Water and cults in Nuragic Sardinia

Received: 8 December 2017 Revised: 3 April 2018 Accepted: 13 April 2018 DOI: 10.1002/wat2.1293 FOCUS ARTICLE Water and cults in Nuragic Sardinia Anna Depalmas Humanistic and Social Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy Correspondence Anna Depalmas, Humanistic and Social Sciences, University of Sassari, Piazza Conte di Moriana 8, Sassari 07100, Italy. Email: [email protected] Nuragic Sardinia is the only Italian region where later prehistoric standing monuments identified specifically as cult buildings have survived. In fact, the many monumental cult complexes, built during the Final Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age, which were often related to rituals that implied the use of water, are the most visible expressions of Nuragic religious behaviors. The most common category is undoubtedly that directly linked to water cult activity, sacred wells, and springs, architectural features that give access to surface water or underground aquifers. The variety of monuments attested is particularly rich and varied, including not only sacred wells and springs but also rectangular-plan buildings (so-called megaron temples), straight and curvilinear plan buildings, and purely circular ones, with or without vats. Water sanctuaries are the places where Nuragic religiosity was performed and the power and wealth of Nuragic communities, were shown through the monumentality of structures, the elaborate stone decorations, and the presence of exclusive built-in stone furniture and votive offerings. In fact, these sanctuaries are complexes articulated in structures of different types and sizes where large amounts of wealth, mainly tools, ornaments, weapons, and bronze figurines were accumulated as offerings. This article is categorized under: Human Water > Water as Imagined and Represented KEYWORDS cult, later prehistory, Nuragic religion, sacred spring, sacred well, sanctuaries, Sardinia, water 1 | INTRODUCTION The later phases of Sardinian prehistory are associated with a material culture generally identified with the “Nuragic civilization.” This cultural phenomenon is characterized by significant architectural features such as nuraghi (tronco-conical stone towers of varying complexity), collective tombs and cult buildings. The archaeological evidence indicates that this building activity began around the 17th century BC (Middle Bronze Age; Table 1) with the construction of the nuraghi and collective tombs, such as the so-called “giants' tombs” (Depalmas & Melis, 2010; Webster, 1996). As early as the end of the Middle Bronze Age, refined techniques for cutting and polishing squared building blocks indicate a new, fine taste and specialized craftsmanship, expressed first in funerary monuments and later, during the Final Age and the Early Iron Age, also in cult buildings. Sardinia is home to exceptional later prehistoric cult sanctuaries that were built by Nuragic peoples. These stone-built complexes are diverse and often associated with the use of water. There are sacred wells and springs, rectangular buildings (megaron temples), straight-and curvilinear structures, and circular buildings, in some instances featuring so called “rounds WIREs Water. 2018;e1293. https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1293 wires.wiley.com/water © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 1 of 11 2 of 11 TABLE 1 DEPALMAS Chronological scheme Period Phase Bronze Age Cultural aspect Bonnannaro A1 2200–1900 BC Bonnannaro A2 Sant’Iroxi 1900–1700 BC Initial Sa Turricula 1700–1600 BC Full Muru Mannu, San Cosimo Early Middle Recent Age Tamuli (?) 1600–1300 BC - facies “a pettine” (North Sardinia) 1300–1150 BC - Antigori – Su Mulinu (South Sardinia) Late Iron Age Final “Pregeometric” Early 1A 1150–950/925 BC “Geometric” 950/925–825 BC 1B 825–790/775 BC 2A 790/775–730/720 BC 2B Late Orientalizing 730/720–580 BC Archaic 580–510 BC Punic 510–238 BC Roman 238–1 d.C Roman 1 d.C–476 d.C with basins” or without any vats. Cult spaces are sometimes situated inside nonreligious buildings such as nuraghi or within Nuragic villages. However, the most common category is undoubtedly that directly linked to water cult activity and expressed by wells and sacred springs, which access surface water or underground aquifers. In general terms, since the Late Bronze Age, in Sardinia ritual activity was performed within monumental temples built around a water spring (Figure 1). 