Altare prenuragico di Monte d'Accoddi
The archaeological area is located near the edge of the plateau excavated by the Rio d'Ottava, in the Nurra, north-western Sardegna region.
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About this place
The complex includes an altar, a village and a hypogeal necropolis. The external wall is made up of irregular rows of large roughly hewn limestone blocks. The structure contains a layered fill of earth and stones. From the Ozieri village, some elements connected with the sacred sphere are preserved: an irregularly shaped trachyte offering table (2.80 m x 2.18 m) - close to the right side of the ramp - and a menhir (4.44 m high) on the left side, raised in recent years. The fire of the altar, at the time of the Filigosa culture (around 2800 BC), made it necessary to build a new structure, the one preserved today. A trapezoidal limestone slab (3.15 m x 3.20 m) - located near the ramp - perhaps dates back to this phase, resting on three lithic bases and equipped with seven holes at the edges and a natural sinkhole below: perhaps a table for bloody sacrifices. 0.60 m). Three other limestone stelae come from the building: one (inside the ramp), fragmentary (0.40 m x 0.36 m), has a lozenge and spirals; the second (N side of the terrace), 1.15 m high, shows a stylized female figure; the third (right corner of the terrace), elliptical (0.28 m x 0.18 m), is marked by 13 parallel grooves crossed by at least two other perpendicular ones. The village huts surrounding the altar and the ramp - dating back in part to the Abealzu phase (2600 BC) - have rectilinear walls formed by a base of small stones on which a plastered structure of mud bricks or reeds and branches rested. Poles driven into holes in the floor supported single- or double-pitched roofs of branches. The rooms have rectangular hearths, with a raised edge, made of clay. The necropolis is dug into the limestone wall overlooking the Rio d'Ottava, 500 m from the consists of eight multicellular hypogea often decorated with bovine protomes and architectural elements. 166-167, figs. 237-238; E. Contu, "Sassari Loc. 296-297; E. Contu, "Monte d'Accoddi-Sassari. 536-537 (poster); Monte d'Accoddi. Guides and itineraries; 29); A. Moravetti, The terraced altars of Monte d'Accoddi, "Darwin. Quaderni", n. 6-19. How to get there On the former SS131 in the direction of Porto Torres, after the crossroads for Platamona (at Km 222.3), the site is marked by tourist signs at the crossroads for Bancali. From here you must turn left to get into the opposite lane and after 850 m turn right at the Strada Vicinale Monte d'Accoddi sign. The ticket office is located along the paved avenue, next to the car park.
Ex SS131 km 222,200 - strada vicinale Monte d'Accoddi, s.n.c. - località M. la Corra, Sassari
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Our Story
A rich history
On the top of the terrace was located the rectangular chapel (12.85 m x 7.20 m) plastered in ocher (the "red temple"), of which the floor and, in part, the perimeter wall (0.70 m high) with an entrance flanked by two holes are preserved; other holes, intended to contain the load-bearing beams of the double-pitched roof, are present in the floor of the room. This first altar was built in an advanced phase of the Ozieri culture (3200-2800 BC) in the center of a contemporary settlement of quadrangular huts, and above the remains of an older village of circular huts perhaps dating back to phases of the San Ciriaco culture (3400 BC). Close to the slab, but extraneous to the archaeological area, are two spheroidal limestone stones of a sacred nature (circumference 4.85 m; height 0.90 m - diam. Among the excavated structures, the "sorcerer's hut" is particularly interesting - located near the NE corner of the terrace - trapezoidal, with 5 irregularly shaped rooms covered by a single-pitched roof; the hut owes its name to a tip of bovine horn and some bivalve shells found inside a jug. The site was still frequented at the time of the Monte Claro culture, the Bell-shaped Vase and Bonnanaro, and more sporadically, in the Nuragic, Phoenician-Punic, Roman and medieval ages. History of the excavations The altar was excavated for the first time by Ercole Contu (1952-59); interventions by Santo Tinè (1979-90) and Alberto Moravetti (2000-01) followed. A recent restoration has half rebuilt the building. Bibliography E. Contu, "Megalithic construction in the Monte d'Accoddi area", in Rivista di Scienze Preistoriche, VIII, 1953, pp. 199-202; E. Contu, "Monte d'Accoddi (Sassari)", in Encyclopedia of classical and oriental ancient art, V, Rome, Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, 1963, pp. Monte d'Accoddi", in The Sardinians: the Sardegna from the Paleolithic to the Roman Age, edited by E. Anati, Milan, Jaca Book, 1984, pp. Study and research problems of a singular prehistoric monument", in The Deya conference of prehistory: early settlement in the western Mediterranean islands and the peripheral areas, Oxford, BAR, 1984, pp. 591-608; S. Tinè, "New excavations in the sanctuary of Monte d'Accoddi (SS)", in Annals of the department of studies of the classical world and the ancient Mediterranean, section of Archeology and ancient history, IX, 1987, pp. 10 years of new excavations, edited by S. Tinè-A. Traverso, Genoa, Italian Institute of Experimental Archaeology, Archaeological Superintendency of Sassari and Nuoro, 1992, pp. 21-36, 97-98; E. Contu, The prehistoric altar of Monte d'Accoddi. Sassari, C. Delfino, 2000 (Sardegna archaeological. 1 (July-August 2006), pp.
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Sassari, Sassari Sardegna
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Ex SS131 km 222,200 - strada vicinale Monte d'Accoddi, s.n.c. - località M. la Corra, Sassari
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Reserved parking. Video room.
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