3 Figures in the Landscape. Landscape and Archaeology in West Central Sardinia

On colonial grounds : a comparative study of colonisalism and rural settlement in the 1st milennium BC in West Central Sardinia Dommelen, P.A.R. van Citation Dommelen, P. A. R. van. (1998, April 23). On colonial grounds : a comparative study of colonisalism and rural settlement in the 1st milennium BC in West Central Sardinia. Archaeological Studies Leiden University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/1887/13156 Version: Corrected Publisher’s Version Licence agreement concerning inclusion of doctoral thesis in the Institutional License: Repository of the University of Leiden Downloaded from: https://hdl.handle.net/1887/13156 Note: To cite this publication please use the final published version (if applicable). 3 Figures in the landscape. Landscape and archaeology in west central Sardinia L'uomo sardo si muove sullo sfondo di uno scenario naturale instance remarked that ‘Sardinia, compared with the peaks che lo limita, lo controlla, lo indirizza e lo condiziona: con of Corsica and the gigantic Etna, appears at the horizon as a la sua vastità, con la sua asprezza, con la fatica che richiede vast blue plain located in the centre of the Mediterranean’ per essere addomesticato e governato.1 (Pasquin Valéry 1835, cited in Le Lannou 1979, 11). The M. Brigaglia, La geografia nella storia impact of the Sardinian relief, however, stems from a dra- della Sardegna (1987), 35 matic fragmentation of the landscape caused by deep gorges, high uprising ridges and steep cliffs that dissect the high- land plateaus into distinct tablelands and smaller plateaus 3.1 Landscape and Archaeology in Sardinia (Le Lannou 1979, 11). This landscape has been compared References to Sardinia are often cast in terms of its physical to ‘a mosaic of which the tesserae have been jumbled up’ conditions as ‘an island of mountains’ and frequently stress (Le Lannou 1979, 13), which is all the more appropriate the overwhelming impression of the Sardinian landscapes on given the primarily tectonic origin of this fragmentation (see its inhabitants and visitors (e.g. Le Lannou 1979, 11). below). Although in Sardinia the mountains may therefore, Braudel's claim that the ‘archaic’ appearance of Sardinia can strictly speaking, not be ‘real’ mountains after all, their largely be attributed to the mountains alone is typical in this impact is still considerable, because the relief of the island is respect (1972, 39; cf. p. 12). In this view, the mountains generally experienced and portrayed by inhabitants and supposedly not only dominate the physical environment of visitors as if it were mountainous. the island but are also regarded as a key factor in the isola- The perceived impact of the Sardinian ‘mountains’ may tion and backwardness of the island which has profoundly seem exaggerated compared to their actually limited occur- penetrated the inhabitants’ lives. rence but it does focus attention on the influence of the Yet, Sardinia hardly seems to be the isola montana it is physical environment on socio-economic developments. claimed to be (fig. 3-1): only 18% of the island exceeds the Braudel's emphasis on the role of the mountains in the altitude of 600 m above sea level and only some isolated Sardinian case in particular follows from his emphasis on peaks reach an altitude over 1,200 m above sea level, as e.g. the constraining and at the same time enabling presence of the Monte Linas (1,236 m) in the Iglesiente massif of west the environment. His definition of the longue durée struc- central Sardinia. Exceptionally, the Punta La Marmora in tures in primarily geomorphological and climatological terms the Gennargentu massif of eastern central Sardinia rises to is grounded in a general preoccupation with the natural 1,834 m above sea level, thus constituting the highest peak environment which goes back to the French geographer on the island. The mean altitude on Sardinia is only 334 m Paul Vidal de la Blache and which is still dominant in above sea level and half of the island lies even below 300 m. French geography, archaeology and history (Berdoulay From a geomorphological point of view, as much as 86% of 1989). In this view, the physical environment effectively sets Sardinia must be classified as hilly to mountainous land, the limits of the possibilities of land use in a given region while only 13% of the island can claim a genuinely moun- and thus influences all forms of socio-economic organization tainous relief (Pracchi 1971, 14). without entirely determining them: in Lucien Febvre's While the term ‘mountainous’ in its classic sense may there- words, the natural environment constitutes ‘the permanent fore be somewhat inappropriate for Sardinia, its landscapes forces that operate upon the human will and weigh upon are hardly less impressive and overwhelming; but this effect it without its knowledge, guiding it along certain paths’ derives rather from the small-scale complexity of the relief (Febvre 