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The first scratch map of Sardinia, you will discover 40 attractions of the Island. Each of them will make you know more local elements.
40 - NORA
Along the promontory of the cape of Pula, south-west of the Gulf of Cagliari, there is one of the most important open-air archaeological areas of Sardinia, Nora.
According to official studies, it was founded by the Phoenicians in the 8th century B.C., on an area already frequented in pre-Nuragic times. The idea that the settlement was much more ancient always takes hold, in fact the Nuragic traces are persistent in the submerged part of the urban agglomeration. Testimony of this is the evident Nuragic settlement, extended for more than 10 Ha, submerged by the waters of the fishpond. This settlement, still not particularly known, is clearly visible from azimuthal framing on particularly sunny days and from satellite photos. To confirm the thesis of a pre settlement in the Bronze Age are the findings of a nuragic well of some artifacts dating back to the same period.
Already since then the site had a fundamental function given its strategic geographical position, in fact, in addition to having been an important commercial port of call for several historical phases, the site was exploited to have a control of sea traffic for southern Sardinia.
The settlement had an active and prosperous role for over 1500 years.
Its urban fabric underwent several transformative phases perfectly superimposable with the people and populations that colonized it, the Phoenicians from the 8th century B.C., the Punic from the 5th century B.C. and the Romans from the 2nd century B.C., the latter remained settled there until the fall of the Empire.
There are several factors that have contributed to hand down the meagre remains of the original city, the first in temporal order is certainly the transformations carried out by the settlement of the Romans that have altered its connotations, a second factor, of natural type, is linked to the effects of atmospheric agents over the centuries on the urban remains but above all to the phenomenon of positive bradyseism and the rise in sea level that have contributed to the submersion of good parts of the settlement.
Like the settlement of Tharros, Nora is today an open-air museum where one can observe the variety of peoples who have colonized and inhabited the area during the various historical phases.
Few but significant remains of Phoenician Nora: remains of fortifications, tophets and the two inhabited quarters.
Of the Nora Punica there remain residential areas, a necropolis, sanctuaries and the remains of the temple dedicated to the goddess Tanit.
Of the Roman Period obviously remains the greatest legacy: the baths, the Basilica, the Macellum, the Forum, the Temple, domus signorili, the theatre, several examples of mosaic elements, the aqueduct system.
The artefacts found in this area can be found in the Archaeological Museum of Pula, and in the National Archaeological Museum of Cagliari.
Unfortunately, the unattended nature of the site for many years has reduced its riches due to the incursions of grave robbers or those who stole lithic material for building purposes.
In many ways, due to the urban/structural overlapping of the people who inhabited it and the strategic geographical position on the coast, Nora has strong similarities with the settlement of Tharros, located in the Sinis peninsula, also partly submerged by the waters.
Another element of strong discussion is the Stele of Nora, a symbolic element of the area; it is a block of sandstone found in Nora near the church of S. Efisio di Pula in 1773, on it is engraved a text that, according to many scholars, refers to the Phoenician alphabet. This thesis, as well as the many attempts at translation, is today increasingly questioned by other studies that would like the writing linked to an alphabet native or in use in most of the Mediterranean and in a period certainly pre-Phoenician. Of all the documents written so far from all over the island, this has the merit of having engraved for the first time the word "SRDN" whose meaning can be interpreted as Sardinia or people of Sardinia, precisely Shardana.
