the Albucciu nuraghe at Arzachena is a monument - Sardegna Cultura

THE ALBUCCIU NURAGHE
AND ARZACHENA’S MONUMENTS

Cover photo
Nuraghe Albucciu: front view
Translation
David C. Nilson
ISBN 88-7138-267-6
© Copyright 1992 by Carlo Delfino editore, Via Rolando 11/A, Sassari

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SARDINIA
19
Guidebooks and Itineraries
The Albucciu Nuraghe
and Arzachena’s Monuments
Angela Antona Ruju - Maria Luisa Ferrarese Ceruti
Carlo Delfino editore

Gallura in prehistoric and proto-historic times
Situated in the northeastern part of Sardinia, Gallura has welldefined
natural boundaries: to the south the Limbara mountain range,
to the north and east the sea, to the west the Coghinas River and the
last peaks of Limbara in the direction of the Anglona region. The
largest part of these boundaries is made up of jagged mountains that
isolate it from the rest of the island. These mountains become more
accessible in the northwest, in the direction of the towns of Trinità
d’Agultu and Vignola, and in the southeast, going towards the Olbia
plain, where we find the only easy routes for entering and leaving the
Gallura region.
The landscape is characterized by granite formations which, owing
to erosion by wind and water, especially the former, give rise to a quite
varied landscape which towards the north gives way to fertile plains
which often go down to the sea.
The spontaneous vegetation is composed of Mediterranean bush
(lentisk, rock rose, arbutus and so on) especially where the wooded
areas are less thick or on the plains which in some cases have only
recently become farmland. On the steep mountain slopes the holmoak,
juniper and cork oak have no rivals. The cork oak is the tree that
provides the raw material for the flourishing cork industry which,
together with animal husbandry, represents the region’s most important
source of revenue. In recent decades the holiday industry, with the
development of the coasts, has become another import source of
income.
Human presence, quite sparse up to the middle of the last century, is
now heavily concentrated in small and large towns, with the progressive
abandonment of rural areas and the activities of farming and ani-
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mal husbandry. The stazzo, the typical farmstead of the region, located
at some distance from the coast in a sunny position and economically
self-sufficient, was for many years the pole around which all rural life
revolved. It has now become, especially the ones nearest the coast, the
temporary home for families, often not Sardinian, who spend their
summer holidays on the island. Stazzi farther from the coast are now
occupied by transhumant shepherds who bring their flocks there from
the Barbagia region in the heart of the island.
The Palaeolithic (500,000 years ago)
The presence of Palaeolithic man in Gallura has not yet been ascertained,
even though there is proof of such a presence on the other side
of the Coghinas River, in the Anglona region. Here, numerous sites on
fluvial terraces have yielded an enormous number of Clactonian artefacts
and excavations have brought to light areas of fossil soil.
According to the latest studies, Palaeolithic man reached Sardinia
some seven hundred thousand years ago following the Sardo-Corsican
block which at the time was separated from the mainland only by a
narrow sea channel in front of the Tuscan archipelago. Thus it is highly
probable that the present lack of evidence of his presence in Gallura
will soon be overcome.
The Early Neolithic (VI-V millennium BC)
The first traces of human presence in Gallura go back to the Early
Neolithic Age. To date, two sites have yielded the characteristic
Neolithic implements: pottery decorated with impressions made with
the serrated edge of a shell (Cardium, Pectunculus or the apex of a
Ciprea) found together with typical small stone objects made of flint
or obsidian shaped into geometric forms (trapeziums, half-moons, triangles
and so on).
Both the sites that yielded traces of Neolithic man are located on the
coast, one at San Francesco d’Aglientu, in the locality known as Lu
Litarroni, and the other at Cala Corsara, on the island of Spargi: one
was a fortuitous find, the other was certainly the site of a dwelling,
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albeit temporary. With research still in its early stages, it is difficult to
evaluate with any exactitude the real importance of the finding at Lu
Litarroni, while the Cala Corsara site, a tafone (a cavity in a granite
boulder formed by erosion) used as a dwelling place has allowed careful
observation of the superimposition of archaeological layers since
on the untouched bottom layer other cultural levels formed starting
from the final years of the Early Neolithic.
A wall of large granite boulders, of which two or three courses laid
directly on the rock remain at the extremities, in ancient times must
have completely closed off the entrance to the cavity on the side facing
the sea directly exposed to the northwestern mistral, Sardinia’s
strong prevailing wind and other bad weather conditions which without
the wall would have made it impossible to inhabit the cave. The
ancient entrance, of a very low, subrectangular shape, opened in the
back of the boulder, today in correspondence to a high-rising dune
which formed quite recently, and in any case long after the time when
the shelter was lived in.
Changes in the coastline that have taken place since Early Neolithic
times have certainly been noteworthy and the tafone, then farther from
the coastline than it is today (about eight metres), must have offered
good shelter, albeit probably temporary, both for its size (4x3.7 metres)
and because it was not far from fresh-water springs, which were indispensable
to life on the small island.
The long period over which the cavity was put to use, starting from
the Early Neolithic and continuing up to the age of the first nuraghi, is
proof of the good living conditions it offered.
On the bottom of the cave there were numerous shards dating back
to the Early Neolithic. In particular, cardial ware was found associated
with implements made of flint and obsidian: the latter is a volcanic
glass coming from Monte Arci (near Oristano) which was used, together
with flint, in the making of tools and weapons.
The presence of obsidian in the Cala Corsara tafone once again indicates
that the Maddalena archipelago was one of the way stations along
the route of the ‘black gold’ of antiquity from Sardinia towards
Neolithic settlements in Corsica, Tuscany, central and northern Italy
and southern France.
The brown flint found at Cala Corsara almost certainly came from
the imposing deposits at Perfugas in the Anglona region just to the
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west of Gallura. It was used both as raw material for exchanges of
goods within Sardinia and exported as a material accompanying the
better-known Sardinian obsidian. This shows that the routes to and
from the island must have been well known and Sardinia’s economic
resources must have acted as an incentive for a more and more massive
inflow of peoples and ideas. It is thus to be hoped that large-scale laboratory
analyses can be performed on obsidian coming from excavations
outside Sardinia, thus obtaining a better idea of the role played by
Sardinia’s natural resources during the Early Neolithic, between the
6th and 5th millennia BC.
The Middle Neolithic (VI-V millennium BC)
The pottery and stone objects (quartz, granite, porphyry and obsidian
– with flint strangely lacking) found on the island of Santo Stefano
during excavation of the overhanging rock shelter at Cala Villamarina,
as well as some shards and obsidian weapons with transversal cutting
edges found in the upper layers at Cala Corsara perhaps belong to the
Bonu Ighinu culture in the Middle Neolithic: they are of the kinds
found in many shelters, especially Sardinia’s caves, and in particular
comparable to the findings at Su Carroppu, Sirri Carbonia in the Sulcis
area, the Grotta Verde at Alghero, the Sa Ucca de su Tintirriolu cave at
Mara and so on.
The wealth of obsidian, especially in the Cala Villamarina shelter
where it represents the stone most used in making utensils, indicates a
continuation of trade in this stone towards Corsica, the Italian mainland
(Tuscany, Emilia, Lombardy and so on) and through Liguria to
southern France (Provence).
Temporary shelters for mariners or fishermen, these sites demonstrate
that despite the fact that up to now there is almost no evidence of
the presence of the Bonu Ighinu culture in the part of Gallura on terra
firma, the occupation of this region by peoples of the Middle Neolithic,
between the 4th and 3rd millennia BC, must have been far more massive
than what appears from the evidence at hand.
Far from the coasts, where it was possible to practice an economy
based on farming and animal husbandry, there must still be proof of
this presence represented by stations in the open air, inhabited tafoni or
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tafoni used as burial sites. The finding on the outskirts of Olbia, in a
place known as Orgosoleddu, of a statuette of the Mother Goddess of
the volumetric, naturalistic type belonging to the Bonu Ighinu culture
is a clear indication of this.
The Late Neolithic (3500–2700 BC)
Equally rare, although more consistent than the findings dating back
to the Early and Middle Neolithic, are the sites of the Ozieri culture in
Gallura.
Currently, four localities where findings of the Ozieri culture have
come to light are known: three are rock shelters at Aggius and Monte
Icappiddatu at Arzachena. The former is a large tafone on the outskirts
of the town of Aggius. The artefacts found there were scattered and
tampered with during modern renovation works. The latter presented a
rich stratigraphy found in a deep fissure, where many shards and stone
implements had fallen by accident or had been washed in from the
large shelter above. The absence of human bones in both cases
excludes the use of the shelter as a burial site. The third site, at Cala
Corsara on the island of Spargi, has been described in detail in the sections
dealing with the Early and Middle Neolithic.
The fourth site consists of a settlement in the open air, the only one
known in Gallura, at the locality known as Pilastru, or Pirastru, near
Arzachena, where the road to Bassacutena was cut through a low rise
in the land, thus exposing some pockets containing archaeological
deposits. The settlement made up of huts extends over the entire slope
of the hill, down to the base where boulders rise from north to east at
the outer limit of the site and in which there are many tafoni used in
prehistoric times either for shelter or as graves.
Thus, in Gallura as well we find the presence of a building technique
known in other parts of the island in the villages of this age and this
culture: the custom was to build dwellings that were partially dug into
the ground and covered with a wooden roof. They were known as fondi
di capanne (dugout huts).
Findings on the surface and quite recent excavations have brought to
light shards, both smooth and decorated, with the traditional shapes
and patterns of the Ozieri culture (zigzag geometric patterns, arcs, seg-
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ments of circles, spirals and so on) often with a two-colour effect
obtained by filling in the engravings or impressions with white or red
paste. There are also traces of the production of flint and obsidian
implements. Summing up, we have a totally homogeneous cultural
context similar to the one known all over the island, thus once again
confirming the great vital force expressed by these peoples.
Furthermore, similar to what has been found elsewhere in Sardinia
– where the Ozieri culture is well known owing to dozens of open settlements,
caves used as dwelling places or graves, burial sites with
small artificial caves (domus de janas) or stone cists closed within circles,
religious sites and so on. The Ozieri people spread to wherever it
was possible to develop an economy based on agriculture, animal husbandry
and gathering, or where it was possible to add the exploitation
of the natural resources in the soil, such as obsidian and flint, to these
activities .
The research now under way in different parts of the island aims to
find, within the framework of the Ozieri culture, the divisions and
changes it underwent over the centuries and for this reason an attempt
is being made to place the Pilastru context with precision. On preliminary
examination, some sectors of the Pilastru village would appear to
show less variety in the decoration of pottery, less skill in applying
decorations and a rather poor working of the clay used, which was of
local origin, thin and full of inclusions.
Characteristics of this kind may suggest a long lifespan of the
Pilastru village, which began at the time of greatest vitality of the culture,
at the same time as the founding of the Aggius and Monte
Incappiddatu settlements, since it is not sufficient to place all the blame
for the poor quality of the paste and decorations on the poor quality of
the clay.
Chronologically contemporary with the Ozieri culture, or local
facies of it, is the improperly named ‘Arzachena culture’ or ‘Gallura
culture’, which is characterized by monuments consisting of circles
sometimes enclosing a stone cist destined for burial and accompanied
by upright stones in the ground (menhirs), the so-called type A circles,
the most well-known example of which is the Li Muri circle at
Arzachena. Up to some time ago considered manifestations of an
autonomous aspect of the Eneolithic, only recently have they been recognized
as belonging to the Ozieri cultural context.
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The materials found in these grave circles belong to artefacts of the
Ozieri culture, with the closest resemblances being the spheroid pommels,
the soapstone axes, the long, sharp unfinished flint blades, the
stone pots and in the custom of placing lumps of red ocre in graves, an
auspice of resurrection.
Finally, we must not forget the custom of building huts partially in
the ground by digging large trenches, as can be seen in the villages of
Cuccuru de is Arrius at Cabras, Su Coddu at Selargius, etc.
Owing to all these affinities and to the fact that grave circles with
menhirs now appear to have crossed the narrow boundaries of the
Gallura region (the example of the Pranu Mutteddu circle near Goni is
significant), recently the hypothesis has been advanced that the socalled
‘Arzachena culture’ is to be considered a local facies of the
Ozieri culture, within which it developed. Since the affinities are limited
only to the narrow sphere of the material culture but also include
ideological and religious aspects (red ocre in the graves, a close connection
between grave circles and menhirs, etc.) it can be supposed
that the Ozieri culture was present in Gallura in a far more radical way
than the few settlements found so far would lead one to believe.
The use of rock-cut tombs (domus de janas) appears in Gallura only
sporadically and is limited to marginal areas where the cultural influences
of adjacent areas (Anglona, Logudoro) penetrated more easily.
The most interesting among these, owing to the rich symbolism associated
with burial, is that of Tisiennari Bortigiadas, which shows on the
back wall of the main cell a false entrance surmounted by an engraved
double bull-horn pattern and a row of V’s. Three rows of the latter pattern,
of uncertain interpretation, also appear on the wall to the left. Red
paint borders the decorative patterns in accordance with a funerary
symbolism of regeneration, which was common to all Sardinia at the
time of the Ozieri culture.
It is probable that the lack of domus de janas in the rest of Gallura
is to be placed in relationship with the large numbers of tafoni, some
of which have the appearance of real domus de janas, beside circles as
burial sites.
Another monument present in Gallura, with some ten examples,
which in the present state of our knowledge are difficult to date, are the
dolmens, to be found in the countryside around Luras, Luogosanto,
Arzachena and other towns. These too are monuments that can be
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found not only in Sardinia but in other Mediterranean countries and on
the Atlantic coast of France and Great Britain as well. It is likely that,
similar to other phenomena of the kind in other parts of the island, this
megalithic form made its appearance in the Late Neolithic and continued
