ORIENTATION OF THE SARDINIAN NURAGIC "MEETINGS HUTS"

Abstract

In the past decades, there have been a number of studies about the orientation of the Sardinian monuments (domus de janas, dolmen, tombe di giganti, nuraghes, megaron and sacred wells) (Zedda 2013, Gonzalez et al. 2014). These monuments characterized the landscape of prehistoric Sardinia. Here we are presenting the results of a study of the orientation of the "capanne delle riunioni" ("meetings huts"). The "meetings huts" are particular buildings placed inside the nuragic villages dated between the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age (XIII – IX sec. a.C.) sometimes developed around preexisting nuraghes or some- times in nuragic villages without any nuraghe. These buildings are huts of considerable dimensions, characterized by specific furniture which distinguishes them from the other inhabited areas which constituted the villages. Inside the "meetings huts" took place the meetings of the heads of the families and/or liturgical and reli- gious meetings. The orientation of the “meetings huts” confirms the astronomic target of the nuraghes.