The Punic settlement of Pani Loriga in the light of recent discoveries

This paper will focus on the Punic settlement of Pani Loriga starting from the review of material from the old excavations and the analysis of the recent work undertaken by ISMA. The re-examination of the published and unpublished documentation concerning the excavations directed by Ferruccio Barreca allows us to affirm that the site was probably founded at the end of the 7th century BC. The transfer of a community of Eastern tradition people to a hill near the modern town of Santadi must be seen within a precise program of territorial control initiated by the powerful colony of Sulky. In this defensive system Pani Loriga occupied a strategic position of primary importance, as the settlement was to act as a link between the coastal hinterland and the internal areas of the country, rich in minerals and agro-pastoral products. This function was maintained through the following Punic phase. The importance of the colony is evidenced by Carthage's strong interest in it, which has been clearly shown by the recent excavations by ISMA which identified and partially revealed vast living areas, that were originally built between the end of the 6th and the early 5th century BC, that is, in the earliest phase of the north African metropolis' presence on Sardinian Island.