on into later epochs.
The Chalcolithic (Copper Age) (2700–1800 BC)
The question of dating the beginnings of the Copper Age, which is
to say the first of the ages of metal, is controversial. Some place it at
the end of the Ozieri culture, when it was gradually changing its physiognomy
and emerging with a new series of features.
The pottery, although in some cases it continued to show the same
types and forms of the Ozieri culture, became heavier and heavier;
some recipients ceased to be produced and others came to the fore to
satisfy new needs and tastes.
Elaborate decorations gave way to simpler ones, often obtained with
the engraving of a straight line, and later disappeared altogether. It is
to this period that perhaps it is possible to attribute at least a part of the
Pilastru settlement at Arzachena, but at present there is no evidence in
Gallura giving us an understanding of the different aspects, the diffusion
and the chronological limits of this cultural period.
There are only a few traces of materials that can be attributed with
any certainty to the horizon of the Monte Claro culture. The wellknown
grooved pottery, a few fragments of which come from the Li
Lolghi tombs at Arzachena and the Monte de s’Ape tombs at Olbia, are
of quite limited diffusion.
But the most significant presence is certainly what was found in the
Cala Corsara tafone on the island of Spargi which yielded grooved and
smooth shards of the typical pottery that characterizing the northern
part of Sardinia. Indeed, as concerns the type of pottery, the decorations
on it and, to some extent, its shape, the Monte Claro culture is
characterized by the variations which allow an immediate identification
of the place from which the shards come: the ones found in
Gallura are part of the Sassari group. This group is distinguished by
fairly compact clay, thin sides and shallow grooves around the widest
circumference of the recipient.
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It is probably due only to a lack of information that there are no
other consistent findings that can be attributed to the period of the
Chalcolithic, or Copper Age. I refer to the Filigosa, Abealzu and Bell-
Beaker cultures.
This fact is quite singular, especially as concerns the Bell-Beaker
culture (the name comes from the shape of its most characteristic
beaker, which resembles an upside-down bell) since this culture had its
origins in the Iberian Peninsula and expanded in the direction of eastern
Europe and descended the Italian peninsula, over the plain of the
Po, Emilia, Tuscany, Latium and down to Sicily. It also found its way
to Sardinia and, to a lesser extent, Corsica.
In Sardinia we can distinguish two different cultural streams, one
from the French Midi, the oldest one, and a second which, following
the Alpine passes of the Veneto region, reached the island through
Emilia and Tuscany. The former left richly decorated shards, decorative
objects made of shells, aquamarine stones (soapstone) or bone,
stone or copper weapons, the latter was characterized by recipients
often with no decoration and fewer decorative objects.
It is to be expected that further excavations and explorations will
integrate our knowledge of the Copper Age in Sardinia, thus adding
more to what we know of the cultural vicissitudes that characterized
prehistoric Gallura.
The Early and Middle Bronze Age
(1800-1600 / 1600-1300 BC)
The new era, which in Sardinia saw the development of the
Bonnanaro culture, is more or less intensively present in Gallura, but it
is on the lands around Arzachena that the largest number of artefacts
belonging to this culture, which characterized the Early Bronze Age,
have been found, albeit sporadically.
The same phenomenon that was observed in the Bell-Beaker culture
is also found in the Bonnanaro culture: dwelling places, religious centres
and fortifications are totally unknown.
We therefore do not know anything about the forms, sizes or types
of huts, just as we cannot reconstruct the uses, customs or beliefs in
any way on the basis of the results of excavations, except as concerns
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the world of the dead, since only graves offer some indication of spiritual
manifestations. We know, for example, that among these populations
a secondary deposition, which is to say that the final burial consisted
of the skeleton only after the flesh had fallen away. This custom,
which is well documented, especially in the Sassari area, was in all
probability in use throughout the island, especially when the archaeological
situation does not appear clearly and the bones, scattered about,
give the impression of a grave that has been plundered.
This is the overall picture. In detail, the oldest findings in Gallura
belonging to the Early Bronze Age are offered by the architecture and
grave goods found in the oldest part of the Li Lolghi monument, a
‘gallery grave’ which, later on, was enlarged with the addition of a corridor
to form a giants’ tomb which is slightly lower than the floor of
the older grave site at the top of a hill of the same name. Artefacts are
to be ascribed to the Bonnanaro culture in the Corona Moltana aspect
as well as to its earlier period, that is, the Early Bronze Age, while the
addition to the structure dates to the Middle Bronze Age and is to be
attributed to the Sa Turricola culture.
At the Coddu Vecchiu burial site we find the same transformation of
a gallery grave into a giants’ tomb: this transformation came about with
the creation of a large semicircular space delimited by stones placed
upright in the ground in most cases or by a wall made of stone courses
in front of the giants’ tomb. The entrance to the grave is at the base
of an arched stele dominating the forecourt, or exedra, a space set aside
for offerings, incubation rituals and other religious rites.
Compared to the graves just described, those of Li Mizzani at Palau
and Monte de s’Ape at Olbia, although they too are to be placed in the
context of the Middle Bronze Age, were built somewhat later. To this
epoch, which for the time being cannot be dated precisely, belong the
giants’ tombs of Lu Brandali at Santa Teresa di Gallura and Moru at
Arzachena; the latter is located a few dozen metres from the Albucciu
nuraghe, to which it is related.
We have no proof that at the time of Facies b of the Bonnanaro culture,
known as the Sa Turricola culture, nuraghi were built in Gallura,
similar to what can be said about other areas in central and southern
Sardinia. However, it is likely that the Malchittu complex (a ‘corridor’
nuraghe, a large circular hut, a rectangular temple and a series of
graves in tafoni) – of which only the temple has been completely exca-
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vated, with the conclusion that it belongs to the full Sa Turricola aspect
– was built over a short period of time. If, as appears likely, this is true,
as affinities in the construction suggest, we are dealing with one of the
oldest complexes in the Gallura region.
The Nuragic Age (from approximately 1500 BC)
The beginning of the great megalithic era is commonly placed at
about the middle of the second millennium BC, during the Middle
Bronze Age. This is the time that saw the proliferation throughout
Sardinia of the constructions known by their ancient name of nuraghi.
Gallura is no exception but, as said previously, there are still some
doubts about when the phenomenon started and, above all, if and when
cultural relations with nearby Corsica may have influenced the form,
the plan, in a word the architecture, of these megalithic monuments.
And not only that: it must be kept in mind that pottery quite similar to
that of the contexts of Sa Turricola are present in torre monuments in
Corsica and, although we have no objective evidence of the actual
presence of the Sa Turricola aspect in the nuraghi in Gallura, the finding
of these shards typical of the Malchittu temple lead one to expect
their presence in the other constructions of the complex as well.
Lacking a proper census of all nuragic buildings, today it is impossible
to establish the number and type of monuments present in
Gallura. The information available, although scanty, points to a wide
diffusion of megalithic buildings spreading to all parts of the region,
with the sole exception of the highest mountain areas (for example
Limbara) at altitudes from sea level (the lands of San Francesco
d’Aglientu, Santa Teresa di Gallura, Arzachena and especially the
plain of Olbia) up to about seven hundred metres. But the nuragic peoples
did not choose the highest areas for their settlements; they preferred
to settle in areas no more than one hundred and fifty metres a.s.l.
or in the level between four hundred and five hundred metres, where
the climate is milder and living conditions are better. At such altitudes
it was in fact easier to practice an economy based on a mixture of agriculture
and animal husbandry, with the contemporary exploitation of
the rich pastureland on the hills and the fertile soils of the plain.
Even when nuraghi were erected on flat lands, the choice of sites
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went preferably to the low rocky hills rising above the surrounding
countryside, because such areas were without the marshy lowlands,
they provided the natural rock for their buildings and because such
rises offered a good view of the land on all sides. Around the nuraghi
we often find a more or less large, more or less well preserved village
of huts, such as Lu Brandali at Santa Teresa, Albucciu and La Prisciona
at Arzachena, and so on.
Fundamentally, we find two kinds of nuraghi in Gallura: the ‘tholos’
nuraghe and the ‘corridor’ nuraghe. In its simplest form, the former is
a circular building, rising as a truncated cone and topped by a terrace.
The rooms, one above the other, are covered with a corbelled roof (tholos)
and are connected by means of a spiral stairway inside the walls
which goes up to the terrace.
When the need arises to enlarge this kind of nuraghe, two, three,
four or more towers are erected around the original tower and are connected
by rectangular curtain walls or concave-convex bastions. This
led to the creation of the imposing fortresses from the battlements of
which it was possible to defend against enemy attacks or keep watch
over livestock. These are buildings in which spaces were distributed
vertically and covered with corbelled roofs and which could reach
great heights.
On the contrary, the other type of nuraghe, known as ‘corridor’
nuraghi owing to the presence of more or less numerous corridors of
differing lengths and more or less winding. These corridors, covered
by slabs of stone, sometimes reach dimensions such as to make them
liveable. The chambers are generally small and are never very high,
contrary to what we find in the tholos nuraghi, where the beehive
chambers were sometimes divided by intermediate wooden floors, thus
doubling the living space. In rare cases, such as the Albucciu nuraghe
at Arzachena, we find large tholos chambers together with narrow corridors
in a single monument.
In corridor nuraghi the terrace had a fundamental function in the life
of the community, and this is especially evident since the horizontal
layout of the rooms left room for a large terrace where it was possible
to tend to daily chores.
Both kinds of nuraghe are present in Gallura, with a prevalence of
the tholos type, especially on the plains, while the corridor type is
found in the granite formations of the higher lands, against which they
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were built to exploit irregularities for use as rooms or corridors. In our
present state of knowledge we cannot define with any certainty the
genesis of the corridor nuraghe, its area of origin or the cultural influences
behind it. A fundamental role may have been played by the
rough granite formations and the great many natural recesses in the
rock (tafoni) present throughout the region.
Thus we find in Gallura the same phenomenon also to be found frequently
in Corsica: a strong characterization and differentiation in
nuragic constructions which, although not unknown in other mountainous
areas of Sardinia, here acquire a unique impressiveness, perhaps
owing to the morphology of the land. In Corsica the torre monuments,
quite similar to nuraghi, are present only in a limited area in the
south of the island, the part closest to Sardinia and which shows the
same geological and morphological characteristics.
But, as has been said, it was not only the nuraghe that gave shelter
to the populations. Also present are simple walls, quite thick and
robust, which stretched from one point of a higher granite formation to
another, thus blocking access to the mountain at the points without natural
barriers. Today we count approximately twenty-two such fortifications
and as research proceeds their number will tend to increase,
thus revealing a fairly uniform territorial distribution. The best known
of these walls is in the area of Arzachena. It is wavy and about forty
metres long, defending a series of structures: shelters under overhanging
rock, walled rooms and terraces that have come down to us from
nuragic peoples.
Even today the presence of religious edifices is quite scarce. This is
especially true of well temples, constructions where rites of the water
cult were performed. Particularly frequent on Olbia’s municipal lands,
and especially on the edges of its plain where the Padrongianus and La
Fossa streams with their affluents take the waters from Limbara and
the Berchiddeddu mountains down to the sea. These monuments are
currently unknown elsewhere in the region. It cannot be stated with
certainty that the scarcity of well temples in Gallura is a demonstration
of the limited diffusion of the cult connected with spring waters, while
it is quite probable that careful exploration of the territory would lead
to the finding of even a large number of these sites.
Of special interest is another religious monument located in the
countryside of Arzachena: the rectangular Malchittu temple in which,
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in all probability, community rites took place, since we find benches
placed along the right side of the chamber and a circular hearth at the
centre.
Well temples and ‘megaron’ temples, the two kinds just described,
are constructions found all over Sardinia, but it is not known to which
divinity these rectangular temples were dedicated, just as we have no
knowledge of the one to whom the well temples were dedicated, except
for the generic statement that they must have been water divinities.
We have already spoken of the graves known as ‘giants’ tombs’ and
their historic and cultural position, at least in their oldest phases.
The Li Lolghi tomb presents two distinct building stages. The oldest
consists of a gallery grave with the unusual feature of having the
entrance corridor wider than the burial chamber. The second stage is
represented by the addition of a burial chamber below ground level
which penetrates into the older corridor, thus incorporating it.
Archaeological data show that it was used throughout the nuragic period,
with no variation in the burial rite, which is that of collective burial,
sometimes with primary burial and sometimes with the burial of
the bones only (secondary burial) following the falling away of the
flesh.
Burials in tafoni were instead of single individuals. These graves
were in natural rock cavities and were closed off with dry walls.
As concerns dating, the two kinds of burial appear to have been in
use at the same time, but the evidence that has emerged thus far from
excavations is not sufficient to determine whether the choice of one or
the other was based on wealth or birth.
The custom of burial in tafoni, as is also that of burial in giants’
tombs, is disseminated throughout Gallura, but it is of special interest
to note that quite often, for example at Lu Brandali near Santa Teresa,
the two kinds of burial are present at the same time and yield the same
kind of shards, thus making the dating of each type quite difficult.
From the overall data we have mentioned thus far emerges an overall
picture that can be seen throughout the rest of the island. It is certain
that in many cases the rugged nature of the terrain influenced the
way of life and the choice of sites for settlements, just as the jagged
rock formations often imposed quite special architectural solutions.
Even the products of the material culture are perfectly in line, both
by type and dating, with those found in constructions of the same peri-
18

