Altare rupestre di Santo Stefano (Oschiri)

The Byzantine rock altar of Oschiri stands on the edge of the town in northern Sardinia, beside the 16th-century church of Santo Stefano. Carved from a long granite outcrop, its smooth face is cut with about twenty niches of three, four and one round shape. A separate slab bears a central hollow ringed by smaller cups, while three square holes mark the side of the rock. The site has been visited since ancient times, with traces of prehistoric and Phoenician-Punic activity. Above a church door hangs a carved female head, probably the goddess Astarte, taken from an earlier sanctuary. The altar itself was likely shaped in the 6th to 9th centuries, when the niches may have held offerings. Some scholars think it began as a pre-Christian cult place later adapted for Christian use. Around the altar lie about ten Domus de Janas, small rock-cut tombs scattered in the scrub. A now-lost church once stood directly in front of the rock before the 15th century. The granite surface still carries the marks of long-ago rituals, linking past and present across the centuries.