No abstract

The Phoenicians never built settlements on the Italian mainland, and the evidence of a Phoenician presence on the Italian peninsula is based mainly on the discovery of luxury items and material found from excavations of indigenous communities, mostly graves. This evidence has often been studied in isolation from the local context. Recent studies have shown, however, that they were part of a larger cross Mediterranean network alongside Greeks, Etruscans, and Sardinians. This chapter examines evidence from the earlier first millennium bce, demonstrating the importance of seeing the material culture in context and concluding that Phoenician influence was a significant strand in the various influences that led to the development of first millennium bce Italian communities.

The preparation and consumption of food in everyday circumstances is an often-overlooked aspect of communal eating and drinking. This article examines a series of cooking pots from the island site of Proratora in north Sardinia which provide the basis for a discussion of ancient Mediterranean consumption practices and raises interesting questions about the way such social practices are the basis of communal identity in a period and place usually understood as divided between the Roman and Carthaginian worlds.

The appearance of large socioreligious sanctuaries in Sardinia at the start of the Iron Age heralds a new period in the Nuragic culture of the island. Alongside the construction of densely populated “proto‐urban” villages, they mark a break with the past Bronze Age culture and signal new ways of territorial management and religious organization that originated with water and well temples. They were also fundamental for the control and distribution of metal resources by the Nuragic elites.

The Sardinian Nuragic Iron Age marks a new phase in the prehistory of Sardinia. The Iron Age was a period of transformation and reorganization of the Nuragic communities who no longer lived in the Bronze Age towers but whose life and sociopolitical organization were centered around compact villages and large sanctuaries. The period also signals greater contact with Levantine traders and settlers whose presence also led to the fragmentation of the Bronze Age culture and the creation of the Iron Age.