od in the rest of Sardinia, thus demonstrating unequivocally that
Gallura’s historical and cultural vicissitudes conform to those of the
rest of the island and that it was open to exchanges and contacts, but
with the personal re-elaboration of the experiences and ideas of the
cultural heritage common to all Sardinia.
The presence at Albucciu of ingots of the ‘Aegean-Cypriot’ type and
pigs of copper proves the existence of lively exchanges in the wake of
which stimuli and impulses probably also arrived to attenuate the partial
isolation towards the south of these peoples because of geographic
and morphological conditions. Since the coasts of the islands of the
Maddalena archipelago present many good harbours, the presence of
prehistoric settlers is sporadic and almost exclusively on the larger
islands, where it was possible to live comfortably, albeit occasionally,
owing to particularly favourable living conditions for small groups for
a limited time, the absence of nuragic buildings is surprising.
It appears to be improbable that the reason for this refusal to create
stable settlements on the islands of the archipelago is the lack of
springs of drinkable water since elsewhere, as for example on the
island of Mal di Ventre in front of Oristano, certainly no bigger than
the Maddalena islands and much farther from the coast than the latter,
there is a large nuragic complex. The causes are probably to be
searched for in another direction, perhaps in customs more closely
connected with life on the terra firma.
MARIA LUISA FERRARESE CERUTI
19

