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This is a well temple dating back to the late Bronze age (11th - 10th century b.C.). In the nuragic era it was a sanctuary consecrated to the gods of the waters and of the underworld. Pilgrims must have gathered here for centuries from all of Sardinia, as witnessed by the little bronze figures found in this area. The site also includes the ruins of a nuraghe, a reunion hut, and many other buildings from different ages. This is the best preserved, and one of the most beautiful, of about forty known nuragic well temples in Sardinia. Only some stairs have been restored, everything else is original. Its structure is extremely rational and suggestive: the trapezoidal entrance opens to a staircase that descends to a tholos dome, similar in construction to the Treasure of Atreus in Mycenae, but much better designed and built, even though much smaller. Looking up we can see an upside down staircase, that has been interpreted as a staircase designed for the gods of the underworld. The dark basaltic stones are so perfectly cut that many archeologists have had doubts about attributing this work to the nuragic civility, but the finds at other similar temples have resolved those doubts. The temple is proof of the evolved architectural skills that nuragic people had, contemporarily to other Mediterranean peoples. Recent studies and new hypothesis try to resolve some of the mysteries related to nuragic peoples and their disappearance. The most shocking hypothesis is the identification of Sardinia as Atlantis, the mythical continent submerged by the seas. Considering the different states of preservation of south and center Sardinia nuraghes, it seems that a giant tsunami had actually submerged a big part of the island at the end of the Bronze age, producing a brutal stop in naval traffics and sweeping away an entire population and culture, whose descendants spread around the whole Mediterranean diffusing their metals knowledge and technology. (Thanks to Pat Swovelin for for american english corrections) Behind the scene : how this panorama was made Il tempio a pozzo nuragico di Santa Cristina.
Additional links: Italian journalist Sergio Frau's site (in italian): about the hypothesis of Sardinia as Atlantis, and the repositioning of the Pillars of Hercules between Sicily and Tunisia instead of the Strait of Gibraltar. UNESCO announcement of the Atlantikà exposition in Paris, april 2005. An interesting gallery of well temples and other nuragic buildings in Sardinia. My web page showing other panoramas of the Santa Cristina site. http://www.ziouga.it 
Shortcut to this page: http://worldwidepanorama.org/wwp_rss/go/n2849
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