Tophet of Sant’Antioco and Archaeology Museum

The Tophet of Sant’Antioco is a large Punic-Phoenician burial zone located on the northern edge of the city and set against a large rock which is known as “Sa Guardia de is Pingiadas” (“the guardian of the urns”) in Sardinian due to the vast amount of urns found there. The area contains over 3,000 urns filled with the remains of children who were still-born or died in infancy from natural causes. It’s a pretty powerful feeling to go walking around such a place. The urns were buried with tablets covered in symbols and figures of humans and animal. The tablet are now on display in the museum.

The nearby Archaeological Museum has a series of exhibits about the Punic-Phoenician and Roman eras and a huge bronze statue from one of the nearby Nuraghi.

The Tophet of Sant’Antioco is a sacred area next to the archaeological museum. It was founded in the first half of the 8th century BC and abandoned seven centuries later. It’s a burial ground where the Phoenicians and Carthaginians buried the ashes of lost children (cremation was the custom at the time). They've found over 2,000 stone tablets decorated with figures of gods, animals, men, and mystical symbols.