Giants of Mont'e Prama

1974 archaeological discoveries1st-millennium BC sculpturesArchaeological discoveries in ItalyArchaeological sites in SardiniaArchaeology of Sardinia ... and 8 more

Colossal statues in ItalyCultural history of ItalyHistory of sculptureMegalithic monuments in ItalyPages with Sardinian IPAPrehistoric sculptureProvince of OristanoStone sculptures in Italy

The Giants of Mont'e Prama (Italian: Giganti di Mont'e Prama; Sardinian: Zigantes de Mont'e Prama [dziˈɣantɛz dɛ ˈmɔntɛ ˈβɾama]) are ancient stone sculptures created by the Nuragic civilization of Sardinia, Italy. Fragmented into numerous pieces, they were discovered in March 1974 on farmland near Mont'e Prama, in the comune of Cabras, province of Oristano, in central-western Sardinia. The statues are carved in local sandstone and their height varies between 2 and 2.5 meters. After four excavation campaigns carried out between 1975 and 1979, the roughly five thousand pieces recovered – including fifteen heads and twenty two torsos – were stored for thirty years in the repositories of the National Archaeological Museum of Cagliari, while a few of the most important pieces were exhibited in the museum itself. Along with the statues, other sculptures recovered at the site include large models of nuraghe buildings and several baetyl sacred stones of the "oragiana" type, used by Nuragic Sardinians in the making of "giants' graves". After the funds allocation of 2005 by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and the Sardinia Region, restoration was being carried out from 2007 until 2012 at the Centro di restauro e conservazione dei beni culturali of "Li Punti" (Sassari), coordinated by the Soprintendenza of cultural heritage for Sassari and Nuoro, together with the Soprintendenza of Cagliari and Oristano. At this location, twenty five statues, consisting of warriors, archers, boxers, and nuraghe models, have been exhibited to the public at special events since 2009. The exhibition has become permanently accessible to the public since November 2011. According to the most recent estimates, the fragments came from a total of forty-four statues. Twenty-five have already been restored and assembled in addition to thirteen nuraghe models, while another three statues and three nuraghe models have been identified from fragments that cannot currently be reconstructed. Once the restoration has been completed, it is planned to return the majority of the finds to Cabras to be displayed in a museum. Depending on the different hypotheses, the dating of the Kolossoi – the name that archaeologist Giovanni Lilliu gave to the statues – varies between the 11th and the 8th century BC. If this is further confirmed by archaeologists, they would be the most ancient anthropomorphic sculptures of the Mediterranean area, after the Egyptian statues, preceding the kouroi of ancient Greece. The scholar David Ridgway on this unexpected archaeological discovery wrote: ... during the period under review (1974–1979), the Nuragic scene has been enlivened by one of the most remarkable discoveries made anywhere on Italian soil in the present century (20th century)... while the archaeologist Miriam Scharf Balmuth said: ...a stunning archaeological development, perhaps the most extraordinary find of the century in the realm of art history ...

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Giants of Mont'e Prama (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).