Articles by Liliana Spanedda

The territory of Sarcidano is very important for the study of the settlements of the Nuragic population in the central-southern Sardinia (Italy), as the archaeological evidence of the late phases of Bronze Age and Early Iron Age shows. In particular, the great sanctuary of Santa Vittoria at Serri stands out on the homonymous plateau and exercises a control of the surrounding territory, corresponding in whole or part to the territories of the Serri, Escolca, Gergei, Isili, and Nurri municipalities. In this work, we experimented with an analytical procedure not yet widely used in the study of settlement processes in the Bronze and Iron Ages: that of Spatial Autocorrelation Techniques. The advantage of this approach lies in the fact that it not only shows spatial relationships, but does so on the basis of different values connected to the spatial data. Results showed that the Nuragic monuments were built near routes of passage so as to control the valleys below the basalt plains. This demonstrates the existence of a specific and organized approach for exploiting and monitoring the landscape, in which settlement choices depend on functionality criteria, with both nuraghi and villages having a key role on the strategic control of the territory.

The domus de janas are the typical rock-cut tombs of Sardinian Late Prehistory. Many of them are decorated. Motifs are made with different techniques: painting, sculpture and incision. Architectural elements, busts, cattle and sheep, and horn-shaped features are represented. Painting is generally used to decorate the ceilings, the jambs of doors, walls and false doors. The difficulty of detecting traces of paint complicates the identification of the ancient use of this decorative technique. The aim of this work is to describe the great utility of the plugin DStretch, extension of the ImageJ software, as a method of computer analysis and processing of multispectral images on the paint traces at the sides of the Perdonighéddu domus de janas (Sorgono, NU, Sardinia, Italy). This system opens up new perspectives in the study of the paintings found in the domus de janas, by allowing a crisper image of the decoration, through an alteration of digital photography chromatic scale. The analysis of the images of this grave reveals the presence of traces of painting that decorate the sides of the entrance by forming two doorposts supporting the lintel.