The Nuragic sanctuary of Santa Vittoria is an archaeological site located in the municipality of Serri, Sardinia – Italy. The name refers to the Romanesque style church built over a place of Roman worship which rises at the westernmost tip of the site.
The Santa Vittoria site was frequented starting from the first phase of the Nuragic civilization corresponding to Middle Bronze Age (1600-1300 BC). Subsequently, from the late Bronze Age to the early Iron Age (1100-900 / 800 BC), the place became one of the most important expressions of the Nuragic civilization and today it constitutes the most important Nuragic complex so far excavated.
The presence of a significant layer of ash, found in the excavations, has led to the conclusion that in Roman times the site suffered a serious fire that devastated it completely.
The various excavation campaigns, started in 1909 by Antonio Taramelli, extracted objects such as stylized nuraghes, bronze and stone bull protomes, votive weapons, fragments of lamps and numerous ex-voto mostly in bronze consisting of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines and models of everyday objects as well as other important findings that testify the relationships the Nuragics had with the Etruria, Phoenicia and Cyprus. The discovery of objects and coins of various mints highlight the continuity in use of the site in the subsequent Punic, Roman, Byzantine and medieval periods.
Geography
The giara (plateau) of Serri has an altitude of over above sea level, and is a basalt plateau, resting on the limestones of the surrounding plain, naturally defended by deep cliffs. The nuragic sanctuary of Santa Vittoria is located at the south west end of the giara itself, the more erect and less accessible part, while the opposite end has a less steep course. A megalithic support and defense wall was also built around the sanctuary.
Description
The excavated area of the site has an extension of about but, as a whole, its original extension was . There are four groups of buildings built at different times: the sacred area which includes: the corridor protonuraghe dating back to the Middle Bronze Age (1600-1300 BC); the tholos nuraghe, which incorporated the pre-existing protonuraghe, dating back to the Recent Bronze Age (1300-1100 BC); the well temple, the nearby "hypetral" (open air – without roof) temple, the sacred way; the two in antis temples, the first known as priest's hut and the other, located further north, known as chief's hut. All of them were built in the period between the final Bronze Age and the first Iron Age (1100 - 900/800 BC); the small church of Santa Maria della Vittoria built in the Byzantine era. the enclosure of the feasts (also enclosure of the meetings), coeval of the well temple, along whose inner perimeter are placed, facing the large internal area: a long porch, huts with benches and seats, the founders' hut, the market, three huts including that of the double-headed ax, the kitchen; a group of buildings consisting of houses, including that of the double baetylus - from the name of the sacred artefact found there - belonging to the period between the final Bronze Age and the early Iron Age (1100 - 900/800 BC); a fourth group of buildings, on the east side of the site, where the enclosure of tortures and the curia are located. They were built in the period between the final Bronze Age and the early Iron Age (1100 - 900/800 BC) The buildings were imaginatively named by archaeologists and can take on different names depending on the publication, which can be misleading. For example, the enclosure of the feasts is also called the enclosure of the meetings and the curia is named hut of the meetings. Therefore, to uniquely indicate the buildings, the number that was attributed to them by Taramelli in his general representation of the site is used. However, when his plan was published in 1931, due to the graphic format of the volume, a large empty portion of land between the enclosure of the feasts and the group of houses and the curia was eliminated. All plans published subsequently, and also the one exposed to visitors of the archaeological, site maintain the same error. Only the aerial photographs give its real size.