26 Hobart
Angela Terrosu Asole’s work from the early 1970s, by uploading it onto a GIS sys-
tem with information derived from archeological and historical research.
In the early 1980s, just as medieval archaeology was starting to assert itself
as an autonomous discipline in Europe, French archaeologist Jean-Michel
Poisson’s interest in Sicily brought him to Sardinia, where he began excavations
on castles, while also researching topics like the island’s ports and harbors, trade
and travel in the Mediterranean, material culture, and even Sardinia’s desert-
ed villages.63 Since then, an increasing number of campaigns on castles have
identified two different moments of incastellamento in the island’s history. The
first was tied to the arrival of Pisan and Genoese merchants, and the second as-
sociated with the Aragonese, after 1324.64 Recent excavations and conferences
carried out by the Universities of Cagliari and Sassari have clarified the lifes-
pan of Sardinia’s castles.65 A number of these would transform into cities, such
as Cagliari, Bosa, Iglesias, and Castel Aragonese (later called Castel Sardo),
and become part of the royal cities.66 The attraction of silver was one of the
63 Jean-Michel Poisson, “Habitats et fortifications en Sardaigne médiévale,” in Habitas forti-
fiés et organisation de l’espace en Méditerranée médiévale : Table Ronde tenue à Lyon les 4
et 5 de mai 1982, ed. André Bazzana (Lyon, 1983), pp. 113–118; Jean-Michel Poisson, “Castelli
medevali di Sardegna,” Archeologia Medievale 16 (1989), pp. 191–204; Jean-Michel Poisson,
“L’érection de châteaux dans la Sardaigne pisane (XIIIe siècle) et ses conséquences sur
la réorganisation du réseau des habitats,” in Château Gaillard: études de castellologie
médiévale, XIV: actes du colloque international tenu à Najac (France), 29 août–3 septembre
1988 (Caen, 1990), pp. 351–366; Jean-Michel Poisson, “Caractères originaux et ‘modèles’
importés dans l’architecture militaire médiéval de l’aire méditerranéenne,” Mélanges de
l’École française de Rome, Moyen Âge 110 (1998); Jean-Michel Poisson, “Constitution et
transformation des terroirs villageois. Le cas de la Sardaigne au XIVe siècle,” in Castrum 5:
Archéologie des espace agraires méditerranéens au Moyen Age: actes du colloque de Murcie
(Espagne), tenu du 8 au 12 mai 1992 (Madrid, 1999).
64 Alessandro Soddu, Incastellamento in Sardegna. L’esempio di Monteleone ([S.I.], 2014);
Franco G. R. Campus, “Castelli e dinamiche dell’insediamento urbano nella Sardegna
bassomedievale (XII–XIV secolo),” in Identità cittadine ed élites politiche e economiche in
Sardegna tra XIII e XV secolo, eds Giuseppe Meloni, Pinuccia F. Simbula, and Alessandro
Soddu (Sassari, 2010), pp. 29–62; Giovanni Serreli, “Nota sui castelli medievali sardi, con
paticolare riguardo al Regno di Arborea,” Archivio Oristanese 2 (2014), pp. 69–79.
65 Donatella Salvi, ed., Il castello di Orguglioso. Cent’anni di vita medievale (Oristano, 2010);
Donatella Salvi and Ilaria Garbi, Il Castello di Acquafredda: Note di storia e di archeolo-
gia (Cagliari, 2010); L. Sanna, “Il castello aragonese,” in Sassari sottosopra, Catalogo della
mostra Sassari dicembre 2009–marzo 2010, eds Daniela Rovina and Mauro Fiori (Sassari,
2010).
66 Marco Milanese, Castelsardo: archeologia di una fortezza dai Doria agli Spagnoli (Sassari,
2010).