PORTO CONTE
Sardinia, Italy.
Nuraghic
settlement on the W coast of Sardinia to the NW of
Alghero, between Capo Caccia and Punta del Giglio.
It may perhaps be identified with the Nymphaion Limen
mentioned by Ptolemy (3.3.1). After the Roman Conquest of Sardinia, a villa rustica was built at Santimbenia on the edge of the sea, almost midway on the
gulf. Exploration of the villa in the 1960s revealed a
rectangular structure with the long sides perpendicular
to the sea, divided into large rooms with mosaic pavements. The building consists of a large central hall with
rooms to the N toward the land and to the S toward
the sea. Behind it a long hall runs along the E side. The
structure is oriented NE-SW. On the W side rooms connect this building with the service area 50 m away. These
connecting rooms include a long outer hall to the E
whose upper interior walls preserve a band of stucco
reliefs, datable by the style to the second half of the 1st
c. A.D. Not far away, along the road to S. Maria la
Palma, a necropolis has been discovered. It consists of pit
burials and burials in coffins made of stone slabs or
roof tiles. The meager funerary material is datable to
the 3d c. B.C. Other remains indicate that the necropolis
was used until the end of Republican times.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. Lamarmora,
Viaggio in Sardegna,
II (Ital. ed., 1927) 313; G. Maetzke,
Studi Sardi 17 (1959-61) 657ff
P.
D. MANCONI
