Tharros

Tharros was an ancient city founded by the Phoenicians in the VIII Century. When they founded it, they used the abandoned nuragic village on the hill of Su Muru Mannu to create an open air sanctuary, the tophet. Excavations have shown that from the VIII Century BC until the abandonment of Tharros in the 10th century, the place was inhabited first by Phoenicians, then by the Punics and then by the Romans. After the Saracen raids, the inhabitants were forced to leave the town. The site was used for centuries after that as a quarry for building materials for the surrounding villages and towns. Tharros was brought to light by Italian excavations during the last century, followed by French and English ones, and it’s currently an open air museum.