Under the supervision of Dr. John O'Shea, Emily Holt will conduct archaeological excavations and survey at the sites of Nuraghe Sa Conca Sa Cresia and Nuraghe Pranu Casti located on the Siddi Plateau in the Medio Campidano region of Sardinia. During Sardinia's Middle Bronze Age (1700-1365 BCE), small societies competed to consolidate their power, eventually resulting in the large complex societies of the Late (1365-1200 BCE) and Final (1200-1020 BCE) Bronze Age. During the Final Bronze Age, seemingly at the height of their power, these complex societies collapsed. At roughly the same time, the large states of the East Mediterranean also collapsed, suggesting that the Sardinian collapse occurred because the loss of trade with the East deprived the leaders of Sardinian societies with the resources they needed to maintain their power. However, alternative evidence suggests that the Sardinian collapse may have been caused by internal rather than external factors. Ancient pollen excavated from a large Late/Final Bronze Age site shows increasing deforestation and soil depletion; the worst environmental degradation coincides with the abandonment of the site. This evidence suggests that it was the ancient Sardinians' destruction of their resource base that caused their society to collapse.
Holt's excavation and survey will document the relative importance of loss of trade with the East and environmental degradation in causing the Sardinian collapse, providing a case study of the relationship between internal and external factors in the development, consolidation, and loss of social complexity. It will also help define Sardinia's role in pan-Mediterranean trade networks, leading to an understanding of the Mediterranean Bronze Age that is less biased toward the East Mediterranean. Finally, environmental degradation has been observed in areas of Bronze Age Europe outside of Sardinia, suggesting that resource degradation may have been a widespread result of Bronze Age economic strategies. Holt's project will provide an example of the degree to which one Bronze Age community degraded its resource base and the ways in which it responded to the changing productive potential of its hinterland.
In addition to addressing important anthropological questions, Holt's project will have broader impacts. It will introduce the archeological community to the rich possibilities for conducting research in Sardinia. The slow pace of industrial development on Sardinia has meant that Sardinia's archeological resources remain relatively accessible, however, archeologists must take advantage of these opportunities quickly before this important resource is destroyed. Holt's project will also create resources in Sardinia that will promote further archeological work. At the end of the project, all equipment purchased with NSF funds will be donated to the Museo Genna Maria, a small exhibit and research museum with space for artifact analysis, ceramic reconstruction, and library research as well as a small apartment to house visiting scholars. In spite of these resources, the Museo Genna Maria is underutilized due to its lack of a working computer and excavation equipment. Donating research equipment to the Museo Genna Maria will make it easier for the museum to conduct its own projects and support the efforts of foreign scholars working in Sardinia.
During the Bronze Age in the Mediterranean (c. 3000-1000 BCE), many complex cultures developed. The members of these cultures, led by well-established elites, built impressive palaces, invested in specialized agricultural and craft production, and engaged in long-distance trade relationships with each other. Toward the end of the Bronze Age (c. 1200-1100 BCE), these cultures were badly destabilized, leading to the breakdown of their production and trade systems. Traditionally, archaeological research has focused on the cultures of the East Mediterranean Bronze Age, such as the Mycenaeans, Minoans, and Egyptians. However, the West Mediterranean, particularly the island of Sardinia, also saw the development of complex societies that engaged in power consolidation, monumental building, craft production, and long-distance trade. These societies are collectively known as the Nuragic culture (c. 1750-950 BCE), and they share a similar trajectory with the cultures of the East Mediterranean. The Nuragic culture also experienced a destabilization that led to the cessation of monumental building and a temporary hiatus in long-distance trade. Curiously, the destabilization of the Nuragic culture came after that of the East Mediterranean cultures by about 100 years. The project "Competition, Resources, and the Consolidation of Social Complexity" used archaeological excavation and survey to investigate how the Nuragic culture was organized at its beginning and to determine whether trade connections with the East Mediterranean were an essential part of how early Nuragic elites displayed and justified their power. If importing fine goods from the East Mediterranean was part of power consolidation and elite identity in the early Nuragic culture, the eventual loss of these goods with the collapse of the East Mediterranean trade routes could explain both the destabilization of the West Mediterranean Nuragic culture and why it happened slightly later than the destabilization in the East. An alternative hypothesis explaining the Nuragic destabilization is suggested by previous archaeological research at the site of Nuraghe Arrubiu. Analysis of ancient pollens from Nuraghe Arrubiu suggests that the inhabitants of the area engaged in slash-and-burn agriculture and specialized animal husbandry to such an extent that the local soils were damaged and became unproductive. The inhabitants abandoned Nuraghe Arrubiu at a time coinciding with the worst environmental damage, suggesting that they may have destroyed their own resource base. If the pattern at Nuraghe Arrubiu proves to be a widespread pattern, the destabilization of the Nuragic culture at the end of the Bronze Age may not be linked to loss of trade with the East, but instead be due to unsustainable use of resources. "Competition, Resources, and the Consolidation of Social Complexity" also investigated the use of agriculture and animal husbandry in the early Nuragic culture to see if unsustainable resource use was part of the foundation of the culture’s complexity. Unsustainable agricultural practices can sometimes produce a lot of goods quickly, which can be important for elites throwing feasts and motivating the labor necessary to engage in monumental building projects. However, if the resource base is damaged in the process, ultimately such practices are an unstable source of power. The results of "Competition, Resources, and the Consolidation of Social Complexity" were quite interesting. We found that there was little to no evidence of contact with the East Mediterranean at our early Nuragic site, suggesting that trade with the East was not a major part of how early Nuragic elites gained power. If a dependence on East Mediterranean trade goods did develop, it developed later in the Nuragic culture and was not an essential component from the beginning. Similarly, a careful reconstruction of the local environment using excavated ecofacts - carbonized seeds, wood charcoal, animal bones, and sediment analysis - indicated that the inhabitants of our early Nuragic site did not overuse their soil resources. The soil appears to have remained productive despite some evidence for a climate that became drier over time. These results are particularly interesting because the inhabitants of our site did choose to abandon it and move elsewhere about 200-300 years after it was founded. This pattern of site abandonment resembles the abandonment that occurred at Nuraghe Arrubiu, but it must have occurred for a different reason. One possibility is that the inhabitants of our site recognized the limited agricultural potential of their land - a thin, rocky, and badly-drained soil on top of a basaltic plateau – and proactively chose to move into the more fertile lowlands before they had destroyed their local soils rather than waiting until declining agricultural production forced them to make their move. These results have important implications for understanding how people monitor, use, and react to limited resources, questions that loom large in contemporary global debate.
