Sardinia As A Crossroads In The Mediterranean 19
and royal correspondence to kings, such as Alfonso the Magnanimous.37 The
transcription work continues and is collected in the Acta Curiarum volumes.38
Before medieval archaeology became a field in the late 1970s, excavations
in Sardinia mostly focused on prehistoric megalithic cultures, also known as
Nuragic, and Roman settlements. With archaeology now playing a greater
role in the reconstruction of all histories, it is possible to understand how
Christianity materialized on the island, along with Judaism and Islam. While
indirect sources describe Sardinian bishops in councils in North Africa, only
a few churches (that are known) survive on the island from the late antique
period. In this regard, particular mention goes to Letizia Pani Ermini, followed
by Anna Maria Giuntella, who were among the first to publish the excavation
of the early Christian complex at Cornus (baptistery and basilica), on the west-
ern coast of Sardinia, near Oristano.39 Particular mention goes to Salvatore
37 Their biggest contribution, together with other collegues, has been the editions of the
documents of the ACRS: Acta Curiarorum Regni Sardiniae; in particular, see Anna Maria
Oliva and Olivetta Schena, eds, I Parlamenti dei viceré Giovanni Dusay e Ferdinando Girón
de Rebolledo (1495, 1497, 1500, 1504–1511) (Cagliari, 1998); Oliva and Schena, Sardegna cata-
lana; Olivetta Schena, “La presenza genovese nella Sardegna medievale (secc. XII–XV).
Stato attuale degli studi e prospettiva di ricerca,” in Genova in Sardegna. Studi sui genove-
si in Sardegna fra Medioevo ed Età contemporanea (Cagliari, 2000), pp. 19–30; Olivetta
Schena, “Tracce di presenze ebraiche in Sardegna fra VI e XIII secolo,” in Materia Giudaica
14:1/2 (2009), pp. 11–24.
38 ACRS The Acta Curiarum Regni Sardiniae (I Parlamenti della Sardegna) are possible
thanks to the generous contribution of the Consiglio Regionale della Sardegna (Regional
Council of Sardinia) http://www.consregsardegna.it/acta_curiarum_indice.asp.
39 Letizia Pani Ermini and Mariangela Marinane, Catalogo dei materiali (1981); Anna Maria
Giuntella, Cornus I: 1. L’area cimiteriale orientale (Oristano, 1999); Anna Maria Giuntella,
Cornus I: 2. L’area cimiteriale orientale. I materiali (Oristano, 2000). Letizia Pani Ermini,
“Cultura, materiali e fasi storiche del complesso archeologico di Cornus: primi risultati di
una ricerca,” in L’archeologia Romana e altomedievale nell’Oristanese: atti del 1. Convegno
di Cuglieri: Cuglieri, 22–23 giugno 1984 (Taranto, 1986), pp. 69–229. For other assessments
of the project, see Giorgio Farris, Le aree paleocristiane di Cornus (Oristano, 1993); Anna
Maria Giuntella, “Brevi note sull’area cimiteriale orientale di Cornus (Cuglieri, provincia
di Oristano),” in Insulae Christi. Il Cristianesimo primitivo in Sardegna, Corsica e Baleari,
ed. Pier Giorgio Spanu (Oristano, 2002), pp. 245–252. A summary of the work of Pani
Ermini and others can be found in Letizia Pani Ermini and Francesco Manconi, “Scavi
e scoperte di archeologia cristiana in Sardegna dal 1983 al 1993,” in 1983–1993: dieci anni
di archeologia cristiana in Italia: atti del VII Congresso nazionale di archeologia cristiana,
Cassino, 20–24 settembre 1993, ed. Eugenio Russo (Cassino, 2003), pp. 891–931.