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– C H RONOLOGICAL TABLE –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
20
500.000 BC
100.000 BC
35.000 BC
10.000 BC
6.000 BC
4.000 BC
3.500 BC
2.700 BC.
2.500 BC
2.000 BC
1.800 BC
1.600 BC
1.300 BC
900 BC
750 BC
510 BC
238 BC
0
476 AD
PALAEOLITHIC
NEOLITHIC
ENEOLITHIC
BRONZE AGE
LOWER
MIDDLE
UPPER
MESOLITHIC
IRON AGE
EARLY
MIDDLE
LATE
INITIAL
DEVELOPED
FINAL
EARLY
MEDIUM
LATE
ORIENTALIZING ARCHAIC
PUNIC CIVILIZATION
ROMAN AGE
RECENT
FINAL
CLACTONIAN
RIO ALTANA
(Perfugas)
CORBEDDU
CAVE
(Oliena)
SU CARROPPU
FILIESTRU
GREEN CAVE
BONU IGHINU
OZIERI
SUB OZIERI
FILIGOSA
ABEALZU
MONTE CLARO
BELL BEAKER
BONNANARO
NURAGIC
CIVILIZATION
PHOENICIAN
REPUBLICAN
IMPERIAL

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MONUMENTS
ON ARZACHENA’S MUNICIPAL LANDS
The archaeological heritage of the Arzachena area may be considered
one of the most interesting ones in Sardinia from the viewpoints
of the density of monuments in relation to its extension, their variety
(burial and ritual circles, rock shelters, tafoni used for burials, dolmens,
nuraghi, megalithic defensive walls and fortified villages, nuragic
temples) and of the abundance of scientific data that has emerged
from excavations performed starting from 1939. Such data have raised
new questions concerning our knowledge of Sardinia’s prehistory in
general and of that of the Gallura region in particular.
The discovery of the main monuments found up to now is the merit
of a well-deserving citizen of Arzachena, Michele Ruzittu (1871-
1960), an elementary-school teacher best known among his fellow
townsfolk with the affectionate nickname of Babboi Micàli. This person,
who was a gold mine of initiatives of a civil and political nature
in favour of self-rule for the town of his birth, was also the author of
an impassioned and sometimes imaginative Cronistoria di Arzachena,
dall’età della pietra ai nostri giorni (Chronicle of Arzachena, from the
Stone Age to the present), published in Oristano in 1948, a work written,
in the words of the author, “with warm patriotic sentiment”.
It was the same sentiment that inspired him, when he was in his sixties
and seventies, to devote himself “to the search for and meticulous
study of monuments of remote antiquity on the municipal lands of the
reborn town” with the intention of “highlighting the importance of the
region in all periods of history and prehistory”.
The continuation of research and scientific excavations performed
starting from 1940 by the Superintendency of Antiquities for Sardinia,
which were intensified following the setting up of the Superintendency
of Archaeology for the Provinces of Sassari and Nuoro, have brought
to light a series of important findings proving the existence of a succession
of cultural aspects which, starting from the Late Neolithic,
continued up through most of the Roman period.
The Late Neolithic has been documented both in its civil aspect
(Monte Incappiddatu, Pilastru) and burial customs (Li Muri and La
Macciunitta), while the early metal ages are borne witness to by the
dolmens and shelters under overhanging rocks.
21

