Sardinia: Mysteries of the Bronze Age
The Ancients
History Hit
4.7 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 23 March 2023
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Shrouded in mystery, the Nuragic culture was an enigmatic Bronze Age Civilisation that lived on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia. With their name deriving from the Island's iconic fortress-like Nuraghe monument - they have not only defined Bronze Age history, but even the very land from which they originated. But why were the Nuragic so obsessed with building these fortresses, and what can we learn from them?
In this episode, Tristan is joined by Fitzwilliam Museum curator, Dr Anastasia Christophilopoulou, to unravel the mysteries of ancient Sardinia. The builders of the nuraghes left no written records, but new discoveries have shed light on the civilisation and its people. So who what can we learn from the archaeology, and is it possible to find out where they went?
Anastasia is the curator of the new Fitzwilliam Museum exhibit Islanders: The Making of the Mediterranean.
Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. The Assistant Producer was Annie Coloe. Edited by Aidan Lonergan.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | It's the ancients on History Hit. |
| 0:12.6 | I'm Tristan Hughes your host and in today's episode. |
| 0:15.8 | Well this is a topic that I've been secretly wanting to cover for quite some time now. |
| 0:21.0 | An extraordinary, mysterious Mediterranean Bronze Age civilization that lived on the island |
| 0:27.9 | of Sardinia. |
| 0:29.4 | It was called the Nuregic Civilization. |
| 0:32.5 | Now in the North of Scotland's day you have these Iron Age mega structures called |
| 0:36.9 | Brox, these massive dry stone towers. |
| 0:39.9 | And on Sardinia you see something quite similar. |
| 0:43.0 | You see these tower-like dry stone structures dating to the Nuregic period, dating to the |
| 0:48.8 | Bronze Age which are called Nuregic. |
| 0:51.6 | We don't think that they are related to the Brox, but it's a fascinating similarity in |
| 0:55.9 | how these two areas of the prehistoric world, at different times the Brox of the Iron |
| 1:02.2 | Age, the Nuregic Bronze Age, they were creating similar, massive, megalithic structures. |
| 1:09.0 | Today we're focusing in on the Nuregic Civilization because currently at the Fitzwilliam Museum |
| 1:14.1 | in Cambridge they have got ongoing a brilliant new exhibition all about island civilizations |
| 1:20.5 | from the ancient Mediterranean. |
| 1:22.8 | These civilizations include Nuregic Sardinia, but also Minoan Crete and the peoples that |
| 1:29.4 | world on the island of Cyprus. |
| 1:32.0 | Get this, there is a group of artefacts known as the Terracotta Army of Cyprus, these |
| 1:37.4 | figurines they are extraordinary. |
| 1:39.8 | This exhibition brings together all of these different artefacts from places varying from |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from History Hit, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of History Hit and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.