The Sinis Archaeological Project is a multi-scalar, diachronic regional survey in west-central Sardinia, the largest island in the western Mediterranean. The survey is situated in the Campidano di Milis and neighboring coastal zones in and around the Sinis Peninsula, a mixed landscape of plains, seasonal lakes and salt flats, rolling hills, and mountains. In antiquity, this part of the island was home to the Nuragic people who constructed monumental stone towers across the landscape, and later to foreign colonizers (Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Romans) who came to exploit rich resources there from metals, to salt and marine resources, to obsidian. Our survey aims to understand the diverse social and environmental factors impacting landscape use, settlement patterns, and colonial interactions in this varied and dynamic landscape from antiquity to the present day, with a primary focus from the 1st millennium BCE through late antiquity. We are also experimenting with the integration of survey and excavation at different scales, exploring best-practices and new methodologies for understanding this and other diverse landscapes of the Mediterranean region.
Initiated in 2018, the Sinis Archaeological Project is directed by Linda Gosner (Texas Tech University) and Jessica Nowlin (University of Texas at San Antonio). The project is affiliated with Texas Tech University and the Museo Civico di San Vero Milis (Oristano, Sardinia, Italy). SAP has also been a collaborating project with Migration and the Making of the Ancient Greek World, an ERC-funded project directed by Naoíse MacSweeney (University of Vienna) since 2020.
We welcome you to explore this website to learn more about our current research and future plans.