Sardinia As A Crossroads In The Mediterranean 45
Moving north and forward in time, Daniela Rovina, one of the first medieval
archaeologists working in Sardinia, has contributed two chapters to this vol-
ume. Her first chapter discusses excavations that took place from 2000 to 2010,
in the city of Sassari. Emerging in the Middle Ages and superseding, to a cer-
tain extent, the nearby Porto Torres, Sassari was one of the targets of Pisan in-
terests on the island. Extensive excavations in the medieval city have provided
ample evidence of the political and economic changes that Sassari underwent
over the years. Rovina explains why the failure of the original giudicati sys-
tem prompted the creation of the city and how it became the most important
mercantile center in northern Sardinia. She also shows how the rise of Sassari
affected other principal urban centers on the island. With the wealth and ex-
tent of information generated by her excavations, Rovina is able to reconstruct
the momentous transformations in architecture and city planning that the city
underwent from the tenth to the fifteenth centuries.121 In her second chapter,
Rovina describes and contextualizes some of the finds from her many excava-
tions, showing the range and quality of objects found.
Laura Biccone’s chapter similarly concentrates on material culture—mostly
pottery—from archeological excavations of medieval Sardinia. Like Rovina,
much of Biccone’s data is derived from excavations undertaken in the north-
west part of the island by the University of Sassari. While information pertain-
ing to the early medieval period is comparatively scarce at this time, there are
abundant publications on the later medieval and modern production of both
locally fabricated wares and other Mediterranean products (from Valencia,
Catalonia, and central Italy). Biccone identified, with others, local glazed pro-
duction on the island, and she provides a general view of manufacturing from
the tenth to the fifteenth centuries. From the data she has gathered, Biccone
makes quantitative speculations about various typologies and draws interest-
ing comparisons with other local archaeological sites. Biccone’s chapter on
medieval and post-medieval pottery is also helpful in identifying gaps in the re-
cord. She notes that comprehensive regional summaries are lacking for a cru-
cial period of Sardinian history, namely the tenth through twelfth centuries.
Pottery studies have received much attention in every period and area in
Sardinia. While Biccone has shown what has been found in northern Sardinia, a
brief survey of Byzantine and early medieval pottery is in order.122 In southern
121 For a comprehensive study on the effects of the Aragonese occupation of Sassari, see
Laura Galoppini, Ricchezza e potere nella Sassari aragonese (Pisa, 1989).
122 Rossana Martorelli, “La ceramica del periodo bizantino e medievale,” in Ceramiche. Storia,
linguaggio e prospettive in Sardegna (Nuoro, 2007), pp. 75–87; Anna Maria Giuntella, “Note
preliminari sulla ceramica c.d. dipinta,” Quaderni della Soprintendenza Archeologica per le