Fossils in archaeological sites: a Mesozoic mollusk in the nuragic sanctuary of Sa Sedda ’e Sos Carros (Sardinia, Italy)

The finding of animal and plant fossils in archaeological contexts raises the question of their importance in prehistoric times. Fossils have often been interpreted as supernatural objects and could have given rise legends and myths. They can inadvertently introduced along with building materials but the interest in fossil collection by inhabitants of prehistoric settlements responded to reasons that are still not fully clear today. Some hypotheses include the possibility that fossils were pierced to be used as pendants and ornaments, and in funerary contexts that they could have a role in the afterlife. This work presents the exceptional discovery of a large fossil of a Mesozoic marine mollusk exhibited in a building stone of a Sardinian Bronze Age sanctuary (Nuragic culture, XII-IX century BC) located in the central-eastern Sardinia (Italy). The use of this fossil as a rock block for the construction of a wall was not accidental as it was specially placed so that it was exposed to the visitor who walked the access path to the sanctuary. Interestingly, the spiral shape of this fossil suggests a similarity to the ovine horns carved in the near roundhouse of the sanctuary. The aim of the work is to use the discovery of a fossil to raise awareness among researchers of an aspect that can have great cultural implications. Indeed, although this work describes a single fossil found in an archaeological context, it is the first time that it has been done in Sardinia, an island rich in paleontological and archaeological evidence.