Contribution Of Archaeology To Medieval And Modern Sardinia 273
Gilla.9 The recent discovery of Forum Ware (late eighth–ninth centuries) dur-
ing the excavation of the stronghold of Santa Caterina has been decisive in
proving the existence of a settlement, and thus its continuity, in the region of
Castello in the early giudicati period.10 Similarly, the same sort of pottery was
reaffirmed by discoveries in the nearby Viale Regina Margherita (former Hotel
Scala di Ferro)11 and in the more distant area of Bonaria.12 Within the citadel of
Cagliari, Donatella Salvi has discovered medieval cisterns, fragments of private
structures, and major transformations (primarily from the sixteenth century)
in the medieval walls.13 Dating has been determined by materials collected in
the area where medieval structures were demolished for the construction of
the new urban fortifications.14
As for Oristano, the problem of the city’s relocation from the coastal town of
Tharros in the tenth century has been debated both on the basis of a bishopric
at the site15 and archaeological data that reveals the continuity of the ancient
quarters into the early medieval era. In 1580, the historian Giovanni Francesco
Fara noted that the move from Tharros to Aristiane (Oristano) was complete
by around 1070, but there is not enough archaeological data to discuss the
urban formation of the capital of the giudicato of Arborea. Instead, the de-
bate has centered on Tharros’ early medieval church of San Giovanni di Sinis
(infra Coroneo) and its role as diocesan headquarters in the suburbs, until its
transfer to Oristano.16 The accidental rediscovery of a group of Islamic seals
in Cabras (eighth–eleventh centuries) offers further details on the dynamics
9 Martorelli and Mureddu, Archeologia urbana a Cagliari.
10 Sabrina Cisci and Matteo Tatti, “Cagliari. Indagini archeologiche presso il Bastione di
Santa Caterina. Campagna 2012–2013. Notizia preliminare,” Quaderni della Soprintendenza
Archeologica delle Province di Cagliari e Oristano 24 (2013), pp. 1–24.
11 Laura Soro, “Archeologia urbana a Cagliari. Elementi datanti dall’area archeologica sotto
l’ex albergo ‘La Scala di Ferro’,” masters thesis, University of Cagliari, 2009–2010.
12 Donatella Mureddu, “Cagliari, area adiacente il cimitero di Bonaria: un butto altome-
dievale con anfore a corpo globulare,” in Corrias and Cosentino, Ai confini dell’Impero,
pp. 237–241.
13 Donatella Salvi, “Archeologia Medievale nel Castello di Cagliari,” in Castrum Kalaris.
Baluardi e soldati a Cagliari dal Medioevo al 1899 (Cagliari, 2007), pp. 178–183.
14 Andrea Pirinu, Il disegno dei baluardi cinquecenteschi nell’opera dei fratelli Paleari Fratino:
le piazzeforti della Sardegna (Florence, 2013).
15 Letizia Pani Ermini, La storia dell’altomedioevo in Sardegna, pp. 387–401. About this prob-
lem, see also infra Cadinu, note 10.
16 Maria Gerolama Messina and Donatella Mureddu, “Nuovi elementi archeologici dal
San Giovanni di Sinis,” in Insulae Christi: il cristianesimo primitivo in Sardegna, Corsica e
Baleari (Oristano, 2002), pp. 239–244; Rossana Martorelli, Tharros, San Giovanni e le origi-
ni del cristianesimo nel Sinis (Ghilarza (OR), 2010).