The remains of two new giants of Mont’e Prama emerged in Sardinia

The remains of two other statues of ‘Giants’ were found in Sardinia in the Mont’e Prama area, in Cabras (Oristano). The discovery took place a few weeks after the resumption, last April 4, of the archaeological campaign in the perimeter on the hills of Sinis, in front of the pond, where research activities had stopped for almost two years and where in the past they had been recovered. the ancient statues of boxers and warriors, dating back to three thousand years ago, among the most ancient sculptural evidences found in the Mediterranean basin.

Archaeologists discovered torsos of two boxers, a head, legs, other body parts, a shield and fragments of a model of a nuraghe. The newly discovered statues have been identified as ‘Cavalupo-type boxers’ due to the large flexible shield wrapped in front of the trunk, very similar to the two sculptures recovered a few meters away in 2014 and now exhibited in the nearby Civic Museum of Cabras.

“An exceptional discovery”, defined it Minister of Culture, Dario Franceschini.

Who are the ‘Giants’

The Giants of Mont’e Prama are ancient stone sculptures dating back to the Nuragic civilization, in particular in the Iron Age between the 13th and 9th centuries BC: they were recovered in 1970 in a land belonging to the Confraternity of the Holy Spirit, in Cabras, by some laborers, but they come from a coastal funeral area. The excavation campaigns began only in 1974 and ended five years later: about 4,000 pieces belonging to 32 statues were recovered.

© Mont’e Prama Foundation

Two statues of the ‘Giants’ of Mont’e Prama

The remains of the warriors remained in the warehouses of the Superintendency of Cagliari, in the premises of the old Archaeological museum, until 2005, when the battle of the municipal administration of Cabras for their recovery began. Subjected to a long restoration in the following years, the Giants were then exhibited in Cabras and Cagliari.

The new excavations

The construction site in progress, financed by the Superintendence of Archeology for the province of Oristano with 85,000 euros, it will last all spring. The archaeologists Alessandro Usai and Maura Varigiu work there, in collaboration with the anthropologist Francesca Candilio, the restorer Georgia Toreno and the architect Elena Romoli.

archeology sardinia remains of two other giants discovered
© Mont’e Prama Foundation

The new archaeological excavations at the site of the ‘Giants’ in Cabras (Oristano)

“We went without fail on an area resuming old excavations and expanding them in continuity with what we know as a nuragic necropolis that develops along a specific road in the stretch we are investigating “, explains Usai, scientific director of the Sinis excavation since 2014. “In particular, the two torsos found with the shield lead the findings back to the category of boxers. These are limestone sculptures whose stone came from a quarry not far from here, easy to sculpt but for this very reason also very fragile”.

A unique necropolis in Sardinia

“These are sculptures that emerged in a stretch not yet touched”, adds Usai. “The widespread presence in the Sinis of the Nuragic civilization in the Bronze and Iron Ages is the very premise of the research that is based on an investigation into the Sinis. Within this framework this necropolis is unique in Sardinia. The excavation here is an integrated research not only of the statues but of everything that also includes excavations of tombs, thanks to which the anthropological aspect also emerges: that is the need to define the chronology, nature and role of these statues “.

“The biggest emotion? Undoubtedly seeing something take shape before your eyes that comes out of the earth “, says the archaeologist.” Things that you knew were buried there, but above all seeing and questioning them, from the shapeless stone to discover their state “.

archeology sardinia remains of two other giants discovered
© Mont’e Prama Foundation

The entrance to the Cabras Museum which houses an exhibition of the ‘Giants’ of Mont’e Prama

The activity on the site was preceded by a work of scientific and technical preparation, as evidenced Monica Stochino, Superintendent of Archeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the Metropolitan City of Cagliari and the provinces of Oristano and South Sardinia. “The research focused on two main objectives”, Stochino emphasizes. “On the one hand, investigate some groups of burials from the most ancient, Nuragic, and later Punic-Roman phases, to find the scientific information necessary for a reconstruction of the world in which the cultural phenomena that led to the creation of the site developed; on the other hand, extend the excavations to the south of the areas already investigated, with the aim of confirming the extension of the monumental arrangement of the area with the definition of the funerary road and the creation of the sculptural complex formed by statues, models of nuraghe and betyls “.

It is already ready a new excavation project on which 600 thousand euros will be invested, says the Ministry of Culture. The scientific and technical direction will be of the Superintendency, while the regional secretary of the MIC will be the contracting station. Furthermore, a 2.8 million euro restoration project is planned to restore the sculptures discovered in Mont’e Prama from 2014 to 2016. These resources, together with the 3 million euro destined for the expansion of the Archaeological Museum of Cabras as part of the program of interventions envisaged by the 2015/2016 ‘Major Cultural Heritage Projects’ strategic plan, also adds up to 4.15 million euros for the Tharros site, also in the municipality of Cabras.

The Mont’e Prama Foundation

The new discovery takes place just under a year after the birth of the Mont’e Prama Foundation, established on 1 July 2021 from the Ministry of Culture, the Municipality of Cabras and the Sardinia Region to enhance what is considered one of the greatest testimonies of an ancient Mediterranean civilization.

“Resources amount to 15 million euros”, underlines the president of the Sardinia Region, Christian Solinas, “that we assigned to the Mont’e Prama Foundation, which we set up with the Ministry and the Municipality of Cabras, for investments in infrastructures and promotion, as well as to allow the continuation of the excavations and the restoration operations to be carried out on site, allowing the territory a full use of the treasure of Mont ‘e Parma also from an educational point of view “,

By Editor

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