Monte D'Accoddi 0 Commentaires

Monte D'Accoddi

Less than six kilometres from the Necropolis Of Su Crucifissu Mannu, there is the Ziqqurat temple of Monte d'Accoddi, near Porto Torres, 134 km from the Gabbiano Azzurro Hotel & Suites, reachable in 1h and 40min drive. It is a truncated pyramid-shaped altar from the pre-Nuragic era, used for the Earth fertility cult, unique in Europe.

As already happened for the 'Su Nuraxi': Nuragic Village of Barumini (approx 1500-1400 BC) which, before revealing itself in all its grandeur after the excavations carried out between 1950 and 1957, appeared as an anonymous hilly height, the Monte d'Accoddi’s altar was discovered by chance in 1954 by Ercole Contu, who was intrigued by a small hill in a totally flat area. The consequent excavations brought to light an ancient treasure unique not only in Europe, but in the whole Mediterranean basin, due to its typical Ziqqurat architectural structure so similar to the Mesopotamian ones. In fact, the name Monte d'Accoddi in the old cadastres is indicated as Monte de Code, i.e., Hill of Stones (from code = stone).

But finding models in the Near East must not be misleading, at least according to the first discoverer of the altar, Ercole Contu, who said: "...with the same intentions, means and needs, in different times and places, men could have created similar things and at the same time extraordinary and wonderful without them having any real relationship to each other. Therefore, it is not wrong to speak of a "miracle" for the monument of Monte d'Accoddi!"

Who built it, is not exactly identified. Historians, aided by the analysis of radioactive carbon, have dated the oldest part of Monte d'Accoddi in the Recent Neolithic, between 3.200 and 2.700 BC.: sixteen hundred years before the most ancient nuraghi! Around the Ziqqurat there are the remains of a village of quadrangular huts, sacrificial stones and two spherical artefacts that could be representing the sun and the moon.

The terrace at the top of the Ziqqurat was the meeting point between man and divinity. It seems that it was housed inside a room where the celebrant coupled every year with a virgin to perform the "Earth Fertility" rite. Obviously, this is just a hypothesis, not history, because as there is a real danger of collapse, so far no one has dug inside.

Some stone slabs with seven holes around them have been found which may have been used to bind sacrificial victims, presumably cattle.

To understand the reasons why rituals were practised in such extraordinary constructions, the use of their spaces, we should consider these ancient works not only as silent and static monuments but we should study the dynamics of their purposes. We had seen that the application of Archeoacoustic could make us understand that the past tense is not silent, but has always been full of vibrations, messages for anyone who wants to listen to them. Perhaps.

The site attendance continued for a long time, it seems still in mediaeval times as would seem to suggest a bronze ring with the alpha and the omega, the symbol of Christ in the Apocalypse. A sacred use of the place is in sync with the fusion of doctrines of different origins already identified in our island in other contexts. Unfortunately, during the Second World War, anti-aircraft fire dug trenches around the Ziqqurat, irreparably damaging the site.


“You shall make an altar of earth for Me, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause My Name to be recorded and I will come to you and bless you.” Exodus XX, 24

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Written by Daniela Toti

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