1949, 37). than from the overall aspect of the island. The Sardinian The relationships with the environment have been recognized relief is dominated by relatively level highlands that give it a in archaeology and geography already long ago as a vital characteristic horizontal appearance, which has often puzzled aspect for understanding human settlement and its develop- visitors approaching the island. A 19th century traveller for ments (cf. Goudie 1987, 20). In archaeology in particular, 37 Nurra Gennargentu P. La Marmora M. Ferru Gulf of Oristano M. Arci Marmilla Iglesiente 0-100 m M. Linas Campidano 100-400 m 400-1000 m 1000+ m Sulcis Gulf of Cagliari 0 50 km Fig. 3-1. Map of Sardinia showing the general relief and the principal regional names (drawing P. Deunhouwer). 38 attention has been concentrated on matters of subsistence the region under discussion, which is that of west central which were defined as the ‘primary human adaptation to the Sardinia. The regional context is in the first place made environment’ (Higgs/Jarmann 1975, 4). As a consequence, the up by the physical landscapes of west central Sardinia and environment — or, in particular, the physical landscape — secondly by the archaeological remains in the area. The has generally been examined in terms of constraints imposed former are presented in the next, i.e. second section of this on the existence of human groups. It resulted for instance in chapter. In this section, I shall discuss the geological and the claim that the physical surroundings of a settlement site geomorphological framework of the physical landscapes are necessarily related to the main economic activities under- with particular attention to the changes that have taken place taken at and around that site. It follows from this view that a during the last millennia. The latter constitute the subject ‘site catchment analysis’ can provide insight in the socio- matter of the fourth section of this chapter which is dedi- economic dimensions of human settlement (Higgs/Jarmann cated to the archaeological record of west central Sardinia. 1975). Compared to this approach, the Braudelian view In order to examine the state of preservation and documenta- offers a set of notions such as the shorter term economic tion of the available archaeological remains, attention is conjonctures which relate the natural environment to human primarily focused on the physical landscape in which the settlement in more subtle ways (Bintliff 1991). For survey archaeological remains are found and on the archaeologists archaeology in particular, the Annaliste perspective has been who discovered the finds. It is, however, preceded by the taken up as a means for conceptualizing the impact of the third section on Sardinian archaeology and its main figures physical surroundings on and its connections with shorter in order to provide the necessary background for the presen- term developments in land use (Barker 1995, 1, 308). In tation and discussion of the available archaeological data set most archaeological work, in particular in regional analysis in west central Sardinia in the fourth section. In the fifth and and landscape studies, the influence of the natural environ- final section, both the development of the physical landscape ment on human settlement has remained a dominant theme. and the history of archaeological studies will be considered The brief discussion of the Sardinian situation above, how- in relation to the available archaeological information in ever, is a reminder of the distinction which can be made order to understand and evaluate the latter's strong points between perceptions of landscape and the actual physical and biases. characteristics of the natural environment. In this way, it ties in with recent alternative conceptualizations of the relation- 3.2 The Physical Landscapes of West Central ships between people and the landscapes they inhabit, which Sardinia emphasize the unity of the natural and cultural dimensions The region of west central Sardinia (fig. 3-2), adjacent to the of landscape and which look into the meanings and implica- Gulf of Oristano, has been selected as the study area for the tions literally embodied by the landscape (Bender 1993; reasons mentioned in the first chapter (p. 13). It has been in Tilley 1994). At the heart of this novel approach stands the defined such a way that all three major geomorphological notion of landscape itself which has been subjected to critical landscapes of Sardinia are well represented. Broadly speak- scrutiny. On the one hand, conventional usage of the term ing, the region is delimited to the South and to the West by ‘landscape’ has been exposed as a specifically modern respectively the high and steep mountains of the Iglesiente and Western construction which as such need not — or is and the Gulf of Oristano, while the northern and eastern even unlikely to — have a bearing on premodern societies margins are dominated by the Monte Arci massif and two (Lemaire 1997).

Load more