Monte Sirai

Monte Sirai preserves the remains of a Phoenician and Punic settlement on a plateau near Carbonia. Houses, streets, defensive structures and burial grounds record the ancient connections between the Sulcis coast and its mineral-rich interior.

Why it matters

Founded around the middle of the eighth century BC by settlers associated with Sulky, the town became part of the Carthaginian sphere. Its surviving plan reveals successive changes in domestic life, defence and religious practice.

What to notice

The upper settlement includes courtyard houses, among them Casa Fantar and the Casa del Lucernario di Talco. A sacred building developed around an earlier nuragic structure. The Punic necropolis contains rock-cut chamber tombs, while the separate tophet preserves evidence of another form of funerary ritual. These different areas reveal the relationship between the living settlement and its burial grounds.

Context and history

The town was reshaped under Carthaginian control before Sardinia passed to Rome in 238 BC. Its archaeological remains preserve a strongly Punic character. Finds from the area also form part of Carbonia’s municipal museum collections.