The giant sandstone statues found in the vicinity of Mount Prama in Sardinia are another unsolved mystery of the ancient island …
… One Sardinian peasant rented a small piece of land at the foot of the Monte Prama mountain (Mont 'e Prama (Sard. Lang.), Monte Prama (Italian lang.)) - like many local peasants, he was going to engage in agriculture … Clearing the area from the heap stones, the peasant bent down to drag another large, almost round stone, and suddenly … he cried out in surprise and horror: huge round human eyes were looking at him.
It was the head of a stone giant …
So a simple peasant unexpectedly made a major archaeological discovery. It was in March 1974 … For five years, archaeological excavations were carried out on this piece of land. As a result, 5 thousand 178 fragments of unique statues made of sandstone were found, which depicted warriors from two to two and a half meters high. None of these statues have survived as a whole. Summing up the results of the excavations, archaeologists counted from a huge amount of fragments 15 heads, 27 bodies, 176 fragments of hands and 143 fragments - legs, more than 780 remnants of round shields that were once tightly gripped in their hands by ancient heroes, and after … they again "hid" these invaluable evidence of the ancient Nuragic civilization for almost 40 years in the storerooms of the Archaeological Museum of Cagliari. And only recently was the result of this work announced. From numerous debris, they managed to collect 13 models of nuragas, five archers, 4 warriors, 16 fist fighters. The date of their creation is the X-XI century BC, and these are the very first stone statues in Europe, made in a similar technique! These statues are several centuries older than the ancient Greek sculptures!
It is still not known to whom these statues were dedicated. Someone considers them to be the prototypes of the inhabitants of Sardinia themselves, others say that the giants "guarded" the tombs. Still others are convinced that the statues are related to a nearby temple, the ruins of which have not yet been examined by archaeologists. According to this theory, the temple was erected in memory of the victory of the ancient representatives of the local population over the Carthaginian invaders, and the statues depicted the retinue or bodyguards of the military leader. But it is not entirely clear whether there is a connection between the times? There are many other hypotheses, such as the fact that the Sardis made statues of giants and exhibited them on the tops of the mountains, and the attacking enemies, seeing the giants, retreated. But here's what's interesting: a distinctive feature of these statues is the unusual huge eyes in the form of two concentric regular circles. On the faces of the giants, brows and a large nose are clearly marked, and the mouth is only slightly outlined, as if those who sculpted the statues of the giants were afraid that the statues might tell some terrible secret. Or maybe these are images of aliens who helped Nurazhichs, without cars and without improvised means, to build 20-meter towers of Nuragi? It turns out that in the 21st century we know practically nothing about the ancient peoples who inhabited the island of Sardinia!
Promotional video:
About how many wonderful discoveries the age of enlightenment is preparing for us …
Some of the restored statues are exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Cagliari, others in the Municipal Museum of Cabras, Fr. Sardinia, Italy. Research continues …
Photos taken in the Archaeological Museum of Cagliari.
Many of the exhibits in the Archaeological Museum of Cagliari are unique!