Location
Leaving from Alghero, take provincial road n. 127 bis in the direction of Porto Conte and Capo Caccia. The archaeological site of Palmavera is 4 km. past Fertilia and Santa Maria La Palma (province of SS), hidden behind the trees and marked with a road sign. The site appears suddenly on the right side of the road and exactly at km. 45,300.
The nuraghic village of Palmavera is situated on the southern side of the mountain with the same name. It痴 located 65 m above sea level and is 2 km. away from the sea, along a natural path that unites the Gulf of Alghero to the Gulf of Porto Conte. This area is characterized by great architectonic importance, thanks to a few settlements that date back from the Neolithic Age to the late Roman period.
The Excavations and Findings
The Nuraghe was excavated in 1904 by Taramelli, limited to its central nucleus, and has provided abundant nuraghic material (various bronze statues, amber, ceramics with geometric decorations etc.) discovered underneath a layer dating back to Punic and Roman times ( III-II centuries B.C.). In 1962-63, the excavations were once again undertaken (by Maetzke) along with restoration and the consolidation of the complex, all of which uncovered the numerous huts of the village and its fore wall, its existence not having gone unnoticed by the first excavator. Although this time the uncovered material was plentiful, the excavation didn稚 provide any significant stratigraphic data. Most interesting is the fact that the historical material found in the huts is very rare and often not present in the material found in the central construction which would indicate a temporary, sporadic use of the Nuraghe sometime after the village had been abandoned. New research in 1976-77 (by Moravetti), mostly on the big Meeting Hut, uncovered a sandstone, betilius pillar depicting the nuraghic tower and an exceptional limestone, cylinder-formed chair decorated with vertical, bands that, halfway up, are traversed with a horizontal band. Abundant ceramic fragments, some decorated using circular rings and others striped (there is some confusion over their discovery), amber grains and decorated bronze bracelets were also found.
The Village and its Meetings
Palmavera痴 huts, like those of all nuraghic villages, are prevalently circular although rectangular constructions seemingly superimposed on circular rooms are also present. They are mostly built with limestone blocks except for a few sandstone ones which are lager and served to build the thick walls. One of the most distinguishable amongst these is hut-tower n. 2 known as the Meeting Hut. Located southwest of the keep and later included in the fore wall's layout, it痴 12 m diameter makes it the largest of the entire complex. This hut has a large, circular fireplace in the middle, a pointed niche raised from the floor on the northern wall and a low chair in sandstone and limestone blocks that partially follows along the base of the wall. In the southwest half of the room, on ground level, indication of a circular wall structure has been discovered in the form of two rows, probably a hut constructed in conjunction with the keep.
