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<< Books/Products >> Book Review: Sardegna, The Spirit of an Ancient Island

Submitted by SolarMegalith on Monday, 14 July 2014  Page Views: 5873

Neolithic and Bronze AgeCountry: Italy Region: Sardinia (Sardegna) Type: Broch or Nuraghe

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Sardegna - Spirit of an Ancient Island
Sardegna - Spirit of an Ancient Island submitted by sandralakeman : Sardegna - the Spirit of an Ancient Island - The Art and Architecture of the Pre-Nurgagic and Nuragic Cultures, new book and exhibition Image copyright Sandra Lakeman (Vote or comment on this photo)
A 160-page academic study and artistic viewpoint of these amazing sites with 151 full colour photographs and 50 hand drawn Illustrations in a 10 page visual glossary. In English with an excellent Italian translation as well.

Sardegna, The Spirit of an Ancient Island by Sandra Davis Lakeman

SolarMegalith writes: The archaeology of Sardinia receives relatively limited attention from scholars outside of Italy – the main English-language publications on this topic were written by G. Webster (1996), R. Rowland Jr. (2001) and S.L. Dyson with R. Rowland Jr. (2007). This situation results in little public interest in Sardinian prehistory in Europe.

Besides, the importance of Sardinian archaeology for understanding the processes which occurred in the Central Mediterranean islands during prehistory, the pre-Nuragic and Nuragic monuments constitute an important part of the Sardinian landscape, their distribution patterns are not much different from the original ones. The Late Neolithic period left several thousand domus de janas, the rock cut tombs (about 200 of them with parietal art [cave or stone paintings]), while the Chalcolithic statue-menhirs are part of a wider horizon of these types of monuments in the Central Mediterranean.

Among the Bronze Age monuments there are over 7000 nuraghi (conical-shaped stone towers), 900 tombe di giganti (megalithic tombs with elongated chamber and curved exedra [apse, niche or seat]), sacred wells and rectangular megaron temples [architectural form consisting of an open porch, a vestibule, and a large hall with a central hearth and a throne.] – these sites belong to the Nuragic culture which emerged on the basis of the Early Bronze Age Bonnanaro culture and reached its heyday in the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age.

The finest examples of Nuragic art are bronzetti – small bronze figurines depicting leaders, animals, supernatural creatures, boats and nuraghi – as well as the monumental sculptures from Monte Prama (Cabras). The richness of the prehistoric architecture and art from Sardinia has been captured by Sandra Davis Lakeman in her book “Sardegna: The Spirit of an Ancient Island. The Art and Architecture of Pre-Nuragic and Nuragic Cultures”.

The major part of the book consists of photographs of the prehistoric monuments and art from Sardinia. The photos are arranged in chronological order, starting from the pre-Nuragic funerary monuments (mainly domus de janas), through tombe di giganti and nuraghi, finishing with sacred wells and springs. The album ends with examples of prehistoric art from Sardinia.

The quality of the photographs is very good, they capture the beauty of Sardinian prehistoric monuments (in some cases also their landscape context) and art. Importantly, besides their aesthetic value the photographs document and emphasize specific architectural elements which are typical for the pre-Nuragic and Nuragic monuments, such as columns in some of the largest domus de janas, intra-mural staircases of the nuraghi and mensole (corbels supporting top parts of the nuraghi, most of which are not in situ anymore), as well as water channels in the sacred wells.

Among the photographs of Nuragic bronzetti there are close-ups of specific elements of the figurines, mainly weaponry (characteristic cross-shaped Nuragic dagger, round shield and horned helmet). It is worth emphasizing the great use of light in the photographs of the rock art and paretial art, (artwork done on cave walls or large blocks of stone) as it brings out the motifs really well (all the photographs were taken just with natural sources of light).



As a result of this careful attention to detail the photographs are not only beautiful but also present the major characteristics of the architecture and material culture of prehistoric Sardinia. Unfortunately, some mistakes in the photograph descriptions must be pointed out – the anthropomorphic motif on p. 96 is not from domus de janas Moseddu (as the description says), but from the necropolis of Sas Concas in Oniferi, while some of the names of the nuraghi are misspelled (for example Nuraghe Orroli instead of Orolo, p. 46-48).

The photographic part of Sandra Davis Lakeman’s book is followed by a chapter called “Visual Glossary” which describes the major types of the pre-Nuragic and Nuragic architecture, as well as art. Just like the photographs, the descriptions are also arranged mostly in chronological order, starting from the Late Neolithic domus de janas and dolmens. Unfortunately, this order breaks down a little bit towards the end – the Neolithic art is described after the Nuragic art and the Monte Prama giants are mentioned only once (p. 136) in “Neolithic Dea Madre” section, so a reader without previous knowledge of the subject might wrongly assume that they are of Neolithic origin (the Monte Prama sculptures belong either to the Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age – the debate is ongoing – constituting the only example of the monumental sculpture in the late Nuragic art).

Nevertheless, the characteristics of the major types of monuments are written really well, giving a good introduction to the pre-Nuragic and Nuragic architecture. The floor-plans and sections of specific monuments are well-chosen and successfully illustrate the text.

In conclusion, Sandra Davis Lakeman’s book beautifully documents a wide array of different types of prehistoric monuments and examples of art from Sardinia, while also documenting their specific features which are important for understanding of their functions and chronology. To quote from the author: ‘this photography is an attempt to extend the life of the Nuragici, as “a society endures much longer than the lifetimes of its individual members.” [Brian Fagan]’ – in my opinion “Sardegna: The Spirit of an Ancient Island” is an important step forward towards accomplishing this goal. This book can be recommended especially to those who embrace not only the archaeological, but also aesthetic values of prehistoric sites, as well as to people who would like to visit Sardinia and experience the monuments themselves.

Review by Cezary Namirski (SolarMegalith)

See our event listing for more details and photographs from the book

The book Sardegna, The Spirit of an Ancient Island is available from
Sandra Davis Lakeman
vico Principessa Iolanda, 7
09021 Barumini, [CA]
Sardegna, Italy

Price: Hardcover - 40 euro, Softcover - 30 euro
Details: 160 pages with 151 colour photographs and 50 hand drawn illustrations.
Italian translation by Pierpaolo Cannistraci, Professor of Architecture at the University of Roma, Sapienza and in Siena at University per Stranieri, Siena.

Please order by email to: sandralakeman@gmail.com
www.sandralakeman.com



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"Book Review: Sardegna, The Spirit of an Ancient Island" | Login/Create an Account | 1 comment
  
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Re: Book Review: Sardegna - Spirit of an Ancient Island by Anonymous on Friday, 18 July 2014
D. H. Lawrence has a wonderful description of his journey to Sardinia (does not include monuments).
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