Sardinia's Iron Age Stone Army Uncovered

Sardinia's Iron Age Stone Army Uncovered

From: Prehistoric cybermen? Sardinia's lost warriors rise from the dust

An elite force of prehistoric warriors – carved from solid rock in the western Mediterranean 2700 years ago is rising from oblivion.

Archaeologists and conservation experts on the Italian island of Sardinia have succeeded in re-assembling literally thousands of fragments of smashed sculpture to recreate a small yet unique army of life-size stone warriors which were originally destroyed by enemy action in the middle of the first millennium BC.

It’s the only group of sculpted life-sized warriors ever found in Europe. Though consisting of a much smaller number of figures than China’s famous Terracotta Army, the Sardinia example is 500 years older and is made of stone rather than pottery.

Thought to have been placed by the Nuragic culture, most of the stone 'warriors' were placed in and around gravesites, guarding the higher-ranking members of the ruling families. Along with the stone army were found stone models of Nuragic castles, which archeologists believe became ‘ancestral’ shrines for these families.

The Nuragic civilization was eventually conquered by the Carthaginians, although it wasn't an utter defeat, and the surviving Nuragic people today still call Sardinia home. There's a great deal of fascinating history behind the Nuragic civilization and Sardinia.
Wikipedia's entry
Sardinia history
Images of Nuragic Civilization

Photo: Archaeologists and conservation experts on the
Italian island of Sardinia have pieced together thousands of fragments of smashed sculpture to recreate an army of life-size stone warriors. Credit: independent.co.uk

Maybe they're the infamous sea people that wreaked so much havoc long ago. An interesting find for sure and I think the stone warriors would woop the pottery ones one on one.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


Looks like victims of Medusa to me

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


Awesome find! I'll be looking out for some docos on this, and scouring the appropriate sites for more -
Archaeology/Paleoarchaeology and Anthropology are some of my favourite interests -

Thanks for sharing

In Fellowship

TheEmotionalSocialist

reply to post by mretgis


There were perhaps among the sea peoples, as most likely the sea peoples were made up of several cultures of the western Med, including but not limited to Phoenicians, Libyans/Berbers, Celtic-Ibernians (Tartessos), basically the 'proto-Punic' forces. This link has some additional info on the "Sea Peoples" and the Nuragic culture of Sardinia.

Sardinia was preyed upon by many invading armies and bands of pirates. I wonder if these were not positioned along the coastal shores to ward off invaders who might mistake their silhouette for sentries?


GS

Originally posted by NeoVain
reply to post by Blackmarketeer

 

Looks like victims of Medusa to me

hahaha good one!!!

Sardinia is like another Planet, there are ruins in Sardinia that go back almost to the dawn of humanity,I have heard that they have an intact genealogy from the Stone age as well as a shamanistic tradition that predates history by many thousands of years. here is some Sardinian weirdness for for the threads enjoyment Sardinian Death Smile decoded

origins of the Sardonic grin

reply to post by MrsBlonde


I had wondered what that saying was based on. I found Sardinia to be a bit unusual, not quite Italian with a bit of Malta like quality to it - or so it seemed to me. Good ruins all over but I didn't get to that many. Recommended!

Perhaps the term 'moody', for the terrain might fit the bill, very different from the feeling I got in Sicily.

Thanks for the thread Blackmarketeer, s & f

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


Stone statues with sun shades above their heads? So much for being STONE WARRIORS! LOL

reply to post by neotech1neothink


I suspect those are bird dropping/sun shields.....but I speculate!