2 | BACKGROUND Although water cult buildings are mentioned in the literature since the 19th century, there were few comprehensive studies of this monument type. In the mid-19th century, Alberto Ferrero della Marmora (1840) suggested that later prehistoric monuments with evidence of water cult activity were very common in Sardinia. A more detailed definition was given by Antonio Taramelli who studied some important cult complexes such as Santa Vittoria in Serri (Taramelli, 1931a), Sant'Anastasia in Sardara (Taramelli, 1918), and Abini in Teti (Taramelli, 1931b). Some historians of religion, such as Pettazzoni (1912) and Lanternari (1984), focused their attention on structures that clearly express the intention of building a monumental complex around the object of cult: water. In the 20th century, Giovanni Lilliu (1963b) wrote, among other topics, about the Nuragic “hydrological cult,” and also tried to reconstruct the ritual aspects via the rich ethnographic tradition of the island. He produced one of the first lists of springs and sacred wells, and he updated on a number of occasions (Lilliu, 1958, 1963a, 2006). Over the last decades, some other scholars, such as Vincenzo Santoni (1985), Ercole Contu (1999), Giovanna Maria Meloni (2005), and Depalmas (2005, 2014b) have provided up to date lists of monuments and distribution maps in the context of articles dedicated to other themes or in work expressively dedicated to this topic, such as that by Maria Ausilia Fadda (2013b). A number of recent unpublished Masters dissertations provide a general contextualization of the cult aspects of the phenomenon, and focus on the outstanding questions concerning monumental class of wells and springs with varying degrees of completeness (Idda, 2015–2016; Webster, 2014). 2.1 | The chronological development of ritual space and its relation to climatic conditions In Sardinia, sacred architecture of Middle and Recent Bronze Age (17th–13th century BC) is not completely understood but there is some evidence dating back to these periods, namely circular structures and rectangular-plan buildings (megaron temples) and in later springs and well temples. There are some rare cases where the first use of the area dates back to the Middle Bronze Age (Monte Sant'Antonio in Siligo (Ialongo, 2011) and Santa Vittoria in Serri (Zucca, 1988)), and sometimes even reaching the Early Bronze Age (Su Monte in Sorradile; Santoni & Bacco, 2008) but there are also some excavated cult complexes and sacred wells where material has been found dating back to the Recent Bronze Age. DEPALMAS 3 of 11 Sardinia, sacred wells and springs map distribution. In black principal sites mentioned in the paper: 1. Predio Canopolo—Perfugas; 2. Monte Sant'Antonio—Siligo; 3. Nule; 4. Su Tempiesu—Orune; 5. Sa Sedda ’e Sos Carros—Oliena; 6. Abini—Teti; 7. Su Monte—Sorradile; 8. Santa Cristina— Paulilatino; 9. Sa Osa—Cabras; 10. S'Arcu ’e Is Forros—Villagrande Strisaili; 11. Santa Vittoria—Serri; 12. Sant'Anastasia— Sardara; 13. Funtana Coberta—Ballao FIGURE 1 The development of cult complexes and cult buildings centered around the presence of water, or connected to it, seems to begin in the Recent Bronze Age, perhaps in response to climatic conditions leading to a decrease of water resources. This speculative hypothesis, which has been put forward by various scholars (Fadda, 2011; Lilliu, 1988; Webster, 1996), has not yet been corroborated by objective evidence because of the lack of paleobotanical investigations. Data relating to other regions of Europe seems to indicate that in the north-western sector of the Mediterranean, dry summer climatic conditions became established around 1050 BC, during the arid interval identified between 1550 and 550 BC (Jalut, Dedoubat, Fontugne, & Otto, 2009). From the Recent Bronze Age, Nuragic communities would have experienced a growing variation in rainfall, with consequent reduced crop productivity and longer summer droughts than usual. This instability could have turned into a real arid phase between the 11th and 9th century BC (Depalmas, 2014b; Depalmas & Melis, 2010). However, the climate conditions Aerial view of the cult complex of Santa Cristina-Paulilatino (by Paulilatino Municipality) FIGURE 2 4 of 11 DEPALMAS and their impact on the human societies are far from being fully understood and integrated paleobotanical and palynological investigations in significant sites and contexts from different geographical areas of Sardinia are required. An indirect clue in support of the hypothesis of an arid climate crisis comes from the settlement of Sa Osa in Cabras, western Sardinia. Here, within an area of about 300 m2, 20 wells have been found, mostly dating to the end of the Recent Bronze Age and the Final Bronze Age (Usai et al., 2011). These wells might be interpreted as the result of continual searching for aquifers, which probably could not be easily and permanently reached. 