The University of Bologna at Tharros and Capo San Marco: Forty Years of Excavations and Archaeological Enhancement Projects

The excavations of the University of Bologna over the past forty years have demonstrated the central Mediterranean character of the settlement through the careful study of archaic pottery, preserved funerary objects, and the symbolic repertoire related to funerary and votive rituals in the tophet. Moreover, the investigations at Tharros have not yielded any eastern archaeological material but only limited data that, among other things, refer to contact with the Cypriot and Aegean area in general, which can be explained simply as trade contact preceding the foundation of the settlement. These data are in line with the new perspective of Phoenician and Punic studies in Sardinia, which now refute the hypothesis concerning the historical evidence of a conflict between Carthage and the Phoenician colonies on the island. This article analyzes the most important results of the research conducted by the team led by A.C. Fariselli in the urban area and suburbs of Punic and Roman Tharros.