San Michele Cave represents a very important site for the archaeology of Sardinia.
Formed by the constant action of water, which has excavated the limestone rock over the centuries, St. Michael’s Cave has yielded important archaeological evidence documenting the site’s use as a burial and cult site during the Neolithic period.
The cave has a main branch and a series of tunnels and other small rooms. The total development is over 200 meters. The visitable part is reduced to about 60 meters.
Since its discovery in 1914, ceramic evidence dating to the Recent Neolithic period has been unearthed at the site, giving it the name of the Ozieri Culture (4100-3500 B.C.), which is spread uniformly throughout the island.
The artifact, found inside the cave that has become the symbol of Ozieri Culture, is the pyxis, a beautiful vase with walls decorated with bull and ram horns and a six-pointed star in the base. Another notable find is a female idolet mutilated of the head.
In addition to ceramic materials (vases, plates, tripods, bowls), bone remains (this suggests the use of the cave as a burial site), flint and obsidian fragments were found.
The artifacts are kept at archaeological museums in Ozieri, Sassari and Cagliari.
Located at St. Michael’s Cave, Mara Cave is 28 meters long and has a total development of 45 meters. It consists of a main branch into which three rooms converge, characterized by small, low tunnels, some of which have a few stalagmite concretions and small columns.
Other short impassable tunnels branch off from the secondary branch, with some crystal formations.
The cave is hydrologically fossil. Archaeological remains dating back to the Recent Neolithic period have been found inside.