2.2 | Cult complexes and rituals Although in the Recent Bronze Age water springs or places later occupied by a temple building were already the focal points of activity beyond the normal use of water, it is in the Final Bronze Age and particularly in the Early Iron Age that monumental sacred architecture and cult complexes develop. In many other cases, the finding of older materials at Nuragic cult places may indicate the use of the area before the edification of the building. In fact, we cannot exclude that the location of the sacred complexes was determined by the presacrality of the locus, and in most of the areas, it coincided with the presence of a spring or aquifer. Indeed, it would be an oversimplification to think that springs were considered places suitable for the cult only from the Final Bronze Age—Early Iron Age, when the actual construction of the temples takes place. The majority of the cult complexes consist of sacred wells. These architectural structures gave access to underground aquifers via a subterranean construction, including a room with a tholos vault, constructed at the point of collection of the water and accessible via a staircase (e.g., Santa Cristina-Paulilatino; Hermon, Depalmas, Vico Lopez, & Atzeni, 2017; Figures 2–4). As well as wells, sacred springs are also attested; these are buildings at the site of a spring of water, which, when surviving upstanding, are generally unusually majestic and monumental (e.g., Su Tempiesu-Orune; Fadda & Lo Schiavo, 1992; Figure 5). Both wells and springs, but also the megara, have a walled precinct (temenos) surrounding the temple and separating it from other buildings in the area. In addition, rectangular or more frequently circular plan buildings are also attested, which in the absence of a natural source of water, are equipped inside with stone vats and/or basins that may be related to the use of a liquid, purposely brought to the temple building (Figure 6a). Sacred springs, temples with wells and rectangular or circular plan buildings, are found in isolated settings but also, more frequently, appear to be associated in such a way as to form highly complex articulated spaces. The term sanctuary is only used for the complex monuments and groups of buildings with a spatial organization that indicates that the cult complex is central. The latter is where tribes gathered, hence the definition of such complexes as federal sanctuaries (Lilliu, 2006; Figure 2). Nuragic sanctuaries have recurrent characteristics including (Lo Schiavo, 1992): • The presence of permanent buildings linked to the cult; • Differentiation in type and usage compared with domestic architecture; • Evidence for frequentation by members of more than one community. Side view of the tholos shape of Santa Cristina—Paulilatino (reworked version after Hermon et al., 2017) FIGURE 3 5 of 11 DEPALMAS (a) (b) 0 1 2 3m 1 (a) (b) 0 1 2 3m 2 (a) A 0 1 B 2 3m (b) A B 3 Section A - B Plan (a) and section (b) of the sacred wells of Sant'Anastasìa—Sardara (1), Predio Canopolo-Perfugas (2), Funtana Coberta-Ballao (3) (reworked version after Depalmas, 2005) FIGURE 4 In addition to these aspects, there are other elements that characterize a sanctuary: • its association with other monumental structures with a cult function and • the complex site plan (Depalmas, 2014b). 6 of 11 DEPALMAS While it is not always possible to generalize concerning such a complex phenomenon, several sanctuary areas exhibit some common patterns: • the association with other monumental cult buildings, even of differing type; • the presence of water sources (springs or wells) and/or circular temples (with or without an atrium) often equipped with vats; • the presence of circular or elliptical rooms; • the presence of structures with benches around the internal perimeter. In all cases, it is clear that there has is a high investment of architectural expertise, often with the use of building material imported from other areas and skillfully cut, a wide use of decorative elements, and chromatic effects obtained by using rocks of different colors (e.g., S'Arcu ’e is Forros (Fadda, 2013a); Su Tempiesu (Fadda & Lo Schiavo, 1992); and Abini (Depalmas, 2014a)) (Figure 4). Other elements that characterize the sanctuary are specially built-in stone furniture for cult practices, such as tables (smooth or with cupmarks), vats of various sizes, cylindrical stools, bases, blocks Plan (a) and elevation (b and c) of the sacred spring of Su TempiesuOrune (reworked version after Depalmas, 2005) FIGURE 5 DEPALMAS 7 of 11 Duplicate of rhyolite's vat with nuraghe model from the nuragic sanctuary of