Archaeoastronomy: The study of stones and stars

Nuraghe of Sardinia

There are literally thousands of tower structures called nuraghes found throughout the island of Sardinia, just off the coast of Italy. Built between the 1800 and 1500 B.C.E, they range from simple round two-story buildings to much larger, much taller, multi-tower complexes. While the purpose of the towers may be unclear, it is certain most of the towers were carefully oriented so that the entrances were point to the sunrise at winter solstice and to the moon at its southernmost rising position.

Central Tower of the nuraghe at Santu Anine of Torralba by Fawcett5. Compressed by |EPO|., Public *domain, via Wikimedia Commons*

*Sketch of what a nuraghe would have looked like circa 1600 B.C.E. by Kenny Arne Lang Antonsen, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons*

Click here to visit the UNESCO site on the Nuraghe of Sardinia..

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