Abitato di Monte Luna

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About this place

The site is located near an important river ford, in the center of a fertile area of ​​the Trexenta which controls the penetration routes that connect Campidano with the internal regions of Gerrei and Sarrabus. The town, not yet affected by systematic excavations, is located on the heights of Santu Teru (San Teodoro). The acropolis was surrounded by a defensive wall with an almost trapezoidal plan, strengthened by some "advanced works". Outside these, houses were identified next to which smelting workshops were probably located, as suggested by the discovery of numerous metal slag. The most attested tomb typology is the well type, with lateral chambers open on the short sides, although there is no shortage of variations. The burial chambers, single or double, which open onto the sides of the well, are equipped with a horizontal barrel or sloping ceiling. They generally have a rectangular or trapezoidal plan and are sometimes equipped with benches on the sides. Inside a funerary chamber there is a circular votive basin, while more often rectangular niches open on the walls. In some hypogea, traces of pictorial decorations made with red ocher are preserved, depicting festoons, bands, geometric and linear motifs. The other types of tombs are pit tombs with steps on the walls, simple terragna pits, box tombs with lining slabs, niches and "enkytrismós" (i. e. within amphorae). The more superficial tombs were sometimes accompanied by cippi or truncated pyramidal mounds which served as markers for the burials. In particular, the uraeus serpent, the eye of Horus, the lion, the falcon and others configured with parts of the human body and of Egyptian inspiration are attested. Numerous carnelian, green jasper and chalcedony scarabs were also found, which, set in silver settings, were used as pendants or inserted into gold rings. The tombs also yielded refined bone and glass objects and numerous coins. The objects of greatest interest, however, are the jewels, which testify to the wealth of the inhabitants of the small settlement. The jewellery, produced in Magna Graecia or of refined Punic workmanship, is in gold, silver and bronze: simple rings and fixed or mobile bezels, leech earrings, tiaras, necklace beads, bracelets. Bibliography A. M. Costa, "The Punic necropolis of Monte Luna. How to get there From the SS 131, at km 22 take the SS 128 up to Senorbì. From the town center there is access to an agricultural penetration road for Sant'Andrea Frius up to km 2.