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Santadi is a town in the so-called Basso Sulcis, in south-western Sardinia. Its territory has been inhabited since the Neolithic, as testified by discoveries in rock shelters or natural caves.
The monumental giants’ tomb of Barrancu Mannu, built with large blocks of granite, dates back to the Middle and Late Bronze Age (Nuragic civilisation).
Su Benatzu Cave is very particular: it is a cave sanctuary, where an extraordinary votive deposit dating back to between the Final Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age was found, now exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Cagliari and in the Civic Museum of Santadi.
One of the most important archaeological sites in the area is Pani Loriga, located on a modest hill 20 km from the sea and in visual connection with the island of Sant’Antioco. From its position can be perceived the strategic importance of the hill, controlling the routes of penetration towards the fertile plains of lower Campidano, the Cixerri river valley and above all towards the mining areas of Sulcis.
In fact, in the Middle Bronze Age, the Nuraghe Diana was built here, while from the end of the 7th century BC a Sardinian-Phoenician community was established.
During the Punic age was established a vast fortified settlement, whose main focus was the acropolis.
At its feet stands a settlement which must have housed around a hundred people and from where come ceramics of a good quality.
On the western side, a necropolis with a few chamber tombs was probably reserved for the Carthaginian elite.
On the eastern one, the numerous votive terracottas from the Phoenician and Roman-Republican periods testify the presence of a sacred area.
In Roman times the hill was abandoned and the population moved elsewhere. There is, however, no shortage of traces of subsequent use, as evidenced by the buckles and other metal objects from the Byzantine era found in the Punic tombs.
Also known from Roman times are the thermal structures at Is Figueras.
Featured image: Pani Loriga
ph.credits: Teravista
