His first archaeological excavations
This experience was decisive to the scholar, who could devote the whole of his time to archaeological excavation, with great results. He did some excavations in Nora, near St. Efisio’s grave. Watching the finds coming from nuraghe Piscu of Suelli in Trexenta, he finally assumed that the nuraghes primary function was to be used as houses.
Spano’s first excavation took place in Ploaghe in 1846, in a site called Truvine (Trabine in Arborea Papers) set in between Ploaghe and Chiaramonti: with his mother’s and Salvatore Cossu’s help (Salvatore Cossu was from Chiaramonti, rector of Ploaghe, and is the only rector buried in the old cemetery in Ploaghe) they found 35 bronze coins from Republican Age up to August Age, Ceres’ little statues with a modium, oil lamps with the mark C. Oppius Restitutus, and a floor in opus signinum.
In 1847 he began excavation in Lanusei, where Phoenician gods little statues were found, later again in Teti, Oschiri, Bisarcio, Ploaghe, Terranova (old for Olbia) and Cagliari.
The following year, after Jesuit were expelled, Spano stopped with his excavations to struggle for his mansion in Villaspeciosa. Meanwhile, pausing in the writing of his Dictionary, he started to prepare to publish “something about archaeology”: a News on the ancient city of Tharros (translated in English in 1852 for the British Archaeological Society), Memories upon the ancient town of Truvine, and Letter about sardonic grin.
In 1850, during the meeting of every bishop and vicars in the island, which took place in Oristano to defend bishops’ and priests’ privileges, their tithes and their properties which were going to be expropriated, Spano decided to took part to the meeting intending to make an excavation in Tharros. From Oristano, accompanied by the Tribunal President, sir Pietro Ena, the lawyers Antonio Maria Spano e N. Tolu, he went to Tharros and began his excavation. His work, anyway, was disturbed by bad weather, so that he would write some years later as if the dead spirits were scorned at me because I was bothering their timeless rest. He made wonderful discoveries which were shown the following year in his monograph about Tharros (Some Information about the Ancient Town of Tharros). The news about this discoveries quickly spread among the inhabitants of Cabras, Nurachi, Nurri, Seneghe and Santu Lussurgiu and a real California, a gold rush, began. When the Government decided to intervene and stop excavations, extraordinary collections of jewels, objects and antiquities were already been formed, a part of which finished in Arborea and Cagliari antique trade and in some private Oristano collections.
In 1852, Spano refused the proposal, made by the Secretary of Public Schools, Luigi Cibrario, to be the president of Cagliari University Council and he published Memory on the Ancient Truvine.
In 1853, year of geological surveys, near nuraghe Nieddu in the plateau of Coloru in Ploaghe, made by Gen. Alberto Della Marmora and Gen. Giacinto di Collegno in 1853, Spano published Letter on Sardonic Grin, while in 1854 he wrote Memory about the nuraghes of Sardinia.