The Monte Claro culture was a
Chalcolithic
The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in di ...
culture that spread throughout the island of
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...
around the second half of the 3rd millennium BC (2400-2100 BC). It takes its name from a hill located in the city of
Cagliari
Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...
, where important discoveries were made.
Archaeologists divide the Monte Claro culture into four
facies
In geology, a facies ( , ; same pronunciation and spelling in the plural) is a body of rock with distinctive characteristics. The characteristics can be any observable attribute of rocks (such as their overall appearance, composition, or con ...
: Sassari, Nuoro, Campidano Oristanese. Within each facies there are recognizable peculiarities that concern not only the material culture (ceramics, metallurgy and so on) but also the religious sphere and the settlement patterns. Characteristics of southern Sardinia are a variety of tombs types, including "oven-tombs", while in northern Sardinia appeared for the first time large
megalithic
A megalith is a large Rock (geology), stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. More than 35,000 megalithic structures have been identified across Europe, ranging ...
defensive walls, one of which is that of Monte Baranta near
Olmedo.
Its spread appears to have occurred through a slow expansion, which started from the South to the North of the island.
[Foschi Nieddu, Alba (2000) I Nuovi dati sull'Eneolitico sardo dagli scavi 1993 nella necropoli di Filigosa-Macomer (NU). In: L'ipogeismo nel Mediterraneo: origini, sviluppo, quadri culturali: atti del Congresso internazionale, 23-28 maggio 1994, Sassari-Oristano, Italia. Sassari, Università degli studi di Sassari, Facoltà di Lettere e filosofia, Istituto di Antichità, arte e discipline etnodemologiche e Dipartimento di Scienze umanistiche e dell'antichità. V. 2, p. 803-818: ill. Contributo in congresso.]
The settlements were often made up of houses with a rectangular or trapezoidal plant, which sometimes comprised different rooms. There is evidence of urban planning in some of the settlements.
[{{Cite web, url=http://www.quaderniarcheocaor.beniculturali.it/index.php/quaderni/article/view/225/127, title = Entra]
Gallery
File:Monte Claro 01.jpg, Pottery
File:Olmedo - Monte Baranta (08).JPG, Olmedo - Monte Baranta
File:Carta di distribuzione dei siti Monte Claro.jpg, Monte Claro sites in Sardinia
See also
*
Pre-Nuragic Sardinia
*
Beaker culture in Sardinia
*
Chalcolithic Europe
The Chalcolithic (also Eneolithic, Copper Age) period of Prehistoric Europe lasted roughly from 5000 to 2000 BC, developing from the preceding Neolithic period and followed by the Bronze Age.
It was a period of Megalithic culture, the appeara ...
Notes
Chalcolithic cultures of Europe
Archaeological cultures of Europe
Archaeological cultures in Sardinia