276 Milanese
which was formulated by John Day and Angela Terrosu-Asole, has been digi-
tized and geo-tagged in a GIS (Geographic Information System), in which all
of the identified and hypothetical settlements found by the two scholars are
listed.29 Nonetheless, due to numerous localization errors and a misreading
of extant sources in the two catalogues during the digitalization of the data,
an overhaul of the project has been launched based on published and unpub-
lished sources, as well as an extensive archeological survey.
For over 15 years, the territory of the Province of Sassari has been the center
of a particularly intense systematic survey, focused on deserted medieval set-
tlements. It has already led to the identification of dozens of buried medieval
hamlets, particularly in the communes of Sassari, Sorso, Sennori, Chiaramonti,
Osilo, Ploaghe, Ozieri, Bessude, Siligo, Thiesi, Semestene, Bonorva, Cheremule,
Alghero, Olmedo, Uri, Usini, Monteleone Roccadoria, Romana, Martis, Nulvi,
and Bultei, in addition to the territories of Orgosolo, Suni, Sindia, Siniscola
(Province of Nuoro), and Samugheo (Province of Oristano) (Fig. 11.1).30 The de-
serted medieval villages of Sardinia seem to point to the potential of medieval
and post-medieval archaeology on the island insofar as the remains of over
500 and perhaps as many as 800 deserted medieval and post-medieval villages/
settlements are thought to lie buried in the Sardinian countryside, obviously in
various states of preservation and of various degrees of interest.
The pilot archeological excavation of Sardinia’s abandoned medieval villag-
es started with the village of Geridu (see below, part 3). During the Geridu exca-
vation we focused particularly on the relationship between written documents
and archaeological data within the context of rewriting a history of medieval
rural Sardinia, by using archaeology as a starting point rather than documents.
Emergency excavations took place when land for an olive grove was ploughed
at the site of the Villa of Ardu (ca. 10 km from Geridu). The site, which is men-
tioned in written sources from the twelfth to fourteenth centuries, involved a
settlement, which, according to a Camaldolese document from 1229, hosted the
residence of the archbishop of Torres, who held on to the property until 1289,
disregarding some phases during which it belonged to the Doria (1259) and
the municipality of Sassari (1278).31 Despite the presence of some structures
29 The digitization was conducted by Maria Cherchi and Gianluigi Marras, Department of
History, Human Sciences and Development, University of Sassari, under the direction of
Marco Milanese.
30 Studies conducted by the University of Sassari, in particular those of the Chair of
Medieval Archaeology, and the Soprintendenza Archeologica of the Provinces of Sassari
and Nuoro.
31 Daniela Rovina and E. Grassi, “Il villaggio medievale di Ardu,” in Milanese, Vita e morte dei
villaggi rurali, pp. 161–172.