The sacred well of Sant'Anastasia is a structure with isodomic ashlars of rough basalt and limestone, about 5 meters deep, located inside a Nuragic village in the town of Sardara. The site was discovered in 1913 by the archaeologist Taramelli and is partially excavated due to its position inside the town. Dating back to the late Bronze Age (12th-6th century BC), it has a paved vestibule (of which few stones remain) with seats that leads to a staircase of XNUMX steps surmounted by a sloping cover. The staircase ends in the circular lustral basin with a diameter of three meters and a thòlos cover. On the opposite side of the staircase there is a tunnel about XNUMX meters long that conveys the spring water through an architrave opening at the base of the well chamber.
The vestibule has a rectangular shape, typical of sacred wells in which the atrium precedes the staircase that allows access to the source, and is equipped with lateral stone seats, where people could perform rituals and place offerings. The plan repeats that of the Sacred Well of Santa Vittoria di Serri. As in the case of the wells of Santa Vittoria and of Santa Cristina, next to the well a church was built dedicated to a saint from whom the well takes its name and which has another well inside it. This is the usual phenomenon of religious syncretism which in Sardinia is often connected to archaeological sites or rural sanctuaries dedicated to the feminine, that is to female saints (see the examples cited above) or to the Madonna and which present clear elements of pre-Christian cults absorbed by the Catholic religion. For the symbolic aspects of these syncretic appropriations, see the analysis of the iconic representations of the Santa Cristina site.
Finds
In addition to numerous jugs and vases used to draw and drink water and a bull protome that was probably found at the entrance to the structure, a fragment of a pear-shaped clay amphora was found which presents an interesting female figure in relief. This figure, which is presented with a series of geometric signs (concentric circles and spirals), he is holding a sort of stick with a pointed end crescent shape. The circles, in addition to having a decorative function on the clothing, were engraved in very significant points of the body: eyes, breasts, belly, while the stick, presents a series of graduated notchesAt the height of the breasts, 5 lines of different lengths branch out from the spiral, which seem to represent the hands.
Iconography, cult and rites
This iconographic pattern can also be seen in several Neolithic female statuettes that carry the hands on the breast or belly, as if to highlight the aspect of fertility. The concentric circles and spirals, as Gimbutas has repeatedly stated, are the typical representations of the Great Goddess who, in association with the moon, refers to the concept of rebirth and the celebration of the cycle of life in all its phases. The month, moreover, it is closely associated with the feminine sphere and the cult of water.
At this point I would like to propose a (bold) parallel with Venus or Lady of Laussel, bas-relief of a female figure from the Paleolithic era who touches her belly with her left hand and with her right hand holds a sort of horn (ritual musical instrument?) that recalls the crescent moon shape and presents 13 engravings. In the case of Laussel, also given the presence of red ochre with which the body was covered, it has been possible to make connections between menstrual blood, the phases of the lunar cycle and the cycle of life (the swollen belly symbolizes pregnancy). If on the one hand the comparison seems far-fetched and risky, given the spatial-temporal distance of the finds, on the other it is a precious clue about theuniversality of symbols that permeate the sacred feminine: lunar cycle, blood and/or water, the power to generate.
There is no doubt that these structures were used for cults and rites: the sacred enclosure similar to the Greek tèmenos and the discovery of votive makes their function clear. The fact that they were oriented to welcome the light of the sun and the moon, as well as for practical reasons (the staircase would otherwise have to be crossed in the dark), reflects some beliefs about the afterlife that all ancient civilizations had.
Another element that can help in decrypting the values and functions (and/or re-functionalizations) of archaeological finds from eras before writing are the myths, legends, popular beliefs and names that have been assigned to these works. In this case, the well is known in the Sardinian language as source of is dolus that is, "source of pain" and therefore recalls the the healing power of water to soothe pain and refers to the myths and legends connected to the sacred and healing power of water. In the conference proceedings edited by Herrero, the belief is reported that the waters of this well could cure all physical and spiritual ailments, while Turchi points out some rites practiced until recent times that could be linked to the therapeutic power of sacred wells. In some towns in Sardinia, healers filled a cavity in the floor built and they made the suffering person drink three times with the mouth and without the use of the hands, while reciting magical-religious formulas.
In general, several scholars (Taramelli, Lanternari, Pettazzoni, Lilliu) identify the water cult on the island as a constitutive and essential element of proto-Sardinian religiosity, while Buttitta recognizes in the sacred wells the celebration of the “Great Goddess” and of the “Mother Earth”. The same scholar notes how the therapeutic virtues of the waters are indicated by the toponymy. Sacred waters to which gifts and perhaps sacrifices were offered that averted the danger of drought with consequent famine and favored, through the phenomenon of the transposition typical of symbols, animal and human fertility.
Moreover, as already observed in the case of the well of Santa Cristina, the plan of the wells is very evocative and seems to recall thefemale genital organ. As regards the re-functionalization in the religious sphere, it is finally paradoxical that the saint to whom the “pagan” well was dedicated is a woman beatified precisely for having refused to abjure the Christian faith, a choice perhaps in an attempt to definitively erase the cumbersome traces of pre-Christian cults.








Historical notes
The site was discovered and excavated by Taramelli in 1913. In the 80s, further interventions followed by Luisanna Usai, Giovanni Ugas and Roberto Sirigu, concluding in the 2000s with Donatella Cocco.
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