In 2003 the archaeological investigation began of the area relating to the Benedictine Abbey near the present parish church of S. Maria of Tergu. The investigation revealed four different phases in the life of the monastery in the medieval period: one phase relating to the earliest layout of the abbey, or to a structure used as such at the moment of its donation to the order of Montecassino, and three phases in the central medieval period, traces of occupation in the 15th-16th centuries and the monastic structures of the 16th and 17th centuries. During the stratigraphic excavation human remains of modern date were recovered. The excavation was extended in the central-northern sector of the monastery, where bedrock was reached, removing all structures. Three burials were found cut into the rock in front of the monastic structures, these dated to the period of the so-called “judgeships”. The bodies, deposed without being covered by soil, were covered with stone slabs. The presence of a cemetery area in the north sector of the cloister predates the monastery and relates to the period when these properties were donated to Montecassino by the judicial entourage; the human remains pre-date the 12th century. In the north sector, as well as the burials, part of a system for channelling water to the cistern in the centre of the cloister was uncovered. This was made up of small terracotta tubes housed within narrow rock cut channels and covered with stone slabs and mortar. This type of canalisation was well preserved in the cloister area, where the garden around the cistern was laid out in a cruciform plan: four pathways which, starting from the four wings of the buildings surrounding the cloister led to its centre and to the place for drawing water. In the south sector the structures relating to the monastery’s kitchen and refectory emerged. These were built above structures belonging to the judicial layout already partially identified in 2003 and 2004. In the western ambulatory, in the earliest levels of fill, the most important evidence for medieval glass production at Tergu came to light. In fact, several fragments of crucibles containing solidified vitreous material were found. (MiBAC)

Investigations undertaken in 2006 concentrated on the western part of the monastery (area 1000), more precisely in rooms 1-2 and 4 and in sector 9. In room 1-2 a stratigraphic sequence relating to the monastery’s construction came to light, resting on a layer of red tufa rubble from the floors of courtyards dating to the pre-monastic period. Inside room 4 two stretches of wall were revealed running parallel to the large pre-monastic wall, already uncovered by the 1959 excavation, which crossed room 1-2. In sector 9 two burials from a later phase, or possibly post-monastic phase were removed. Both deceased wore rings of a typology dating to the 14th-16 century. The work undertaken in rooms 6 and 10 of areas 2000 and 3000 identified the monastery’s floor levels and, below these, the earlier occupation phases. Here, as well as the occupation dating to the second half of the 11th-first quarter of the 12th century, evidence was found of the preceding 10th and 11th century phase and the pre-10th century phase. Overall the research clarified not only the monastery’s plan and organisation in the 12th-13th century, but also greatly increased knowledge of the buildings that were part of the landed estate which was donated by the Abbey of Montecassino in 1121 for the foundation of the monastery itself. In fact, literary sources made vague mention of these structures but before the beginning of this research no conjectures could be made. Today, what is known about Santa Maria in Tergu in the Middle Ages confirms the occupation of the site in the 10th-13th century whilst more recent data attests occupation of the site which may even go back as far as the 8th-9th century. The data regarding material finds, particularly those relating to monetary circulation, attests frequent contacts throughout the Mediterranean, and allow the period of the “judgeships” in Sardinia to be reinstated within the context of the overseas contacts and the political and commercial relationships of those centuries. (MiBAC)