Sardinians (Sardinian: Sardos or Sardu) are the native people and ethnic group from which Sardinia, a western Mediterranean island and autonomous region of Italy, derives its name. The ethnonym “Srd” was used by Greek writers to refer to the inhabitants of this island. The official language is Italian. There are four dialects of the Sardinian language: Sassarese, Gallurese, Logudorese and Algherese, which differ mostly in phonology. Ethnically, these belong to various genetic groups including Iberian, Italic (such as Latin), Celtic (Gaulish), Ligurian (Taurisci), Berber (Guanches), Phoenician-Punic and others.
The ethnography of Pre-Nuragic Sardinia mostly relies on ancient sources; there are few direct accounts from this period because they were written by outsiders who did not live amongst the target population. Therefore, most of what we know about the people who inhabited Sardinia prior to the Nuragic civilization comes from archaeological evidence and supposition based on this material culture evidence. We do have some linguistic evidence: place names show that certain areas were inhabited by speakers of languages different from those attested in other parts of the island; for example Etruscan names appear around Oristano while Punic toponyms are found near Cagliari. According to archaeologist Andrea Carandini, Early Neolithic settlers arrived in Sardinia “from at least two different directions”, possibly coming both from peninsular Italy as well as directly from Africa via maritime routes along southern Europe’s coasts. It has also been suggested that early humans may have reached Sicily before moving on to mainland Italy and then crossing over to Sardinia.
The first peoples settled in strategic locations near fresh water sources and arable land so they could develop agriculture, since fishing and hunting were not reliable enough food sources for a growing population – especially during times when droughts hit crop yields hard. Once settled into villages or small cities, these Neolithic peoples started trading with other cultures nearby such as those located on Corsica or even further afield like Spain or Morocco – probably using sailboats similar to those still seen today off the coast of Sardinia. Around 5500 BCE., it is thought that copper working was introduced which led not only to new tools and weapons being developed but also increased social stratification within society since those with access to metal objects had greater status than those without them .