Study of animal remains dug out during the excavations of a Nuragic village in Sardinia

Abstract

This paper presents the results of the zooarchaeological analysis of the faunal materials brought to light during the excavations set up in the Nuragic village surrounding the Santu Antine Nuraghe, near Torralba (Sassari), Sardinia. Precisely, the remains come from the structure of the village named by archaeologists hut 12. They are 779 specimens out of thousands animal remains from the whole archaeological site. The majority of the rests belong to sheep (Ovis aries) or goats (Capra hircus), cattle (Bos taurus), pigs (Sus scrofa) and deers (Cervus elaphus). Such material may provide suggestions about the productive use of animals in the village and point out the importance of the economical management of animals in the Nuragic society. Indeed, many remains show signs with human origin, which testify that the hut may have been a workplace where bone fragments were processed to obtain different kind of tools.

Keywords

• Animal remains
• Archaeological excavations
• Nuragic settlement
• Sardinia