Nuragic
Sanctuary at
Santa
Vittoria SERRI
On the south-western extremity of the Serri giara
(plateau), at the peak of the natural overhang which faces the town of
Gergei, there is the little country church of St. Maria della Vittoria which
gave its name to the grandiose nuragic complex which lies next to it and which
dominates the horizon all around; towards the southeast the plateau narrows into
a narrow saddle of about 30 metres in width near the ruins of the church of
St.Sebastiano, beyond which it widens again to where the modem town of Serri
lies, the only town to be built on the giare which in nuragic times were
the preferential sites for a settlement.
The excavations carried out by Taramelli from 1907
to 1929 revealed a vast complex of buildings over an area of about four hectares,
to which the archaeologist gave names on the basis of the structural
characteristics and particular discoveries.
To the north, flanked by a wall, lies the Casa del
Capo ("Chief’s House"), a large circular hut with a paved atrium and
lateral benches; to the east of this and nearly at the centre of the complex
lies the Recinto delle Feste ("Enclosure of the Feasts"), a vast
elliptical enclosure (73x50 metres) onto which various rooms open starting from
the entrance at the east: the Casa del Focolare ("House of the Hearth"),
the Recinto con Sedile ("Enclosure with the Seat"), the Recinto
dell’Ascia ("Enclosure of the Axc"); on the northern side there is a
zone divided into smalì quadrangular rooms which are open on one side towards
the centre, up to the Fonderia ("Foundry"); along the southern side
there is the portico, up to the Cucina ("Kitchen"): as one can sec,
the interpretation of Taramelli was that of a great cumbessia, or rather
a complex which had the function of hosting the pilgrims who came to participate
in the feasts in the sanctuary.
The group of buildings around the church of S.
Vittoria is that which has visibly been the object of various constructional
phases and therefore it is not easy to interpret. Where the so-called Torre con
Feritoie ("Tower with Slits") lies there had been a nuraghe with a
passage which, on the basis of the material discovered in recent excavations in
this area which consisted of fragments of pottery with metope decoration, dates
to the Middle Bronze Age; walls led off from it such as the defensive wall which
led up to the Casa del Capo; these were later incorporated in other structures.
Of this group of buildings gathered around the
south-western spur of the plateau there are also the Tempio Ipetrale ("Hypaethral
Temple") which has a square plan and isodoma structure, the Capanna del
Sacerdote ("Priest’s Hut"), the Recinto Circolare con Sedile ("Circular
Enclosure with Hut"), the Via Sacra, the Muro di Cinta ("The Boundary
Wall") and the Capanna d’Ingresso ("Entrance Hut"). The heart
of this part of the sanctuary is the Tempio a Pozzo ("Well Temple")
whith lies within an elliptical enclosure (19 x 13 metres) accurately built with
an isodoma structure and well-squared basalt and limestone hewn stones which
were also used, as in similar sacred buildings, with decorative polychromes; it
is composed of a circular plan of 2,1 metres in diameter and 3 metres in height
with a slightly conical shape as a result of the progressive overhang of the
rows; acccss is provided by a stairway of 13 steps preceded by a rectangular
atrium with lateral benches paved with limestone, and with a table or altar for
libations; the hole in the centre of the altar is connected with a transversal
channel which led to the outside.
Other buildings are grouped in the south-east,
east and north-west, including the Recinto dei Supplizi o della Giustizia
("The Torture or Iustice Enclosure"), the Recinto delle Riunioni
("The Meetings Enclosure") or the "Curia", the Isolato del
Doppio Betilo ("The Block of the Double Sacred-Stone"), the Recinto
della Mensa ("The Table Enclosure"), etcetera.
Many of these rooms do not suggest a domestic use;
the consìructional canons are without a doubt those typical of the Nuragic age,
the majority of which date to the Late and Final Bronze Ages and the Early Iron
Age (about l3th-8th centuries BC) and the group of buildings supports the
hypothesis that this was a large federal village-sanctuary which reunited the
surrounding populations around a cult site.
E. L. S.
The complex can be reached by crossing the town
centre of Serri and then continuing onto the plateau. In the town, in front of
the Town Hall, there is the Antiquarium which has been set up with
didaetie panels and which acts as an introduetion to the archacologicai arca.
The material found during the excavations by Taramelli is houscd in the National
Archaeological Museum in Cagliari.
Directors of
the research: dott.ssa Fulvia Lo Schiavo and dott.ssa Maria Gabriella Puddu.