Pran'e Siddi, or the Siddi Plateau, is a high basaltic plateau located in the south-central part of the island of Sardinia (Italy), near the modern town of Siddi. The area around Siddi was inhabited by prehistoric villagers beginning in the Neolithic period (ca. 4000-3200 BCE). During the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1700-1450 BCE), these previously egalitarian people began to develop a hierarchical social system with an elite who expressed their power and prestige through the building of monumental stone towers called nuraghi. The elites of the Nuragic community on the Siddi Plateau built sixteen nuraghi, which they lived in and added onto for three centuries. By 1450 BCE, however, the elite sites on the Siddi Plateau seem to have been abandoned, and the population moved away.
Progetto Pran'e Siddi was formed to conduct a thorough investigation of Nuragic climate, environment, land use, and economic practices in the Siddi region. We are interested in finding out what kinds of pressures – social, environmental, and/or economic – made the Nuragic people abandon their towers on the plateau. We are answering these questions through a combination of archaeological excavation and laboratory analysis. Excavation takes place at the site of Sa Conca ‘e sa Cresia, one of the largest nuraghi on the plateau. Artifact processing takes place in a community building in the nearby town of Siddi. By participating in Progetto Pran’e Siddi, students will contribute to ongoing research while gaining professional skills in excavation methods and artifact processing.
https://www.fieldsciences.org/program/2025-italy-prane-siddi/
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