The many nuraghi, the villages, the giants’ tombs and the fortified
areas of Monte Mazzolu, Monte Tiana and Punta Candela, situated on
plateaus with a wealth of tafoni used as dwellings or graves, are proof
of the development of the nuragic civilization with aspects peculiar to
the Gallura region.
Up to the present, traces of the Punic period are scanty and limited
to the very recent discovery of a small stele with the inscription of the
letter daleth and a coin with the head of Thanit and an equine protome
(300 – 264 BC) in the Moru giants’ tomb.
The findings dating from the Roman period that have come to light
thus far are not yet sufficient to identify the site of Turobole Minor (or
Turibulo Minore), a station mentioned in the Itinerarium
Antoninianum (3rd century AD) at XIV Roman miles from Olbia and
which some scholars, based on a reconstruction of a coastal road,
believe is to be found in the Gulf of Arzachena. There are traces of
Roman roads elsewhere in Gallura, in Calangianus, Tempio, Santa
Teresa and of course Olbia.
The presence of the attribute ‘minor’ has led to the hypothesis of the
existence of a Turobole Major (or Turibulo Majore), but there is no
Fig. 1 Li Muri burial circles in a photo taken during excavation.
22

proof of this, while sites such as Viniola, Tibula, and Longonis are historically
documented.
1
The Li Muri Necropolis
ANGELA ANTONA RUJU
Of Arzachena’s archaeological monuments, the Late Neolithic Li
Muri necropolis is the best known complex.
It is the uniqueness of the graves found in it that suggested that it
might well represent a peculiar culture to which was assigned the name
of ‘megalithic circle culture’ or ‘Arzachena culture’ or ‘Gallura culture’.
Effectively, in this region the grave circles with stone cists are especially
concentrated, but recent research advises caution in considering
the so-called ‘circle culture’ a phenomenon independent of the contemporary
Ozieri culture, which is found all over Sardinia.
The Li Muri necropolis, discovered in 1939 by Michele Ruzittu, was
excavated by Francesco Soldati for account of the Superintendency of
Antiquities of Sardinia and was studied and published by Salvatore
Maria Puglisi in 1941.
It consists of a series of dolmen cists – small cells for burial made
up of slabs placed edgewise and with one as a cover – each one surrounded
by a series of small slabs arranged in concentric circles. The
purpose of these circles was to contain a mound of earth and gravel
covering the grave and keep it from being washed away.
Should this hypothesis prove true, the necropolis must have
appeared as a series of small round mounds tangent to each other and
having a diameter varying from 5.3 to 8.5 metres.
On the external circle of each grave the remains of a menhir, a stone
cippus with religious significance which, lacking reliable data, can be
interpreted in different ways: it may have had the value of a betyl (from
the Hebrew beth-el), meaning the ‘home of the god’ which protected
the dead; or it may have represented a way of identifying the person
buried beneath by means of symbols painted on the surface.
Among the several hypotheses advanced, Castaldi put forth one
based on experience in the field of ethnology: according to a belief
23

Fig. 2 Li Muri burial circles: plan.
24

held by several peoples, the spirit of the person who had just died
walks in circles around his corpse trying to understand his or her new
essence. In this case the cippus may have represented the refuge of that
spirit.
Besides the menhirs, the three small stone chests (40x50 cm) placed
near the points where the grave circles touched may have been connected
with the cult of the dead and were for the purpose of receiving
periodic offers for the deceased. We cannot exclude the possibility that
such offers consisted of food, perhaps placed in containers made of
perishable material, such as wood. This would explain the fact that
nothing has ever been found inside these chests.
Unfortunately we do not even have enough of the remains of the
skeletons of those buried in the cists to allow an anthropological examination
due to the acidity of the granite soil. Only a few shattered fragments
of long bones have been found. This situation has made it
impossible to establish the human type to which the Li Muri settlement
belonged, nor the number of persons buried in each grave. It has been
hypothesized that they are single graves, given the size of the cists. But
Fig. 3 Li Muri burial circles.
25

Fig. 4 Li Muri burial circles.
we cannot overlook the possibility that the grave may have contained
more than one body since we know nothing of how the dead were
buried. Nor do we know if the body was buried whole (primary burial)
or if the skeleton was placed there following the falling away of the
flesh (secondary burial).
The finding of pebbles with residues of red ochre in the graves has
also led to the hypothesis that this may have been used to paint the body
of the deceased: red is in fact the colour of blood and regeneration; its
use in Neolithic Sardinian graves has been widely documented.
Of special importance are the objects included in the grave goods
that accompanied the dead in their tombs. Finely-made stone artefacts
showing signs of skilful workmanship have been found: a soapstone
cup with two splayed handles and the bottom with a ring in relief; slender
flint blades, triangular hatchets made of hard, smoothed stone,
round pommels with holes of uncertain use, perhaps weapons in handto-hand
combat or insignia; finally, a large number of soapstone beads
in the form of small olives, others spherical and disc-shaped.
Minute pieces of pottery made of mixed clay with no decoration
26

Fig. 5
Li Muri burial
circles: spherical
pommels
made of green
and blue
steatite, from
Grave IV.
were also found. Of all the objects described, the small soapstone cup
deserves special attention since it has much in common with similar
stone objects found on Crete, from which its importation to Sardinia
has been hypothesized. Other objects suggesting an origin from abroad
are the spheroid pommels since they have been found on Crete and in
Anatolia as well as on the Italian and Iberian peninsulas and France. In
contexts of the Ozieri culture in Sardinia, besides the soapstone cup,
there is a widespread use of stone objects in the Late Neolithic.
As concerns architecture, the monuments most similar to the Li
Muri necropolis are to be found in Corsica where the ‘coffre’ tombs at
Tivolaggiu (Porto Vecchio), Vasacciu, Monte Rotundu (Sotta) and
Caleca (Levì) yielded grave goods with a wealth of Sardinian obsidian
objects and other stone objects confirming the close relationship
between Gallura and southern Corsica between the end of the 4th and
the beginning of the 3rd millennia.
If on the one hand the overall remains of Li Muri allow inclusion of
the cultural phenomenon of the grave circles in a context of a widespread
circulation of goods and ideas, on the other hand the material
data are not sufficient to allow the drawing of a picture of the economy
and society of the period.
We do not even have an idea of the dwellings of the Gallura group
in question; some believe they may have been in the many tafoni pre-
27

Fig. 6 Macciunitta burial circle.
sent in the surrounding mountains. On this issue, it is to be said that
recent discoveries have raised new questions since the remains of the
floors of huts belonging to the Ozieri culture have been found at a
place known as Pilastru, about six hundred metres as the crow flies
from the necropolis. It now remains to be seen to what extent this village
can be connected to the necropolis.
2
Macciunitta
ANGELA ANTONA RUJU
To reach this site, drive along national route (SS) 125 from
Arzachena to Palau, take the road that goes to Bassacutena and con-
28

tinue along this for about nine kilometres. On the left is a gate with the
place name Macciunitta written on it. Crossing the field going west,
you come to an example of a dolmenic circle, a type of monument of
which there is a noteworthy concentration in the territory of
Arzachena.
The Macciunitta monument is at the centre of an artificial earth
mound that forms a low hill on the flat land. The tomb consists of a
series of slabs stuck edgewise in the ground to form a rectangular cist
(of which only the western and southern sides are extant) covered with
a slab which today is overturned vertically; it is surrounded by a double
ring of stones (11 m in diameter) which had the function of containing
the mound of earth and gravel which must have covered the
entire complex and traces of which are to be seen in the number of
small stones visible within the circle. An oblong boulder, 2.5 metres in
height, is probably the aniconic betyl which originally must have been
erected at the edges of the mound. At a short distance from the tomb in
question traces of two other circles tangent to it are visible.
The affinity between this group of graves and that of the Li Muri
necropolis (see below) is borne witness to both by the structural characteristics
and the cultural material found at the two sites: besides the
shards of mixed clay with absolutely no decoration and of uncertain
chronology, a flat axe of jadeite, clips and lamellae of obsidian and
numerous beads, both elongated and spherical, of white and greenish
steatite, quartzites and porphyry (fig. 5) were also found.
From all this it can be deduced that the Macciunitta monument
belongs to the Late Neolithic. In the rocks surrounding the area there
are several tafoni used as graves which, like the type ‘B’ circle situated
just a few metres from the one of type ‘A’ described above, have
yielded shards thought to belong to the nuragic epoch.
Tafoni
ANGELA ANTONA RUJU
Whoever visits Gallura is immediately attracted by the uniqueness
of the bizarre shapes of the granite rocks modelled by different natural
factors into the characteristic jagged profiles. The sierras, the dome-
29

