THE NUAGIC PEOPLE: THEIR SETTLEMENTS, ECONOMIC ACTIVITES AND USE OF THE LAND. SARDINIA ITALY

ABSTRACT. In the Middle Bronze Age and the Recent Bronze Age, about 9000 single towered corridors and tholos nuraghe were constructed. The greatest density of corridor nuraghe occurs in central Sardinia on basalt plateaus. These nuraghe are not found in valley bottoms or on plains. The tholos nuraghe were built everywhere including valley bottoms, although they were more common on basalt plateaus and in areas of volcanic rock. Analysis of the relationship between the monuments and the settled areas allows one to state that the presence of nuraghe was mainly determined by the environmental resources and the possible economic exploitation of the area, rather any defensive consideration. The strategy employed to use the land profitably involved using a wide range of bronze and stone tools and animal power. This human impact may have caused a significant degradation of the environment, which occurred primarily in the final stages of Nuragic civilisation.