Simaxis

The town of Simaxis is an important centre for agricultural production in the plain of Campidano, located in the province of Oristano. The proximity to the area of Mount Arci, the one and only obsidian source in Sardinia, a genuine black gold of the ancient times, and its fertile lands have encouraged human settlement since antiquity. Obsidian is a glass of volcanic origin, very easy to chip and sharp; it was worked to obtain blades, arrow heads and other hunting tools.
Traces of two villages dating back to the recent Neolithic, culture of Ozieri, have been found.
Two finds date back to this prehistoric period: the first one, preserved at the Antiquarium Arborense in Oristano, is a sandstone statuette, difficult to interpret because without sexual attributes; the second one, exhibited in the National Archaeological Museum of Cagliari, is a stone pyx, with a truncated cone basin, three large tongue feet in trachyte and decorated with geometric motifs on the outside.
The calcite statuette of a feminine divinity, also exhibited in the National Archaeological Museum of Cagliari, comes from the prehistoric village of Su Cungiau de is Fundamentas, and can be dated to the Chalcolithic period, Filigosa culture (3000-2500 BC). It represents a type of goddess Mother called “fretwork”, with engraved circular eyes, cylindrical neck, conical breasts and a trapezoidal shaped bust.
The territory of Simaxis was very populated during the Nuragic era; the ruins of a nuraghe remain from this period. It was a populated area also during the Phoenician-Punic and Roman times.
The Byzantine era is attested by three churches dedicated to saints of the Eastern Christian world: the ruins of the churches of San Nicolò di Mira and dell’Angelo, with a hemispherical dome, and the church of San Teodoro from Amasea.
ph.credits: Gianni Careddu, , via Wikimedia Commons