The history of the settlement on the Sa Struvina plateau, from prehistory to the construction of the nuraghe Cuccurada, unfolds in several phases.

Between 4000 and 3300 BC the site began to be frequented sporadically.

Between 2700 and 2200 BC, during the Eneolithic, the first settlement arose in the area. The cyclopean wall and the elliptical building known as “Cuccurada A” were built.

Between 1900 and 1350 BC the first Nuragic nucleus was created: a corridor nuraghe, or protonuraghe, later incorporated into a complex nuraghe.

Between 1350 and 1150 BC the village of huts was built.

In the Final Bronze Age (1150–850 BC), the upper parts of the nuraghe collapsed.

Between the Final Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age (900–730 BC) a new frequentation of the partly collapsed site is documented, followed by further abandonment and collapses.

In Roman times the site was again inhabited at different moments. Sporadic presence in the Middle Ages marks the last phase of life at Cuccurada.

THE FIRST SETTLEMENT

Before the imposing nuraghe visible today, a settlement already existed in the area, including a wall and a building called Cuccurada A.

The wall is built in cyclopean work, with large basalt blocks superimposed. Cuccurada A is an oval building, also made with large basalt blocks.

THE FOUR-LOBED NURAGHE

After the first settlement, a corridor nuraghe was built on the site. This structure was later incorporated into a larger nuraghe: the complex nuraghe visible today.

The larger nuraghe is four-lobed, formed by four towers linked by curtain walls. The towers and curtains enclose a large central courtyard, from which the interior rooms are accessed.

THE VILLAGE

The village with its dwellings developed both inside the nuraghe courtyard and outside it.

USE OVER TIME

Daily activities took place within the settlement, as shown by numerous finds of pans, bowls, spindle whorls for spinning and grinding stones and pestles for processing cereals.

COLLAPSES, ABANDONMENT AND NEW FREQUENTATION

For a period the site was abandoned and some parts collapsed, until Roman times, when it was used again as a deposit of votive offerings and as a place for rituals that seem to combine pagan, Christian and Jewish practices, known as syncretic cults.

Cuccurada was known to scholars at least since the 1950s, but investigations began only in 1994 by the Superintendency and the University of Cagliari.

The nuraghe Cuccurada was for a long time a stone quarry, from which large blocks were extracted without controls. This situation has often made it difficult to read the stratigraphy of the monument and required caution in reconstructing some historical phases.

In 2013 the archaeological area was opened to the public.

Sources to be defined.

The name “Cuccurada” is traced to the Sardinian term cùccuru, meaning “summit” or “hilltop”. It probably refers to the position of the site on top of the basaltic plateau of Sa Struvina.