Antiquarium Arborense - Museo archeologico Giuseppe Pau Oristano

The Efisio Pischedda collection

Prenuragic materials
The Pischedda collection shows an overview of prenuragic cultures of Sardinia, according to the spirit of nineteenth-century researchers in prehistoric "stations" in the territory of Oristano.
They preferred to collect obsidian and flint tools rather than ceramic fragments, that is why the prehistoric section (even if the richest of materials) scarcely attests several phases of Sardinian prehistory.

Nuragic materials
The Nuragic civilisation is attested in more than a hundred nuraghi and Nuragic villages in the Sinis peninsula. The Pischedda collection counts 175 miniature vases from the nuraghe Sianeddu (Sinis of Cabras). The vases were found in a votive deposit near the same nuraghe. The deposit probably dates back to the Final Bronze age and the Early Iron age (end of the 12th century- 9th/8th century BC).

Nuragic bronzes
The Pischedda collection had four Nuragic bronzes, stolen from the Antiquarium Arborense in 1966. They date back to the Final Bronze age and the Early Iron age and testify metallurgic activity of a Nuragic workshop, perhaps in the Sinis peninsula.

Phoenician and Punic materials
Thanks to the Phoenician colonisation in the Mediterranean sea, the use of cremation had a widespread diffusion in Sicily, Sardinia, Africa, Ibiza and South Iberia. One of the largest collections of Phoenician ceramic in Sardinia was found by Efisio Pischedda in the Phoenician necropolis of Santu Marcu (S.Giovanni di Sinis). The most ancient tombs date from the VII century BC.

Greek and Etruscan materials
During the Archaic age (620-480 BC) the city of Tharros reached its heyday thanks to maritime trade. Their partners are identifiable thanks to the materials found in Phoenician tombs: Etruscans from Caere, Vulci and Tarquinia, Greeks from Corinth, Laconia (Sparta) and Athens.
Etruscan ceramics of Pischedda collection (600-540 BC) consist of bucchero vases and some imitations of Corinthian pottery.

Crockery, jewels, Phoenician and Punic bronzes
Efisio Pischedda enriched his collection with valuable crockery from the magnificent Punic tombs of Tharros, which often preserved gold and silver jewellery.

Bone, ivory and Roman metalwork
The Roman materials of this collection were found by chance in Tharros’ tombs and in the Sinis peninsula. Unfortunately, a hundred gemstones- jasper, cornelian, onyx, agate, amethyst- characterised by various iconographic motifs were stolen in 1966.

Roman oil- lamps
The Roman oil lamps in this collection date back to a period between the late Republic and the late Imperial period.

Fine Roman tableware
The use of tableware was connected to the practice of leaving food and drink for the spirit of the deceased. In fact, many pieces of tableware were brought to light in Tharros’ tombs. The finds in this collection date back to the 1st century AD.

Roman pottery
This category counts both local and imported handicrafts, especially from proconsular Africa.

Roman glass
Efisio Pischedda was fascinated by the iridescence of the ollas used as cinerary urns, unguentary vases and other objects from the cities of Tharros and Cornus, famous for their glass workshops during the Roman period.
He acquired a considerable collection of glass objects from Edoardo Busachi, datable between the 1st and the beginning of the 2nd century AD.

Early Medieval pottery
A number of pieces of pottery and oil lamps from the tombs of Tharros and its territory date back to the early Medieval age, specifically the Vandalic period (around 455 – 534 AD) and Byzantine period (534 – 10th century).

Roman amphorae
A number of amphorae, found in several wrecks near the coast of Oristano, is shown around the reconstructive plastic model of the city of Tharros, in Museum’s first floor. The majority of them date back to the Republican period.

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