Contribution Of Archaeology To Medieval And Modern Sardinia 309
Graziella Berti, whose work since the 1990s serves as an important base for
contextual assessments.135
10 Conclusions
The contribution of the medieval and post-medieval archaeology to the his-
tory of Sardinia can be defined as significant, as it has altered in recent decades
and challenged some traditional historiographical perspectives. Therefore, the
agenda of questions and research perspectives is rather dynamic. The increas-
ingly widespread application of stratigraphic excavation to archaeological
interventions, the development of preventive archaeology, particularly in the
cities of Sardinia, and the interdisciplinary dialogue with historians of written
sources are just a few of the innovations that have allowed a full appreciation
of the archaeological information.
The urban histories of Cagliari, Oristano, Porto Torres, Olbia, Castelsardo, as
well as that of Sassari (infra Rovina) and Alghero (infra Milanese) have received
important clarifications in terms the chronology of their foundation (Sassari,
Castelsardo, Alghero) or past (Olbia), and the dynamics of the transition from
the ancient world to the medieval (Cagliari), especially where a stratigraphic
approach was used.
For the first judicial period, Forum Ware was found in the excavations of
Sassari, Cagliari, and Olbia, which helped document settlement phases still
unknown to written sources of the Sardinian cities, both for the history of their
foundation, as in Sassari, but also for the interpretation of other urban dynam-
ics, such as the use of the port in Olbia and continuity in Cagliari. As analyzed
in the case of Alghero (infra Milanese), a real research agenda based on sus-
tainable applications for archaeology can interact with the written sources,
urban planning, and architectural monuments.
Building archaeology, a fundamental new tool for the study of medieval and
modern standing buildings, is still excluded from the protection of archaeo-
logical interventions in the historical cities of Sardinia and is limited to a few
research cases. This is a serious limitation, which thus far has been determined
135 M. Hobart 2010, “Merchants, Monks and Medieval Sardinian Architecture,” in Studies
in the Archaeology of the Medieval Mediterranean (Leiden, 2010); M. Hobart and M.F.
Porcella, “Bacini ceramici in Sardegna,” in Atti del XXVI Convegno Internazionale della
Ceramica (Albisola, 1993), pp. 139–160; Graziella Berti, Michelle Hobart, and Francesca
Porcella, “ ‘Protomaioliche’ in Sardegna,” in La protomaiolica e la maiolica arcaica dalle
origini al Trecento (Albisola, 1990), pp. 153–167. See also, infra Biccone.