Su Monte—Sorradile (a); Andesite slab with bronze figurine's feet fixed from the nuragic sanctuary of Abini—Teti (author's photos) FIGURE 6 for affixing bronze figurines and votive swords, and so on. There are also symbolic images such as the very common miniature nuraghi (Figure 6). At several sanctuaries, both these elements are present (e.g., S'Arcu ’e is Forros) (Fadda, 2013a). Large cult complexes, defined as federal sanctuaries, most likely functioned as foci of power and political, religious, and regional administration. Their location at strategic points within a specific region seems to relate to specific and precise divisions of the territory into districts in which the presence of water cult structures appears to have had a primary and active role in the constitution of these administrative units since the Final Bronze Age (Depalmas, 2005). Other archaeological indicators of ritual, such as the presence of furnishings such as altars, seats, and fireplaces, the sacrifice of animals and the consumption of meals, the deposition, and—sometimes—the concealment of offerings, the great investment of wealth, all allow us to define these buildings as sanctuaries, following Renfrew (1985, Box 1). Within the sanctuaries, it is possible to identify public “spaces,” corresponding to large open areas surrounded by a precinct, sometime with secluded rooms (“celle”) or spaced reserved for cult specialists (in some temples) or members of the elites (“communal meeting huts”) (Box 2). The finding of domestic and wild animal remains inside communal and ceremonial spaces may provide insights regarding the activities taking place within these buildings. In particular, burnt bones (primarily from goats and sheep; Wilkens, 2004) may be associated with animal offerings, perhaps, as part of ritual, communal meals given the presence of large cooking vessels, cauldrons, and basins (Depalmas, Bulla, Fundoni, & Zedda, in press). The specific practices of the rituals and ceremonies carried out within the sanctuary, remain unclear, and it is not clear how water was used within ceremonies. The temple is the place where goods, including bronze objects, were deposited. These latter are very useful to archaeologists because they sometimes depict offering pilgrims and offered goods and, thus, they provide unique details on perishable goods used in the sanctuary. Small bronze statues (known as “bronzetti”) often represent offering pilgrims that give to the temples rams, organic produces, and objects (e.g., ears of corn, tanned leather, vases such as jugs, jars, plates, or bowls). Among the goods offered, it is possible to identify a bread loaf or a flat bread with a hole in the middle and radial incisions, but also some other round, oblong and ring-shaped bread loaves, offered on a circular or rectangular tray. Most likely the miniature bronze objects and animals indicate the great range of real-life objects offered to the temple. There is no depiction of gods that can be related to the cult activity. Consequently, we should either consider that there may 8 of 11 DEPALMAS BOX 1 SACRED WELLS Sacred wells differ from the springs and access underground aquifers directly by excavating in depth and the construction of a subterranean structure with a tholos-vaulted room, built on the collection point of the water, and accessible via a staircase. As in the case of the springs, the construction technique can be Cyclopean or ashlar (Figure 4). The well temple of Santa Cristina in Paulilatino (Figures 2 and 3), for example, is a particularly good example of the refined and perfect technique of isodomon masonry (Hermon et al., 2017). The temple consists of two parts: a hypogeum (tholos) and a structure on the surface which is vertically aligned with the hypogeum (the rectangular atrium and the circular space above the subterranean tholos), and connected by a stair below ground level. These structures are included within an elliptical precinct, whose entrance is axial to the well mouth. At the center of the building, the aquifer is channeled into a circular vat, 0.50 m deep, which constitutes the floor of the subterranean room; this is circular (2.54 m in diameter) and its vault, made of perfectly-cut squared blocks aligned in projecting rows, emerges about 7 m above ground level. The water source is accessed via a trapezoidal staircase composed of 25 steps, excavated below ground level, whose vault is also stepped and built—like the rest of the hypogeum—with perfectly squared and projecting stones. have been an aniconic deity or that the object of the cult was the water. The alternative hypothesis, that the subjects depicted by the “bronzetti” are