuraghes, however, attest the human presence in the area much earlier. The first traces date back to the early Neolithic, in the 6th millennium BC, with the settlements of Su Paris de Sa Turre (the plateau on which Torre di Santa Caterina di Pittinuri stands) and Sa Turre de Su Puttu (the promontory of Torre del Pozzo).

In 1985, an untouched domus de janas dating to the mid-3rd millennium BC (Culture of Abealzu-FIligosa) was discovered in the coastal village of Santa Caterina di Pittinuri. The burial consists of an access corridor, an antechamber and three small chambers. While skeletal remains with very few grave goods (jewellery, arrowheads) were found in the three small chambers, human bones were absent in the antechamber and corridor. Instead, animal bones (jaws, mandibles, deer antlers) were abundant, jointly with fragments of pottery and a considerable number of miniature vases. Traces of fire were also found in the corridor, which, along with other evidence, confirm that these spaces were used for funerary rituals.

Fann’e Massa domus de janas necropolis is located in S’Archittu area. The seven multi-chambered tombs date to the Abealzu culture (Copper Age), but the area continued to be inhabited until the Early Bronze Age and into the Punic period. During this latter phase, a dozen chamber tombs with dromos were excavated. The reuse of the domus de janas and Punic burials continued during the Roman Republican period. The entire funerary area likely served the rural settlements on the outskirts of the city of Cornus.

The Nuragic period saw an intense population growth in the area, with more than 60 recorded nuraghes and numerous giants’ tombs.

The first reliable records regarding the city of Cornus date its settlement to the Punic era, which started at the end of the 6th century BC. After Sardinia fell into Roman hands in 238 BC, Cornus was the heart of the Sardinian-Punic revolt led by Ampsicora against the Romans, as reported by the historian Titus Livius.

It later became one of the most important Roman cities in Sardinia, a key economic hub for the export of grain and agricultural products to Rome, given the fertility of Cuglieri plateau. During this period, Cornus was connected to other cities by the western coastal road: the Roman bridge over Ozzana River was on the road leading to Tharros.

From the city’s final period (early Christian and early Medieval periods), the ruins of Columbaris remain, dating from before the 3rd century to the 7th century AD, when the complex was abandoned. It consists of a cemetery area, the major basilica (cathedral), the baptistery (minor basilica), and the episcopal palace. These structures are built on top of an earlier bathhouse, likely linked to a suburban villa. In the late Roman period, an early Christian cemetery was established in the area, consisting of earthen pit tombs and enchytrismós (amphora) graves, followed by the first basilica between the 4th and 6th centuries. The major basilica, with its three naves, was built in the second half of the 4th or the early 5th century. The baptistery has a rectangular plan, with a 90-centimeter-deep baptismal font and a cruciform interior.

 

 

Featured image: Cornus baptismal font

ph: Liberianto, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia