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| Location | Porto Torres, Sardinia, Italy |
|---|---|
| Type | Burial |
| History | |
| Periods | Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age |
| Cultures | Pre-Nuragic Sardinia |
The necropolis of Su Crucifissu Mannu is an archaeological site located in the municipality of Porto Torres, Sardinia.
Porto Torres is a comune and city in the Province of Sassari, northern Sardinia, Italy.
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula and to the immediate south of the French island of Corsica.
The necropolis includes at least twenty-two domus de janas, all made in the period between the Neolithic (IV millennium BC ) and the Copper Age (III millennium BC) and intensely used until the time of Bonnanaro culture (1800–1600 BC).
The Neolithic, the final division of the Stone Age, began about 12,000 years ago when the first development of farming appeared in the Epipalaeolithic Near East, and later in other parts of the world. The division lasted until the transitional period of the Chalcolithic from about 6,500 years ago, marked by the development of metallurgy, leading up to the Bronze Age and Iron Age. In Northern Europe, the Neolithic lasted until about 1700 BC, while in China it extended until 1200 BC. Other parts of the world remained broadly in the Neolithic stage of development, although this term may not be used, until European contact.
The Bonnanaro culture is a protohistoric culture that flourished in Sardinia during the 2nd millennium BC, considered to be the first stage of the Nuragic civilization. It takes its name from the comune of Bonnanaro in the province of Sassari where in 1889 the eponymous site was discovered.
Some internal chambers are decorated with symbolic elements (stylized bull's horns) and architectural elements (steps, contoured doors, lintels) typical of the period, carved in relief in the rock.
Relief is a sculptural technique where the sculpted elements remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term relief is from the Latin verb relevo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane. What is actually performed when a relief is cut in from a flat surface of stone or wood is a lowering of the field, leaving the unsculpted parts seemingly raised. The technique involves considerable chiselling away of the background, which is a time-consuming exercise. On the other hand, a relief saves forming the rear of a subject, and is less fragile and more securely fixed than a sculpture in the round, especially one of a standing figure where the ankles are a potential weak point, especially in stone. In other materials such as metal, clay, plaster stucco, ceramics or papier-mâché the form can be just added to or raised up from the background, and monumental bronze reliefs are made by casting.