divine, is not convincing as in that case we would be able to identify stereotypical and recurring iconographies, whereas they clearly depict a range of different roles and professions in society (Depalmas, 2012; Lilliu, 1966). The occasion of the sanctuary feast, with the gathering of all the tribes from the territory, was probably the time for celebrating ancestral tales, legends, and myths. Some specific bronze representations are probably related to this, such as the wellknown “mothers” that are shown sitting on a stool with an adult or a child on their lap, or the iconographies of fantastic figures such as the bronzetto with four arms and four eyes or the half-man and half-bull (the “minotaur” of Nule) (Depalmas, 2012). The number of bronze artifacts found in the cult complexes, within sacred spaces, springs, wells, vestibula, or in adjacent buildings is very high. The common association between bronze finds and the cult areas is certainly related to the practice of offering tools, weapons, and bronze figurines. However, there are also some indications that metal workshops may have been located within these monumental complexes. In fact, a large amount of metalworking waste, slags, raw, or used metal to be recycled, ingots, crucibles, and the traces of fire have been found within or near the structures around the temples. These finds suggest that workshops specifically designed to produce metal objects were present at the sanctuaries such as S'Arcu ’e Is Forros in Villagrande Strisaili (Fadda, 2011, 2013a, 2013b), Sa Sedda ’e Sos Carros in Oliena (Fadda & Salis, 2010), and Abini in Teti (Depalmas & Bulla, in press; Fadda, 2013b). BOX 2 SACRED SPRINGS This class of monuments includes buildings established around a surface water spring, featuring both sacred structures and others used for nonreligious purposes. Many of them appear to be small in size and constructed with a not particularly refined Cyclopean technique. Rows of polygonal, roughly squared blocks are set around the low cavity in which the water of the natural spring is collected. The spring with the most significant monumental standing structures is certainly Su Tempiesu in Orune, central Sardinia (Figure 5). The temple (6.85 m high) consists of a vestibule with lateral benches, a tholos-vaulted room with collects water from the spring. The top of the temple had a triangular acute-angled tympanum in which there was an acroterion with 20 bronze votive swords (Fadda & Lo Schiavo, 1992). Here, as in other cases (e.g., Abini in Teti) (Depalmas, 2014a), the masonry courses consist of perfectly squared blocks of different types and colors that give the wall surfaces a delicate coloring of at least three shades. All the monuments in which standing walls are preserved or known from blocks indicate the desire to enrich the technical detail of the masonry with color, thanks to the variety of stones used. It is possible that the same aesthetic effect was achieved in other parts of the temple through the use of other colored materials, which have now been lost. DEPALMAS 9 of 11 Most of the deposits consist of artifacts pointing to specialized and artistic craftsmanship for the production of human and animal figures, boats, swords and votive swords, dagger with simple or decorated blades, and daggers with “gamma” handles, sometimes in miniature form, pendants, amulets, buttons, and small ornaments. Within the sacred area, bronze figurines and votive swords—fixed with lead to stone slabs (Figure 6b)—were removed when they became too numerous and there was no more space for new offerings to be displayed. In addition, the large number of prestige goods, including imports such as fibulae, amber beads, and bronzes, strongly suggest that the elites managing and controlling the wealth accumulation in the temples (Depalmas, 2005) were—at least in the Early Iron Age—privileged partners in contacts and exchanges with extra-insular Tyrrhenian communities (Ialongo, 2013). The Nuragic sanctuary represents the collection point of prestige and consumption goods in the form of offerings, and therefore the place of accumulation, hoarding and management of wealth. 