30
Fig. 7
Plan of
‘tafone’
graves:
Casanili (1-2),
Le Casacce
(3), Li Conchi
(4-5),
Malchittu (6-
7).
Fig. 8
Plan and
section of the
Balaiana
‘tafone’ at
Luogosanto.

like formations, the huge masses of prismatic monoliths full of cavities
and recesses, besides offering to the viewer masterpieces of natural
sculpture with the alternation of solid and hollowed-out areas in the
austere compactness of the rock, have represented natural shelters for
humankind from the earliest prehistoric times.
A rich store of cultural, material and ethnic findings has been documented
in the different stages in the use of tafoni. This name, of
Corsican origin, is applied to the natural cavities, characteristic of
granite, formed as the result of degradation caused by physical and
chemical phenomena working from the inside out and from bottom to
top set off by the rock’s capillarity which conveys the dampness of the
ground into the crystalline rock, thus setting off processes of partial
alteration of the minerals of which it is composed and bringing about
a slow and progressive disintegration of the whole. The consequent
breaking up of the interior of the granite mass thus creates the characteristic
cavities. Subsequent cracking and falling away of parts of the
walls caused by rapid changes in temperature, together with the action
of wind and rain, generate fantastic examples of natural sculpture.
The very large number of such cavities, the frequency with which they
are disseminated throughout the municipal lands of Arzachena, their use
as dwellings, graves, storage rooms and stalls, depending on the space
they offer on the inside, have created a widespread and characterizing
cultural phenomenon, in a certain sense still alive today since they are
Fig. 9
Prospect and section of
the Balaiana ‘tafone’ at
Luogosanto.
31

still in use as stalls and storage areas closed with dry walls and representing
an excellent example of rustic architecture, where the natural and
artificial elements blend into a harmonious and balanced whole.
In 1840, the historian Vittorio Angius, on describing the customs
connected with Gallura’s livestock raising, emphasized the continuing
use of the tafoni: “The caves, which (who knows how far back in
time?) provided shelter for the people who first settled on this land, are
still used by many shepherds. Go across the mountains of Arsachena
(sic) and in the natural excavations in the granite rocks you will see not
a few poor families who live on the milk from their flocks and roast
lambs and kids or the wild animals they shoot and you will see the
same discomfort that must have been tolerated by mankind before the
discovery of all the arts that make life comfortable.”
The use of tafoni has been documented from prehistory to the present
also for the burial of the dead; suffice it to think that this custom
was still in use up to just a few dozen years ago among the inhabitants
of the countryside, especially in winter when the bad weather made it
difficult to transport the dead to the common graves in rural churchyards,
many examples of which are still extant. And then if we consider
that, as Angius reported, in Gallura burial in regular cemeteries
began only in the second half of the 19th century, it is clear that, especially
in the rural areas farthest from them, the use of tafoni as graves
continued up to the threshold of our times. For example, two skeletons
found in a tafone at Malchittu together with fragments of linen and a
shirt, lying on a bed of branches and leaves, which was the custom
reported by Angius, were buried there in the 19th century:
“Neighbours help to carry the body on a bier of branches and leaves.”
The quite frequent finding of the remains of skeletons inside the
cavities, explained by the local people who are convinced that they
were victims of epidemics, has also stimulated the people’s imagination:
this explains the spreading of the legend of the ‘musca machedda’,
a malign and insidious fly “manna cant’è lu capu d’un boiu” (as
big as the head of an ox) which made such a racket with its wings that
people trying to escape from it took shelter in the tafoni, where they
died of hunger and thirst. No better was the fate of those who were
stung by the lethal insect when it managed to get to them inside the
rock, since they fell into a deep sleep from which they never awoke.
A similar legend is found in nearby Corsica as well; this fly is
32

eported in one of the Cronache (chronicles) of Giovanni della Grossa
(end of the 14th, beginning of the 15th centuries) who, on describing
the presence of the remains of skeletons inside the tafoni, says that
Orso Alemanno, the depraved leader of the Genoese in the town of
Bonifacio, who imposed the practice of jus primae noctis on the brides
of his vassals, was killed by a certain Piobbetta, the groom of one of
the women deflowered by Orso. One year after his death, a fly emerged
from Orso’s grave and in the space of ten years reached the size of an
ox and, on crossing the lands of Freto, spread terror and death in its
wake with its claws and fetid breath, which made even plants wither
and die, reaching and killing those who had sought refuge in the rock
shelters. Once again it was Piobetta who killed the enemy with the help
of a Pisan physician, but he too died because he had failed to protect
himself from the lethal effects of the insect with special ointments that
the physician had prescribed.
The legend of the musca machedda thus appears to echo the belief
that the bones in the tafoni belonged to victims of the plague. In effect,
the symbolic representation of the plagues and famines that afflicted the
two islands for many centuries, together with the allegorical description
of historical events and personages, is probably what we see in the myth.
As concerns the prehistoric period, the custom of using tafoni and
recesses in the rock as dwellings and graves is found both in isolated
sites and in more or less numerous groups open along the slopes of
highlands or in the large rocky masses. Indeed, on the lands of
Arzachena there are many small villages in which the dwellings consist
of more or less ample recesses under overhanging rock which,
when closed off by dry walls across the front and inside the recess, can
be divided into different rooms. Quite often we see the filling in of
cracks in the walls or the overhanging rock with small stones, clay or
mud. In some cases the living quarters extend even to the outside of the
shelter by means of closing off the space in front of the entrance with
well-placed stones forming a sort of roadbed.
The graves instead were obtained in the less hospitable tafoni and
recesses, those not suitable as dwellings either because of their size or
exposure to the elements.
A series of many tafoni grouped together sometimes assumed the
aspect of a regular fortified settlement defended by massive walls
blocking all accesses and guarded by watchtowers placed at the top of
33

the granite formation containing the tafoni or on surrounding heights.
An example of this is the village of Monte Candela; here the numerous
tafoni and type ‘B’ circles (those without stone cists, which some consider
to be connected with funeral rites preceding burial and others
judge to be rooms for the living) spread over the plateau constitute the
monuments of the burial or civil area of the human group which, starting
from the first phases of the nuragic civilization (phases I – III), had
settled there in the first safe shelters under overhanging rock located at
the highest point on the mountain.
3
Monte Incappiddatu
ANGELA ANTONA RUJU
This monument is one of the most important examples of the use of
the outcropping granite that is so characteristic of the land.
Situated in the place known as La Sarra, now surrounded by the
most recent buildings of Arzachena, it can be reached by following the
Via Lamarmora to the end. It is composed of a rounded granite outcrop
on the top of which is a boulder known as il fungo (the mushroom)
owing to its shape. The ample space present under the overhang, completed
by stones and dry walls, some of which still in place, shows sign
of use in ancient times. The usable space appears to have been extended
beyond the edge of the overhang by means of filling the empty
spaces and concavities present on the surface of the outcrop.
Dating of the period of use can be performed on the basis of excavations
in 1959 in the fill of a crevice going from the top to the bottom
of the rock formation, in which five different levels were identified.
The lower levels, besides shards of mixed clay with no decorations,
similar to those found in the Li Muri and Macciunitta circles, showed
the presence of parts of vases and decorations typical of the Ozieri culture
(basket vases, carinated bowls, decorations with stroked bands,
etc.) and the working of stone proved by the presence of wastes from
the working of obsidian and large flint and quartzite blades and scrapers.
The material in these two bottom levels offers a sure datum for the
dating of the oldest periods of use of the shelter: the Late Neolithic,
which is to say the period from 3500 and 2700 BC.
34

