Anything from Bronze age European cultures is welcomed.
Pic related a Nuraghe from Sardinia, there are more than 7000 of them still standing, archeologists theorized there were around 10000 during the bronze age, they were mainly built between 1600 and 1100 bc.
Their original function is still hotly discussed.
>>883972
They almost surely were not used as mansions, during that time people lived in either circular stone huts, or sometimes rectangular houses with different rooms, but the latter were less usual.
They probaby were not fortresses either at least most of them, except maybe the castle looking ones like Barumini or Arrubiu.
So it's been theorized by some that they were astronomical observatories and some interesting light pehomena occur in many of them, though I'm not an expert on the subject.
>>883982
In some cases, like pic related, a settlement was built around the structure, in this case we have a Nuraghe consisting on many different towers and layers of walls, built in a span of different centuries during the late bronze age, this is one of the cases in which the structure could have been used as a fortress, Barumini (the nuraghe I'm talking about) is a UNESCO site.
>>883998
The Nuraghi weren't the only type of monument built by the Nuragic civilization.
The water well temples are also quite common, even though less numerous than the Nuraghi, there is still quite a good number of them.
Some of them, like pic related (Santa Cristina) display a good knowledge of architecture, but not only that, apparently they were used as astronomical observatories too, according to astronomer Arnold Lebeuf St.Cristina Nuragic well temple was the most precise astronomical monument of the time in Europe: http://www.academia.edu/2336031/The_nuragic_well_of_Santa_Cristina_Paulilatino_Oristano_Sardinia._A_verification_of_the_astronomical_hypothesis
And now his suddenly becomes awesome again. Thanks op this is def relevant to my interrests. On mobile now will post more if threads still alive tomorrow. For now have a nebra disk. The first real depiction of our night sky surviving the ages. Found in geramy more details will folow
>>883972
>>884026
The water welle temples are dated between 1300 and 1000 bc, so some of them are contemporary to the Nuraghi, often bronze figurines were found near these temple and votive swords were found on top of the structures (though in most of the cases the outer tholos is missing and only the pit and staircase remains)
Pic related is su Tempiesu.
>>884095
This is a reconstruction of one of the ww temples (I think the one of Ballao)
>>884108
The statues of monte prama are also an interesting aspect of the Nuragic civilization.
They are unique and pre-date all other European human size statues.
The date back to at least 850 bc but according to the recent C14 on the corpses of those buried in the necropolis were the statues were found, they could be older, (1200 bc perhaps).
The statues depict warriors, archers and athlets (boxers probably) and some of them are Nuraghi "models", the human statues range from a height of 2 to 2,5 meters and are around 30 I believe.
But more are being found every year.
They were first discovered in the 70s, nut for some reason no one ever thought much of it and the statues were hidden from the public and remained fragmented in numerous pieces for almost 40 years untill they were restored and serious excavations were made in the site of Monte Prama.
>>883972
Have a bump.
The Mycenaeans created the finest bronze weapons. They came from southern Russia at around 2,000 BC, and settled in the lowlands of Greece. There they began to trade with the Minoans. They built a large navy, and began to attack nearby lands. Over time they adapted to the Minoan way of life, and eventually, around 1,400 BC, became the major power in the Aegean Sea.
>>884165
One of the few examples of Nuragic altars, this one was found inside Nuraghe Su Mulinu but is a few centuries more recent than the Nuraghe itself, which dates back to 1400 bc while the altar is dated around 1000-900 bc,
