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XIV/1/2023
INTERDISCIPLINARIA ARCHAEOLOGICA
NATURAL SCIENCES IN ARCHAEOLOGY
homepage: http://www.iansa.eu
The Chronology of Monte d’Accoddi (Sardinia, Italy) –
New Radiocarbon Dates
Maria Grazia Melis
1*
1
Department of History, Humanities and Education, University of Sassari, Via Zanfarino 62, 07100 Sassari, Italy
1. Introduction
The site of Monte d’Accoddi is to be found in north-
western Sardinia, 3.4 km to the south of Platamona beach
(Figure 1). The earliest feld investigations were carried out
by Ercole Contu between 1952 and 1959. His work brought
to light the most recent of the two monuments, which was
built from large polygonal stone blocks. The excavation
of the surrounding area led to the discovery of a village of
quadrangular dry-walled huts (Figures 1–3). An examination
of the fnds led him to attribute the construction of the
monument to the frst phase of the Ozieri cultural
facies
(frst
half of the 4
th
millennium cal. BC). Finds of more recent
dates are evidence of occupation in later phases of prehistory,
whereas a stone ring may indicate earlier sporadic occupation
during the Early or Middle Neolithic (Contu, 1992; 2000).
A second series of feld investigations was carried out
between 1979 and 1989. These were followed by large-
scale rebuilding and restoration of the monument (Figure 2),
implemented on the basis of a hypothetical reconstruction by
Santo Tiné, who had directed the stratigraphic excavations.
The most important discovery was the identifcation,
within the monument itself, of a more ancient building,
featuring red-painted wall plaster and with its own ramp,
and containing at its summit, a rectangular
sacellum
. Also
of great signifcance was the acquisition of six radiocarbon
dates, which have enlivened the debate over the chronology
of the construction phases (Tinè and Traverso, 1992).
More recent studies include those undertaken by Antonella
Traverso on a portion of the pottery fnds recovered during
the excavations directed by Tinè. These studies contributed
to the interpretation of the stratigraphic sequence, as well as
identifying morphological and technological characteristics
of the fnds themselves (Traverso, 2005–2007).
The earliest research by the author of this paper was
aimed at the morphological and typological study of pottery
fnds from Hut p-s, attributed to an occupation phase of
the 3
rd
millennium cal. BC. Subsequently this research
has been extended to all of the fnds recovered during the
excavations directed by Ercole Contu, as part of a project
aimed at: the overall analyses of stone, clay, hard animal
materials and metal artefact production processes; defning
the chronology of the building and its various phases of use;
and the reconstruction of the character of the settlement that
developed around this central monument.
As the radiocarbon results published by Tinè and
their subsequent interpretation were inconsistent with
the chronological and cultural framework of Sardinian
Volume XIV ● Issue 1/2023 ● Pages 31–40
*Corresponding author. E-mail: mgmelis@uniss.it
ARTICLE INFO
Article history:
Received: 11
th
July 2022
Accepted: 2
nd
November 2022
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24916/iansa.2023.1.2
Key words:
chronology
radiocarbon
Monte d’Accoddi
prehistory
Sardinia
ABSTRACT
The shrine at Monte d’Accoddi constitutes an architectural
unicum
in the context of the Mediterranean
of the 4
th
millennium cal. BC. The building comprised of a terrace with an access ramp, a form that
has led to an ongoing debate as to the possible origins of this architectural model. In its earliest phase,
attributable to the frst half of the 4
th
millennium cal. BC, the edifce consisted of a truncated pyramidal
core. During the second half of the same millennium this was englobed by a second building, similar
to the frst in general shape, but much larger and with a central, possibly stepped, core. The site was
occupied during the 3
rd
millennium cal. BC and occasionally so during the following proto-historic and
subsequent phases of history. This paper will present new radiocarbon dates that will help to defne
the construction and occupation phases of the monument as well as the settlement that grew around it.
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IANSA 2023 ● XIV/1 ● 31–40
Maria Grazia Melis: The Chronology of Monte d’Accoddi (Sardinia, Italy) – New Radiocarbon Dates
32
prehistory, in an early phase of research they were re-
examined and compared to new dates originating from
other sites, with the aim of clarifying the chronology of
the monument. The results confrmed Contu’s hypothetical
attribution of the early construction phase to the frst half
of the 4
th
millennium cal. BC (Final Neolithic; cultural
facies
of Ozieri I) and of the second to the second half of the
4
th
millennium cal. BC (Early Eneolithic; cultural
facies
of