In the classification of nuragic towers, Lilliu introduces the distinction between two types of nuraghi: “the first form is that of the nuraghe atholos, that is, with the circular chamber covered by the false dome or pseudovolta. This is the shape remembered by Greek writers when they speak of «daidàleia» and «tholoi» in Sardinia, constructions made “in the archaic Greek manner,” that is, Mycenaean …
The second form is that of the nuraghe “with a corridor” … or “pseudonuraghe” or “nuraghe with a gallery” [and in it] one could see the western component, of a dolmenic-linear or “trilithic” taste.
Regarding the chronology of these constructions, Lilliu initially seems perplexed, but as the work continues, the about thirty known corridor nuraghi appear to him as delayed and decayed architectures, signs of the decline of a civilization, created to counter the Carthaginian and Roman invaders.
The results of radiometric analyses conducted on organic material from Peppe Gallu in Uri provide a dating between the 6th and 3rd centuries B.C., confirming the low chronology put forward by Lilliu, who recognized in these monuments theunderground constructionsand thecavesby Diodorus (IV, 30; V, 15, 4), based on information from Timeus of the 4th century B.C., and thecavesremembered by Pausanias (X, 17) and by Zonaras (VIII, 18) with reference to the consular campaigns against the Iolèi and Bàlari Sardinians in 231 BC.
In the second edition of theCivilization of the Sardinians, based on new data, while confirming that the nuraghe atholos“it has preceded in time … as an invention” that of the corridor, however “in the application it is now foundjointorganically with the nuraghe atholos, resulting in the two coeval forms».
Therefore, the corridor nuraghe «was a product as ancient in origin as it was delayed in preservation. Due to this characteristic and also because of the variety of the same form, we see its duration for more than a millennium, with well-defined stages indicated by C14 chronologies: around 1800 BC of Bruncu Màdugui, around 1200 BC of Albucciu, between the 6th-4th centuries BC of Peppe Gallu».
The photos of the nuraghe Albucciu of Arzachena are by @Marco Secchi photography. Those of the protonuraghe Bruncu Madugui or Bruncu Maduli of Gesturi are by Andrea Mura- Nuragando Sardegna. The nuraghe Peppe Gallu is unfortunately reduced to a minimum.
