Echoes of the Past
At the heart of the research project Laboratorio di archeologia sperimentale e attività di valorizzazione dei beni culturali del territorio comunale di Usini (Experimental archaeology and the promotion of the cultural heritage of Usini), the SARDÒS cultural association, in collaboration with LaPArS and with the support of the Usini Town Council, organised a cultural event entitled ECHI DAL PASSATO (Echoes of the past) on the 8th and 9th of May 2010.
The event was centred on two main initiatives:
Antichi Gesti (ancient activities) , intended to replicate activities by experimental archaeology through demonstrations and participation in study workshops;
Antichi Segni (ancient traces) , the search for physical signs of human influence on the landscape. Guided tours of various prehistoric and historical monuments in Usini were organised.
One of the objectives of the event was to make the local community aware, starting above all with the youngest of its members, of themes relating to the past, through direct and practical approaches. In fact, the study workshops, run at Casa Diaz and Casa Derosas, merged with and were surrounded by the trappings of rural culture of the early twentieth century. Some 103 pupils of the Junior School and the Usini Comprehensive Institute attended the workshops on Day 1 and were able to work with clay and hard animal materials, as well as grinding corn, polishing stones and learning the methods of making flint and obsidian tools. On Day 2 around a hundred people from various areas of Sardinia were able to participate in the workshops and take the guided tours of various relevant sites in the territory around Usini, such as the necropolis at S'Elighe Entosu and the churches of Santa Croce and San Giorgio.