Analisi territoriali in un’area della Sardegna centromeridionale: modelli ubicativi durante l’età del Bronzo

The territory of Sarcidano is very important for the study of the settlements of the Nuragic population in this area of central-southern Sardinia (Italy), as the archaeological evidence of the late phases of Bronze Age and Early Iron Age show. The importance is given above all by the presence of the great sanctuary of Santa Vittoria at Serri, which stands out on the homonymous plateau, with the control of the surrounding territory, corresponding integrally or partially to the territories of Serri, Escolca, Gergei, Isili, Nurri Municipalities. In occasion of this work, we decided to experiment an analytical procedure that is not yet widely used in the study of settlement methods in the Bronze and Iron age: the Spatial Autocorrelation Techniques. The advantage of this approach lies in the fact that it not only shows spatial relationships but does it so on the basis of different values connected to spatial data. Results showed that the nuragic monuments were built near passageways and to control the valleys below the basalt plains. An organization and a specific criterion for exploiting and monitoring the landscape, in which settlement choices depend on functionality criteria, because nuraghi and villages had a key role on the strategic control of the territory.