Ancient Neolithic Age
(6.000-3.800 b.C)

The first stage: Su Carroppu.
This period is characterised by the ceramics and it takes its name from the small shelter located below the rock called Su Carroppu in Sirri (Carbonia) (VI millennium B.C). The cultural environment discovered in the surrounding hills is one of the richest and more revealing ever found. We are talking about a small and not really deep cave, open towards the north for nearly ten metres, dominating from an high rocky wall a little valley, today still uncontested kingdom of shepherds and stockmen. Numerous ceramic fragments made of a rough black blend have there been found, most of them quite thick. They probably are the remains of bowls and pots with nice decorations made through the impression of shells called Cardium. The lithic industry is testified by some remains made of obsidian, especially in the area surrounding the Monte Arci.
The economy was based on hunting, breeding and fishing. Wild animals’ bones have been found, such as the deer, the wild boar and the “Prolagus sardus Wagner”, a little tailless rodent extinguished a long time ago.
The cave was also a burial place: two human skeletons have been found with ornaments nearby, such as little shells nicely polished and pierced.

Features of the first stage.
The main feature is about a kind of ceramic with a decoration called “cardiale”, that is made by the shell imprinting over the fresh ceramic paste. The more frequent decorations are the triangle, the zigzag and the horizontal and vertical stripe.

The second stage: the culture from Filiestru – Grotta Verde (Green Cave).
The second stage of the Ancient Neolithic (V millennium), called also culture from Filiestru-Green cave, is characterised by the ceramic’s disappearance and by the appearance of undecorated shapes. This stage is well-documented in the northern Sardinia, while the evidences are quite rare in the south of the island. Among the evidences an handle’s fragment from Su Stangioni in the Portoscuso area.

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Ahondamientos
L'insediamento di Santo Stefano
I corrieri di Santo Stefano
La veneretta e l'ossidiana