Photos of the Nuragic Giants of Monte Prama Statues Sardinia

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Photos of the Nuragic Giants of (Mont’e) Monte Prama Statues Antiquities Art excavated from the Mont’e Prama archaeological site Sardinia. Photos by photographer Paul E Williams. (TIP – use the icons below the slideshow for thumbnail photos and info)

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Photos of the Nuragic Giants of (Mont’e) Monte Prama Statues of Sardinia

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Photos of the prehistoric statues of (Mont’e) Monte Prama archaeological site on the island of Sardinia, Italy.

The Nuragic civilisation left no written history and the only information about them are from Greek and Roman writings that are not historically acurate. We are left then with the nuraghe stone towers which reached incredible heights and Nuragic art that is slowly being excavated in Sardinia.

In March 1974 a discovery was made near the village of Mont’e Prama which led to the excavation of stone nuragic statues that are known today as the Giants of Mont’e Prama.

Initially the excavations recovered fifteen statue heads, 2 torsos and 5178 stone fragments. The heads and torso were exhibited but it was another 30 years before the Giants of Mont’e Prama were rebuilt. Our picture and image collection contain all statues excavated and exhibited in the Cagliari and Cabras archaeological museums.

It seems that the statues which were part of a necropolis and could have been part of a temple erected to victories against the Carthaginian invaders during the sarso-punic wars.

The style of the Giants of Mont’e Prama statues is highly stylised and experts believe that they represent boxers, archers and warriors who are all standing upright.

Decorative chevrons on some of the statues and hair braids give an idea of garments and hair style of the statues. The unique style of the Giants of Mont’e Prama is a mystery at the moment and is probably a fusion between Eastern Mediterranean styles and Nuragic styles as can be seen in out picture gallery.

The term boxer for some of the statues is a strange name to give them. Nuragic bronze boxer statues give some idea of what the Giants of Mont’e Prama statues probably looked like originally.

They stand holding a curved rigid sheath above their heads and probably took part in sacred funerael games that are typical of other part of the Mediterranean.

The Giants of Mont’e Prama statues can be seen at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Caglieri in Sardinia,. Photos for Editorial use only, for advertising property rights please contact the relevant museum.

All photos can be downloaded as royalty free images.