- Fulvia Lo Schiavo –
province) (Fig. 10.12). On the basis of the associated fi nds, V. Santoni and G. Bacco dated
the sanctuary to the RBA-FBA, consequently concluding that the jug should be dated
within Nuragic FBA (Bacco, Santoni 2008).
The original Nuragic production of different shapes of askoid jugs is indisputable; they
were precious and prestigious containers for a special liquid used in ritual ceremonies.
Recent gas-chromatographic analyses indicate in Sardinia a content of (red) wine (Sanges
2008: 10); they have been found in Nuragic temples and sanctuaries. In Vetulonia, it is
now demonstrated by way of pottery analyses that the majority of askoid jugs were local
imitations, far more than the imports from the island, which are few and older (middle of
ninth century bc), while the imitations continue in the eighth century to the beginning
of the seventh (Cygielman, Pagnini 2002: 390–391 tab. III a–b); moreover, in Vetulonia
the askoid jugs have a more mixed content, equally based in alcohol (fl avoured wine?)
Contrary to Sardinia, in Etruria the askoid jugs are mostly found in tombs; only recently
have a few sherds been discovered in Populonia, in the settlement.
To sum up, Nuragic askoid jugs have been produced in Nuragic Sardinia within the
FBA 2 and mostly FBA 3, which would explain such an early presence in Vetulonian
tombs. Following on from this, we may suppose that from then onwards, because of the
symbolic and material value both of the container and of the content, they were handled
along Phoenician trade routes all over the Mediterranean. Indeed, the Phoenician emporium
of Sant’Imbenia in northern Sardinia shows that a Near Eastern presence was established
there from at least the ninth century bc onwards.
The miniature bronze boatsIn Cyprus, right from the EBA, ships were reproduced both in clay and in bronze, and
also in Minoan and Mycenaean frescos and vases (Basch 1987). In Sardinia, the earliest
bronze boats are connected to the great season of the production of bronze fi gurines by
the lost wax process, reproducing in miniature men and women, warriors and peasants,
tools and weapons, pieces of furniture and monuments, containers, baskets and ritual
objects, beginning in FBA 1 and 2.
Figure 10.12 Su Monte, Sorradile (Oristano) hoard.