Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/65

 NuRAGHS. 47 ferent date in the building. 1 According to this theory, towers with one storey (many may be, after all, of recent date) would represent the dawn of this style of building, whilst the later would be obtained in agglomerated nuraghs. Without pronouncing definitively, we are inclined to place these masterpieces of Sar- dinian workmanship during the Phoenician period, when the natives were provided with better tools and had acquired more skill in using them, enabling them to undertake works of which the main idea may have been suggested by the native soldiers, who had witnessed similar fortifications in their African and Sicilian cam- paigns. This would explain the existence of vast and complicated nûraghs, such as the Sarecci and Ortu. When this mode of construction was abandoned, it is impos- sible to say, for data on the subject fail us altogether. But although nûraghs are no longer built in Sardinia, they still exist in the districts of Bari, Lecce, Otranto, and Puglia, where they retain their Latin name " truddhu," " trullum," the d being equiva- lent to / in the local dialect. 2 By reference to Figs. 34 and 35, the ordinary type of this kind of structure will be seen. " The truddhu," says Lenormant, from whom we quote, "is a massive conical tower, built almost with uncut stones loosely put together, the facing alone exhibiting more care in the fitting and shape of the material, without aiming at uniformity. The interior of the edifice is occupied by a round vaulted chamber, shaped like a ' tholos ; ' this form being obtained by a series of corbelled and superimposed courses. As a rule, this is the only apartment on the ground Moor, to which a low doorway, with a huge slab forming the lintel, gives access. It sometimes happens that the truddhu is of more than ordinary size, when a second chamber is placed on the second floor, which is reached by a narrow winding stair- case, always seen on the outside of the building even when no second chamber occurs ; for it communicates with the paved terrace on the top, investing the edifice with a truncated, cone- like aspect. The terrace is generally flat, but it assumes some- times the form of a circular, gently sloping roof, growing to 1 La Marmora, Voyage en Sardaigne, Pt. II. pp. 65, 66, 78. More particularly examine the Nieddu nuraghs (Fig. 18). 2 These particulars and illustrations on next page are due to M. Lenormant (Notes Archéologiques, stir la terre d'Olranle), Gazette A?chéologiques, 7 me. année, PP- 3 2, 39. specchie et truddhi.