Bronze Age stone tools in Nuragic Sardinia: The case of the ground-stone tools from Nuraghe Cuccurada-Mogoro (Sardinia, Italy)

Abstract

The use of stone tools has always characterized the everyday life of Nuragic people, the communities that lived in Sardinia (Western Mediterranean, Italy) during the Bronze and Iron Ages. Several archaeological sites on this island attest to the great importance of stone-made instruments, among which are ground-stone tools. Although various studies on Sardinia have focused on the use of tools for food processing or transforming raw materials, they tend to exclude a systematic study of ground-stone tools and their role in Nuragic society. This paper considers a group of 39 ground-stone tools from nuraghe Cuccurada-Mogoro (west-central Sardinia), a Nuragic monument dated to the Bronze Age and re-used in the Iron Age. The study involved several forms of analysis including typology, macroscopic observation of use-surfaces and excavation data. The association of the Cuccurada's stone-tools with cooking instruments suggests the presence of areas devoted to food processing and cooking practices.The aim of this paper is first to underline the variety of stone tools employed by the Nuragic people, and second to consider the presence of common areas within the nuraghi likely used for everyday activities based on the analysis of the archaeological context in nuraghe Cuccurada-Mogoro and other similar Bronze Age contexts. Ethnographical examples on the use of stone tools provide evidence for the social value of these instruments and the organization of activities within the Nuragic community.