During the archaeological excavations in Sardinia, more than 500bronze statuettes of this type have been discovered, mainly in places of worship like their holy wells, and the so-called megara temples, but also in villages and nuraghes. Several statues were also found in excavations carried out in Etruscan tombs of central Italy from the 9th-8thcenturiesBCE.
Probably obtained with the lost wax technique, they can measure up to 39cm. They represent scenes of everyday life of the nuragic people, depicting characters from various social classes, animal figures, warriors, chiefs, divinities, everyday objects and ships.
Archaeologists have not been able yet to date the figures accurately: They were allegedly made between the 9th~6thcenturiesBCE; however, the recent discoveries at Orroli and at Ballao[1][2] of fragments of bronze statues dating from the 13thcentury BCE have called into question their effective date. Gonzalez (2012) dated the earliest types of bronze statuettes to the 12th-11thcenturiesBCE.[3]
Gallery
Some Sardinian bronze statuettes dating from the Nuragic period
A.A.; V.V., eds. (1967). La civiltà in Sardegna nei secoli. Torino, IT: Edizioni ERI.
Casula, F.C. (1994). La storia di Sardegna. Sassari, IT.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Foddai, L. (2008). Sculture zoomorfe. Studi sulla bronzistica figurata nuragica. Cargeghe, IT.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Lilliu, G. (1967). La civiltà dei Sardi dal neolitico all'età dei nuraghi. Torino, IT: Edizioni ERI.
Lilliu, G. (1962). Sculture della Sardegna nuragica. Verona, IT.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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