3 | CON CLU SION S After a long period corresponding to the Middle and Recent Bronze Age, characterized by impressive dwellings (nuraghi) and funerary monuments (giants' tombs), a new cultural phase began in Final Bronze Age Sardinia, marked by the development of villages and the spread of new monumental buildings such as isolated temples or cult complexes (sanctuaries). Religious activity in Nuragic Sardinia was mainly related to water cults. Sacred springs, well temples, and numerous buildings such as rectangular or circular-plan buildings with stone vats, and so called “rounds with basins” provide significant traces of these practices. Around the temples, groups of huts of varying sizes were established, which probably often used by pilgrims at the feasts and religious ceremonies that attracted many communities from the whole territory in a similar fashion to the way modern Christian sanctuaries function today in the Sardinia countryside. Apart from the recurrent overlapping of a Christian worship site at the same place as a later prehistoric well temple, in general terms, it is not possible to affirm that there have been phenomena of continuity. However, the material found during the archaeological excavation of the well temple of Santa Cristina at Paulilatino attest a longue durée of use up to the modern age (unpublished data). We do not know anything about the rituals and ceremonies that were practiced around the water cult sanctuary; however, thanks to artifacts found in archaeological investigations we can make some hypotheses. In fact, in a few contexts, excavation has recovered diagnostic material, including domestic and wild animal bones, which probably indicates a liturgy involving the roasting of animal offerings, maybe even as part of the practice of ritual feasts. Another important source of information for understanding the rituals carried out in these sanctuaries is the class of small bronze figurines, the so-called “bronzetti,” mainly found within cult areas and interpreted as offerings given to the temple during ritual ceremonies. One of the most commonly depicted subjects is the worshipper offering animals (rams) and objects. Most likely, both the miniature bronze objects and the animals indicate the great variety of real-life objects that were offered to the temple and the reference to food and drinks provides a further indication of ritual meals celebrated during the feasts. As well as figurines, a large number of weapons have been found in Nuragic sanctuaries (mainly daggers and “votive” swords), tools, and objects, often in miniature, and these allow us to classify the well, the spring, the rectangular or circular building and other connected rooms as collection place of metal artifacts and sometime even their place of production. The deposition of weapons in votive sanctuary contexts corresponds to precise set-offerings, in which pins and daggers are recurrent; their presence has been interpreted as a personal offering which corresponds to the funerary equipment in other geographical areas, and so is related to the social status of the donor (Ialongo, 2013). With their spaces, used not only for cult but also for economic and political activities, water sanctuaries attracted and favored the encounter of communities from the whole territory. In their space, within the sacred sphere, meetings, agreements, and exchanges took place. At least from the Final Bronze Age, the Nuragic sanctuary—whether well temple, spring, temple/metal workshop, cult building without a well (but often with a vat)—assumes a role as the center of collection of prestige and consumer objects in the form of offerings, and therefore a place of hoarding. The frequent presence of imported objects (such as fibulae from the Italian peninsula) is an element that confirms the role of sanctuaries as poles of attraction for goods and resources. The water sanctuaries show the power and wealth of Nuragic communities through the monumentality of their structures, their elaborate stone decoration and the presence of exclusive built-in stone furniture and votive offerings. An outstanding question is the nature of the cult itself, whether water itself was the object of the cult and was identified with a divinity or whether the water was the means for the performance of liturgies and ritual activity offered to another divine entity. 10 of 11 DEPALMAS In any case, water sanctuaries were centers of not only religious importance, but also of political, economic, and social significance for the Nuragic communities that met at them to govern society and to manage wealth and resources, under the auspices of water. CONFLICT OF INTEREST The author has declared no conflicts of interest for this article. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The translation from Italian is by Francesca Fulminante. I would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments that greatly contributed to improving this article. Many thanks must also be expressed to the associate editor Federica Sulas who significantly improved and corrected the English form. REFERENC ES Contu, E. (1999). 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