The archaeological area that emerged in the heart of the modern urban fabric of Sant’Antioco, between d’Azeglio and Gialeto streets, close to the structures of the municipal kindergarten and hospice, preserves a valuable cross-section of human settlement in ancient Sulky.
Excavations revealed the presence of a powerful stratigraphy that preserved in succession, starting from the bottom, evidence of an Eneolithic hut settlement, the overlay of the Phoenician settlement, and, at the top, the urban restructuring of the city in the early Roman imperial age: a cross-section of history stretching from 3,000 B.C.
C. to the second century AD. The most visible structures belong to the Roman phase: two roads, crossing orthogonally, identify a set of domestic and public representation buildings that are arranged, with stepped arrangement, on either side of the road layout.
Below the Roman-period settlement, investigations have revealed a substantial portion of the Phoenician settlement, dating from the beginning of the 8th century B.C. Again, these structures can be traced back to the domestic sphere.
In recent years the University of Sassari, with the invaluable support of the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici for the Provinces of Cagliari and Oristano and the company ATI Ifras, has stepped up research in this rich and very important archaeological deposit.
The new excavations have identified a number of interesting environments that can be traced back to the earliest phases of life in the 8th-century B.C.E. urban center: domestic structures, environments related to ironworking, and evidence of daily life that reveal a deep integration between people from the East and the local inhabitants, as well as the commercial vitality of the center.
Of particular importance is also the discovery of a place of worship from the Roman period, which has returned objects related to the worship of both female and male deities, some of which would lead one to suspect the existence of an earlier sacred place.
Only future research will allow us to expand the picture of our knowledge.
Via Benedetto Croce, 09017 Sant’Antioco CI
