Le condizioni di dissesto idrogeologico nell'area archeologica di Tharros (Oristano)

Since the 50’s several archaeological campaigns have brought to light the ruins of Tharros in the Capo San Marco peninsula. According to the archaeological findings the first stable settlement can be referred to the period of Phoenician colonization (730 –770 BC). The town, conquered by the Romans shortly after the First Punic War (238 BC), had alternate fortune under the colonial domain. The decline of the Empire was followed by Vandalic and Bizantine rule until the town was definitively abandoned in the 9th century AD. The visible remains of these sixteen centuries of history are various and complex for the inevitable super-imposition and interference of the various urbanistic conceptions. The elements of major interest are: the urban nucleus with its temples, civil buildings, thermal baths, the Roman road network; the Phoenician sacrifice area of tofet; the two necropolises of Capo San Marco and San Giovanni, located respectively North and South of the town; the ruins, perhaps of a Phoenician-Punic temple, located at the southern end of Capo San Marco. In four cases archaeological sites are threatened by hydrogeological hazard, related to the particular geological and geomorphologic features. In this paper the four cases are analyzed in detail to reach a complete geomorphologic characterization: this is the starting point for the planning of remedial measures.