Nuragic - Island Nation of Sardinia
The Nuragic people came from the Bell Beaker Culture, which had migrated to the island. Here, isolated from continental Europe, they developed their own distinct identity around the year 2000 BCE. The Nuragic history is quite long, as they remained the masters of the island until the arrival of the Phoenicians around the year 900 BCE. Despite early amicable relationships, a certain powerful Phoenician colony of the name of Carthage soon eyed the island and after a series of campaigns controlled most of the territory, leading to the disappearance of the Nuragic.
The Nuragic people derived their name from the Nuraghes, large stone fortifications that were found all over the island. They became the symbol of this culture, as over 7000 of these structures have been uncovered to this day. Seems they really liked these nuraghes. Unfortunately, most of the daily life of the Nuragic people remains a mystery to this day, as, like most cultures of the time, they had virtually no written language and thus produced no records about themselves. This means that we have to guess bits and pieces from outside sources and archaeological remains, which, despite being impressive, leaves us with no solid foundation to work on.
It is estimated that the proto-Nuragic culture came to Sardinia during the transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. As mentioned earlier, the mainland Bell Beaker culture is the most likely parent culture from which the Nuragic evolved, as they shared many cultural traits. The people of Sardinia would rapidly develop one of the key aspects of their culture: the manufacturing and trade of obsidian and copper. Both resources were highly prized throughout the Bronze Age world, especially the latter, as copper was a key component of bronze. This allowed the Nuragic to become quite a fair bit wealthy from these trades, leading to their rapid development, especially in the southern region.
Similarly to the early cultures, and unlike the great nations of the east, the Nuragic were far from a unified people and each settlement worked as its own society. This conclusion stemmed from the wide variety of smelting techniques, constructions and village organizations all across the island. However the defining aspect of the Nuragic, the Nuraghes, appeared a bit after the 2000 BCE mark, and is commonly used as the birth date of the culture. The Nuraghes most likely served as fortified population centers as traces of human daily activities, like agriculture and animal husbandry, are commonly found alongside these structures. A Nuraghe, while changing from place to place, always shared a key feature: a central stone tower.
Early Nuraghe were comprised of just this tower structure while surrounded by habitations, manufacturing workshops and other structures. Over time, two other types of nuraghes would appear, showing the increase in wealth and power of the Nuragic. The first one was the multi-tower nuraghe, as smaller towers were built and connected to the main one by walls. The second, and by far the largest of the three, was the nuraghe-capanne, becoming fully fortified towns. Over time, these capannes would band up with a group of smaller nuraghes, forming their own small nation.
After their firm establishment in Sardinia, the Nuragic would hit a golden age that would last for centuries to come. The Nuragic, while not as prosperous as the great superpower of the east, showed a surprising level of resilience that would allow them to outlive most of these nations. Indeed, when the catastrophe known as the Bronze Age Collapse hit the Mediterranean, it devastated both Mycenaeans and Hittites while crippled the Assyrians and Egyptians. The Nuragic people, meanwhile, not only endured but prospered through these dark times, increasing their exports toward the mainland people. In fact, they were so successful during the collapse that Nuraghes started appearing on both Corsica in the north and the Balearic Islands in the west.
Following the beginning of the Iron Age, construction of Nuraghe in Sardinia seems to have stopped, with focus being turned on existing structures. This sudden change was most likely motivated by a lack of space in Sardinia, as at the time it housed between 200 and 250 thousand people, according to estimations, giving it a rather high population density for the time. This shouldn't be taken as a sign of economic downturn, as the extensive rework in nuraghes, as well as religious offerings staying constant, showed that the trading activities of Sardinia remained as strong as ever.
The end of the Nuragic people would start with the opening days of the 9th century BCE. After the collapse of most of the eastern powers, new world orders formed to fill in the gap in power. Phoenicians and Greeks would start their own settlement in Sardinia, which the locals, lacking any form of political unity, found themselves unable to resist. As we mentioned earlier, it would be the Carthaginians who would put an end to Nuragic independence, as King Hamilcar Mago, who had nothing to do with Hannibal's father, took over Sardinia after two invasions. The newcomers wouldn't enjoy their conquest for very long, as a couple of decades
later Sardinia would be lost to the growing Roman Republic during a succession of conflicts known as the Punic Wars.
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