The history of studies in Monte Sirai has a very precise date: the fall of 1962, when a local boy casually found a female figure carved on a stele of the tophet.

[1] The first Phoenician records date back to 730 BC circa,[1] at the same time of other coastal cities of Sardinia.

The discovery of a statue of the goddess Astarte (now in the National Museum of Cagliari), discovered in 1964, confirms a use of religious type.

[1] A dozen new families settled subsequently in Monte Sirai, as witnessed by many hypogeum-tombs of Punic types; the rite of cremation, prevalent during the Phoenician period, was substituted by the entombment.

[1] A subsequent restoration of the fortifications was carried out after the First Punic War; under the Roman rule all the military facilities were dismantled.