ANCIENT Sandinia

Not just old, but ANCIENT!  I visited ruins in Buramini (prounced broom' ini) that were built in the 14th Century BC.  The pyramids were built around 3 centuries BC.  The amazing thing about these ruins is that they were unknown until 1951, covered by the "sands" (or dirt) of time.

A local man who also happened to be a famous archaeologist got curious about some of the artifacts found by locals and started digging.  The ruins uncovered were a "nuraxi"(pronounced new rah' gah) and the surrounding village.  This structure was probably one of many, each built on a hilltop within sign of another in every direction.

The construction used huge stones fit together to make a hollow tower.  This was connected to 4 smaller towers, one for each of the cardinal directions.  (Shown in brown on the map)  The primary purpose was probably defense.











As the tower rose, smaller stones were used, with the result that there was no need for a capstone as used in an arch.  If the top layer or 2 or 3 were removed, the rest of the tower still remained upright.  The tan walls were added  perhaps 100 years later, then the village round huts in yellow, and finally the more irregular houses in green.








I am not sure how people entered in ancient times, but we took a staircase part way up, then entered through a small opening and descended to the lowest level of the tower by means of irregular stone steps in very low and narrow passages.










There was a well in the center courtyard, a necessity if the tower came under siege.  There must have been some sort of ladder to get to the upper levels and the top, but these were probably made of wood and have long since rotted away.  The view from the top was spectacular.

Small openings in the walls could be used for storage.






On the drive back to Cagliari (pronounced Cahl' lair ee), We drove through a little village where murals, some primitive and some fanciful,  were painted on many of the walls. 

The countryside was hilly, and it is easy to understand why the nuraxi of Buramini was undiscovered for so long.  There are ruins of medieval castles on some of the hills.  If you dug under the castles,, you would probably find more ancient ruins.

Before returning to the ship we had a quick, driving tour of the city of Cagliary, a city built on 7 hills, just like Rome.  There were no ancient ruins, just lots of old and new buildings with a castle, monument or church at the top of each hill.

At one time, this city was famous for its salt production.  Salt-rich sea water was isolated in large ponds.  As the water evaporated, the salt remained and was scooped up, packaged and sold all over Europe.  However,a  modern problems (pollution) put an end to the business.  They say that the pollution has been cleaned up, but the salt business has never resumed.  A small species of pink shrimp lives in the ponds, and thousands of flamingos feast on them every day.  Our guide told us that the flamingos have the ideal life.  They sleep 12 hours and eat 12 hours.  The shrimp give them their red coloring.

Salt ponds