The stratigraphic sequence of the upper layers shows the presence of
pieces of vases connected with the cultural moments of the nuragic civilization
up to the top level. Also the stone circles (perhaps the remains
of huts) situated some 150 to 200 metres to the north of Monte
Incappiddatu, large numbers of which were reported at the beginning
of the 1940s but all traces of which have now disappeared, belong to
the nuragic period.
Recent construction work has buried the remains of the nuragic village
(of which we have only reliable oral reports) which extended eastward
and southeastward at the foot of the hill.
4
Monte Mazzolu
ANGELA ANTONA RUJU
Of special interest owing to the kind of settlement reflecting the characteristics
just described is also the site of Monte Mazzolu, a visit to
which is recommended, but with the warning that the site is difficult to
reach, both for the ruggedness of the land and the lack of signs and a practicable
path giving access to the top of the hill without too much fatigue.
To reach the site, follow the road from Arzachena to Bassacutena to
the 6th kilometre. From the place known as Pilastru, proceed on foot
on the right-hand side of the road, heading northwards towards Monte
Mazzolu.
The latter is a granite plateau, full of tafoni and recesses which,
being a natural stronghold, was chosen by the nuragic peoples as a
place to settle and defend themselves. It rises above the plain which,
divided by the Liscia River, extends southwards to the Luogosanto
highlands and northwards to the Gulf of Palau.
This territory is disseminated with numerous prehistoric sites; the
settlement appears to have prospered there, favoured by the natural
resources in the area, particularly suitable for the development of an
economy based on agriculture and animal husbandry.
The summit of Monte Mazzolu is composed of two rock formations
separated by a flat depression onto which open numerous inhabitable
shelters. Of the two sections, the higher one terminates at the top with
a bastion that is naturally defended by steep slopes. The hill must have
35

een climbed through a passage on the eastern side, easily guarded
from above, along which the remains of walls made of large stones can
be seen. At the point of access to the ‘arce’, the remains of a circular
construction four metres in diameter would appear to indicate the presence
of a sort of lookout post.
The eastern and western slopes of the hill, which are less secure
owing to the presence of the gap between the two parts into which the
hill is divided, show the obvious remains of artificial defence works.
On the eastern side we see terracing, adaptation of the rock and the
remains of masonry. The western slopes instead were protected by
what is today the most visible and best preserved of the entire complex:
an imposing winding wall joins together the two granite formations,
thus making a solid line of defence. The wall is forty-three
metres long with an average thickness of 2.2 metres. The residual
height is three metres.
The dating of the site is indicated only by excavations performed in
two of the rock shelters where the distinct cultural strata documented the
use of the area in nuragic times, between the 16th and 10th centuries BC.
THE NURAGIC COMPLEXES
ANGELA ANTONA RUJU
Of the monuments on the municipal lands of Arzachena worthy of
special attention are the nuragic complexes.
Composed of dwellings, fortresses, religious centres and cemeteries,
they offer a complete overall view of the way of life followed within
these agglomerations. Their sizes varied greatly: from the large
nuraghi surrounded by large villages of dozens of huts and many burial
sites to much smaller complexes and even to those with small
nuraghi, few huts and a single giants’ tomb.
In some cases, simple, single-tower nuraghi, standing alone in the
countryside or at the top of rock formations, hide under their ruins, or
buried by natural phenomena, the remains of walls belonging to bastions,
huts and religious edifices which can be gauged accurately only
through excavation.
These complexes were not always created or enlarged at the same
36

time: in some cases the nuraghe was built first while in others it was
the village, later completed with the construction of the main building,
the nuraghe.
Thus we are speaking of agglomerates in which the entire life of
peoples who, if on the one hand they could boast of a high cultural
level, a good knowledge of crafts and the working of metals, wood and
stone, which created a flourishing trade, on the other hand if we consider
what has been found during excavations of many settlements,
their lifestyle must have been extremely simple, based most of all on
farming and animal husbandry, which is to say the everyday chores of
a community.
5
The Albucciu nuragic complex
The nuraghe
Located on the western edge of the Arzachena plain, the Albucciu
nuraghe is just a few dozen metres from the Olbia-Palau road, 2.3 km
to the southeast of the town of Arzachena, in a place known as
Malchittu.
The building rises in contact with the rock it blends into. It dominates
the surrounding plain, with a view encompassing the mountains
of Luogosanto to the west and the Limbara massif to the southwest.
The granite formation against which the nuragic monument rests
occupies a low rise in the land oriented N-S. This influenced the way
the nuraghe was built and thus its form.
The fortress has a sub-rectangular plan with rounded corners. The
longest side is the eastern one which contains the entrance. The natural
rock, which is the basic support of the entire structure, in some
places took the place of the masonry, thus becoming a part of the structure
itself, giving it a massive aspect even with the complex arrangement
of rooms within it. We are thus dealing with one of those constructions
known as ‘corridor nuraghi’ which are found quite frequently
in Gallura. The masonry consists of medium-sized and large
unworked granite blocks; traces of dressing can instead be seen on the
architrave and corbels. The terrace is paved with pebbles probably
gathered along the banks of the nearby Rio Bucchilalgu.
37

The long façade of the nuraghe, rectilinear with rounded corners, is
marked, almost at the centre, by eight corbels protruding from the wall.
These are the survivors of what must have been a much more numerous
series crowning the summit of the building to discourage attempts
to scale the wall from the outside.
A (perhaps quite high) wooden balustrade must have risen above the
corbels for the two-fold purpose of sheltering the defenders and protecting
them from the risk of falling from the terrace. Traces of this
balustrade have been found in the large lumps of clay with the prints
of branches found at the base of the monument and along the edge of
the terrace where they had fallen once their wooden support had rotted
away and broken the plaster holding it in place.
At the centre of the façade, and off-centre with respect to the corbels,
we find the entrance to the nuraghe, which is a rectangular opening
above ground level with an architrave. There are two steps leading
up to it.
It faces east and opens onto a short entrance way with a trapezoidal
section and covered by two separated horizontal slabs. Just inside the
entrance we find a small niche on either side of it inside the thickness
of the wall and beside the architrave: these must have housed the ends
of a trunk used to keep the door in place once it had been inserted in a
groove on the floor across the threshold. The door, which was presumably
made of wood, must have been hung on a rope that went through
a rectangular passage in the ceiling and was anchored at the top of the
terrace. A similar arrangement facilitated handling of the door, which
must have been quite heavy to resist attempts to force it from the outside,
when it was opened or closed.
At the back of the entrance corridor, which is its widest part, we find
two doorways facing each other: the one on the right, large and of easy
access, is the entrance to chamber a; the one on the left, low and narrow,
gives access to corridor e.
At this point the ceiling of the entrance corridor, which was flat in
the first part, becomes a very low pseudo-cupola and then becomes flat
again as it rises in correspondence to the stairway which, with no interruption,
begins at the end of the entranceway, on the same axis as the
entrance door.
In Fig. 12, chamber a, among the rooms at ground level, must have
been the one in which it was possible to sojourn, albeit temporarily,
38

Fig. 10 Nuraghe Albucciu: aerial view.
Fig. 11 Nuraghe Albucciu: front view.
39

Fig. 13 Nuraghe Albucciu: sections.
Fig. 12 Nuraghe Albucciu: plan at the top as it is today (above) and at ground
level (below).
41

given its large size both horizontally and vertically. Its floor plan is an
ellipse and the walls, although they do taper, do not close to form a
false cupola: a large slab sharply interrupts the curve in the wall and
closes the summit of the room.
Along the same axis as the entrance to chamber a we find niche b,
it too with an elliptical plan; above the door is a thin slab acting as an
lintel and forming the base of a large trapezoidal relieving aperture.
The walls of the niche rest directly against the natural rock, which
appears at several points; the ceiling is “a falsa cupola” (false vault).
The floor is lower than that of a to facilitate entering a small rectangular
door made by widening a natural opening in the rock. This is the
entrance to a low corridor b1a, which can be used only by proceeding
on one’s hands and knees and which allowed anyone wishing to do so
to leave the nuraghe on its north side, under two natural boulders side
by side. The corridor was formed by exploiting a natural tunnel. The
part closest to the door is paved with pebbles while the rest is live rock.
On the left-hand side of entranceway c, as has been said, we have
the opening of room e, consisting of a long, low, narrow curving cor-
Fig. 14 Nuraghe Albucciu: the monument seen from the south.
42

