A CULTURE IN MINIATURE

ON the windswept, heath-covered hilltops of Sardinia stand the remains of more than 6,000 cunningly contrived towers shaped like truncated cones. Built of squared volcanic rock, without mortar, these fortress towers, called nuraghi, range back to the time of ancient Troy, were in use until the culture of the Sards was finally smothered by Roman legions in the 3rd century B.C. Often fire-blackened on top. they may have served for signal fires, funeral pyres or simply strong points of repair for the fierce, feuding warrior clans. In the rubble at the base of the towers Sardinian archeologists have found a whole catalogue of a bronze age culture in the form of skillfully made miniature sculptures.

Since the first of these votive offerings was discovered in the 18th century, more than 400 have been uncovered. The best are now on display at Sardinia's National Museum at Cagliari. Despite their small dimensions, they have dignity and mystery, qualities that made them heavy with totemic power and points of reassurance in a time when minute man moved against a background of threatening and capricious nature.

What do they tell of early Sardinia? The awesome priest, with double-handled dagger worn at chest height appears often, as do long-haired priestesses. Warriors abound, some garbed in helmets, breastplates and greaves, and capable of such feats as shooting a bow while standing on a bare-backed horse. A dancing piper with an exaggerated phallus indicates the celebration of orgiastic rites; farmers arrive with lambs for sacrifice and bearing bowls of barley meal for offerings. Most moving of all is a pre-Christian madonna and child, probably yet another appearance of the fertility and mother goddess who held sway throughout the Mediterranean.

Critics find in the Sardinian bronzes a curious foreshadowing of works by such contemporaries as Henry Moore, Marino Marini. Georges Braque--and with good reason. One of the strongest moves in 20th century sculpture was to bypass classic Greek and Roman models to find inspiration in the earlier, cruder and fresher works of once scorned primitive art. The few Sardinian bronzes that are privately owned have brought offers of up to $16,000 for a single piece. An ardent admirer, Sculptor Jacques Lipchitz, praises their vitality, says, "They are almost as free as we are today." Sardinians consider them priceless. Said one: "To us the bronzes represent--with simple and powerful plasticity--all the humanity of this island: the concrete details of our daily life, our aspirations, our acute religious instinct, everything characteristic of Sardinian life."

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