nuraghe Is Paras

Nuraghe Is Paras is an archaeological site located at Isili, a town in the historical region of Sarcidano within the province of South Sardinia, Italy. This nuragic complex stands on a modest limestone hill at the northern periphery of Isili, in a zone characterized by numerous watercourses and springs. The site is distinguished by its exceptional tholos chamber, which at 11.80 meters in height represents the tallest preserved corbelled dome in Sardinia and was the tallest dome in the world at the time of its construction in the 15th-14th centuries BC. The name Is Paras translates as the friars.

The central tower of Nuraghe Is Paras was erected before the 15th century BC, placing it among the oldest tholos nuraghi. Initially it was a single-tower structure, built with blocks of white limestone cut in fairly regular courses. During the 13th or 12th century BC, a smaller tower was added, the entrance was shifted to the east, and a courtyard was created between the towers. Around the 11th century BC, two additional towers were constructed and connected by bastions, and the entire complex was subsequently enclosed by an external wall with towers. The site remained in use for more than 1200 years, continuing into Roman times. Archaeological excavations began in 1974 under the direction of Maria Ausilia Fadda, continued in 1975-1977 under Alberto Moravetti, and included a further campaign in 1998 conducted by Tatiana Cossu. The nearby Santa Vittoria well sanctuary is also located in the vicinity.

The archaeological finds from Nuraghe Is Paras document a multi-phase occupation spanning from the Bronze Age through Roman times. Excavations revealed stratified levels indicating successive periods of use. The upper levels yielded well-crafted pottery with geometric decoration, including bowls with handles, pear-shaped vases in the Santa Anastasia style, leaf-shaped oil lamps, and jugs with spouts. The lower, older levels contained coarser wares including pans and vases with thick rims. Additional finds comprised bone pendants, loom weights, bronzes, and a fragment of a small votive sword. Notably, comb-decorated pottery of the final phase is entirely absent from the sequence. The material culture thus attests to both domestic and possible cultic activities across an extended chronological span.

The principal monument of the site is the central tower or mastio, with a diameter of 12.50 meters and preserved height of 12.70 meters. Its tholos chamber, slightly oval in plan with diameters of 6.20 and 6.40 meters, was constructed from large limestone blocks in 33 courses. The chamber lacks the customary side niches but instead features a circular well opening of 1.25 meters in diameter, which expands bell-like over several differently high steps to about 4.30 meters. The entrance, oriented south-southeast and elevated 0.80 meters above the courtyard level, consists of a rectangular door 2.80 meters high and 1.15 meters wide, leading through a 4.60-meter-long corridor with ogival section that rises from 2.80 meters to 5.75 meters in height. At 5.25 meters above the floor, a wall opening gives access to a staircase that led to an upper platform of 11 meters in diameter, now uneven due to partial dismantling. The archaeologist Giovanni Lilliu judged this tholos to be the largest and most harmonious of all those present in Sardinia, and it remained the tallest dome in the world until surpassed by the underground tholos of the Tomb of Atreus one or two centuries later.

Nuraghe Is Paras takes the form of a trilobate nuraghe, constituted by a triangular bastion with three towers at the corners. The overall dimensions of the complex are 35.5 by 24 meters. The central tower was originally freestanding and likely considerably taller than its present state. The trilobate bastion enveloping the main tower resulted from multiple construction phases. First, a smaller tower was built facing the single tower at about 5 meters distance, connected by straight curtain walls enclosing an intermediate courtyard of 16.75 square meters. Access to this courtyard was through the eastern wall via a passage 2.30 meters long and 1.10 meters wide, with a staircase on the left side leading to the parapet walks. In a second restructuring phase, two further towers were added to the west-southwest and north-northeast of the mastio, also connected by curtain walls that incorporated the older structures. The surrounding area was finally enclosed by an outer zone with towers, today only partially preserved. The external settlement or nuragic village has not yet been excavated. The construction throughout employs white limestone, and the site commands a strategic position dominating the territories open to the west.

Nuraghe Is Paras is situated immediately north of the town of Isili, in the Metropolitan City of Cagliari, within the province of South Sardinia, Italy. The site is accessible to visitors, with the approximately 2.5-meter-long passage to the courtyard featuring a niche on the left side that leads to the ascending narrow staircase by which the upper levels of the southeastern outer tower were reached. Opposite the stairwell, slightly above floor level, lies a square niche usually identified as a guard cell. The straight passage continues through a rectangular door with lintel to the courtyard, which has the form of a three-quarter circle measuring 3.65 meters in width and 4.8 meters in length. From the courtyard, visitors may access the central nuraghe and the southeastern tower. The site is owned by the Italian state and forms part of the archaeological heritage of Sardinia, representing a significant monument of Nuragic civilization open to public visitation and ongoing archaeological research.