ABSTRACT
By the end of the Late Bronze Age, Sardinia had become part of a network spanning from the Aegean to the Atlantic. Although the intercultural communication that evolved along these channels represented a challenge to Sardinian society, it still managed to preserve many cultural elements. However, people were concurrently integrating new technologies and practices as well as developing a distinctive local identity.
The social organisation of this once-prosperous and innovative Mediterranean community is still barely understood: Aspects of social hierarchy cannot be easily detected, despite the search in vain for a “nuragic aristocracy” within the archaeological records. This is due to the widespread concept that societies that reach a high level of cultural complexity do so because they become hierarchical, with a small group or “elite” organizing this progression.
One of the central aims of this contribution is to analyze the intercultural communications and the social organisation of Sardinia beyond evolutionist and colonial concepts. This approach taken towards the study of prehistoric societies employs key concepts of anarchist theory: It will examine the practices of, for example, autonomy, networking, cooperation and decentralisation.