Fig. 15 Nuraghe Albucciu: interior of cell A and, in the background, the
entrance to niche B.
ridor. The trapezoidal doorway with a lintel is made inconvenient by
being partially occupied by the first step of the stairway.
On the right, at the height of the lintel, there is a small niche, perhaps
for keeping objects of daily use or an oil lamp to light the
entranceway. The entire right-hand side of the corridor is cut into the
rock, which evidently influenced the shape of the room. The ceiling is
made up of ten slabs placed flat side by side; the floor is paved with
small stones. The low height of the tunnel (1 to 1.5 metres at the highest
point) forces those who walk through it to stoop. It is therefore not
improbable that it was used as a storeroom for tools or foodstuffs.
43

Fig. 16 Nuraghe Albucciu: prospect of wall with corbels in situ.
With no interruption with respect to the entranceway and on the
same axis as the entrance to the monument, we find the beginning of
stairway d which, divided into two flights by a landing, leads up to the
terrace. The first of these two flights of stairs is covered by flat slabs
44

arranged in gradually rising steps; the second was perhaps never covered,
as is also the case of the landing, which may have been covered
only partly.
The wall delimiting on the left the first flight of stairs goes beyond
the landing until it forms a right angle with the external face of chamber
n, at the point where we find the doorway to the chamber and
which was reached directly from the terrace by means of a wooden ladder
situated in small courtyard m. The latter must have had the function
of allowing light and air to penetrate into chamber n, the largest
room in the entire construction, where it was possible to sojourn with
a certain comfort and where, in all probability, it was possible for a
consistent number of people to spend the night.
It has a subcircular floor plan and thick walls made of granite
blocks. The whole western wall was cut into the natural rock and,
above this, we have the remains of the courses of stones which gradually
tapered to form the ceiling of the room. The eastern wall contains
a small cupboard while the southern one has a splayed opening with
two lights and a lintel on the inside; this opening must have served the
purpose of allowing air and light to penetrate into the room. The floor
is made of pebbles which in some points adjoin stretches of the emerging
natural rock. A short bench along the eastern side was installed in
the semicircle formed by two sharp projections of the granite as a function
of the hearth at the centre of the room.
Chamber n must originally have been much higher than the level of
the terrace, thus occupying a large internal volume which was divided
into two floors by an intermediate wooden floor occupying the entire
area of the chamber. The connection between the upper and lower parts
was probably by means of a wooden ladder which from the floor
reached a trap door in the wooden floor above. It is also quite probable
that this second intermediate floor could be reached through a door, of
which no traces remain. The existence of the intermediate platform is
proved by the enormous number of lumps of clay with the prints of
branches which were found in large quantities in level 5 and which
accumulated there when, for reasons unknown to us, it collapsed,
bringing down with it the finish covering it.
The imposing collapse of the upper part of the walls sealed the rich
stratigraphy which formed during the life of the building and which
came to light during excavations.
45

Stratum 1: collapse of the structures connected with the upper part of
the chamber. The many stones of which they were made
were not all of the same size or weight, with the largest at
the base and the smaller at the top. The summit of the collapse
was composed of large and small slabs of granite.
Stratum 2: cultural stratum corresponding to the final moments in
the life of the construction. Along the western wall and in
the northwestern corner were found in situ a large carinated
bowl with the impression on the bottom of a circle
with a dot in it, a ‘milk boiler’ and a small jar with a thick
cordlike lip. This stratum formed following a temporary
abandonment of the building.
Stratum 3: a sterile stratum corresponding to a period of abandon of
the nuraghe.
Stratum 4: a cultural stratum. It is quite rich in shards, among which
small jars with a high neck, carinated bowls with handles
in the form of upside-down elbows, the long feet of vases
for fruit, pans and, among these, some with decorations
impressed with a comb, perhaps for the baking of flat
bread. There are numerous loom weights, both hourglassshaped
and cylindrical and, of special interest in dating, a
bronze votive dagger with a gamma-shaped hilt and the
blade decorated with a herringbone pattern and three light
green vitreous paste beads. Also present are some lumps
of plaster with the prints of straw.
Stratum 5: a cultural stratum. It is characterized by the presence of
two hearths, one at the centre of the chamber and one
under the small cupboard in the eastern wall. There are
many shards showing no differences in type or form from
those of the preceding stratum. There are many lumps of
plaster.
Stratum 6: another cultural stratum. This is the richest in shards and
lithics and corresponds to the first period in the life of the
building. There are many pots, some with clay disk lids
with a hole in the centre, jars with a thick cord lip, carinated
and flat-bottomed bowls, pans, some of which with
comb impressions, loom weights. Of special interest is a
plate with the bottom of a basket impressed on one side.
46

Fig. 17 Nuraghe Albucciu: entrance to chamber N.
47

Among the lithics, we find numerous pestles and grinders,
a schist hatchet and, especially frequent, are pieces of
pumice stone with deep grooves made by the sharpening
of bronze blades. The hearth under the cupboard was no
longer used while the large one at the centre of the room
continued to be. Many burnt acorns were found around it.
Stratum 7: Numerous shards were present in the earth of the pebble
floor, some of which trampled in from stratum 6. Others
were probably contained in the mud used to hold the pebbles
used in laying the floor.
The large terrace which covers the entire construction, besides connecting
the different rooms that opened onto it, also allowed rapid
movement when it was necessary to defend the building.
The entire walkway around the edge of the monument is paved with
pebbles and the rooms built on the terrace opened onto it; only at the
centre do we find a subcircular area delimited by a course of stones
where some activities must have taken place as can be seen from the
Fig. 18 Nuraghe Albucciu: front view prior to excavation.
48

Fig. 19 Nuraghe Albucciu: top of stairway on the terrace.
impressive number of shards found there.
The western side of the construction consists almost entirely of live
rock but, in the northwestern corner we find a tower, the upper room of
which opens onto the bastion facing south. The purpose of this room
was to act as a storage room for two stairways going in opposite directions,
one descending, sometimes incorporating the live rock, towards
the centre of the construction, ending at a small window facing north,
where the masonry rests on the natural rock formations. The other is a
steep but well designed flight of stairs going west inside the thickness
of the wall and which leads to a small room, now partially caved in.
To the north of the terrace rises a rectangular wing containing a
small room, q, (Fig. 12) having an elliptical floor plan and a strong
inward curving of the walls; the entrance, slightly higher than the terrace
floor, opens onto a circular room o, which is in direct contact with
the terrace. Room q must have been covered and on top of it there must
have been a terrace that could be reached by means of a stairway (of
which only three steps are now extant) to be seen along the eastern side
49

Fig. 20 Nuraghe Albucciu: two-handled jug with stone lid found on the terrace
which contained fragments of Aegean-type ingots, small metal pigs and
votive swords.
of this rectangular construction. Thus we can say that when the
nuraghe was in use there must have been three buildings on the terrace:
to the south, tower n with its upper room, to the west tower p and to
the north the terraced structure of room q.
During the Second World War a machine-gun nest, which greatly
altered the original situation, was built in correspondence to the part of
the terrace topped by the corbels. Despite this, generally speaking, the
Albucciu nuraghe still allows a good understanding of its structure and
the possibility of interpreting what time has irreparably destroyed.
It has already been said that owing to its structural characteristics the
Albucciu nuraghe does not fit the ‘classic’ canons of buildings grouped
under the name of nuraghi, which are characterized by conical towers
with flat tops and rooms arranged one above the other, often communicating
in different ways. At Albucciu the distribution of interior
spaces follows horizontal lines, with the result that the whole appears
low and squat, and not even the towers that rose above the terrace in
50

Fig. 21 Nuraghe Albucciu: detail of jug with pieces of bronze found on the terrace.
Fig. 22 Nuraghe Albucciu: detail of the finding of a small, one-handled jug.
51

ancient times could attenuate this appearance. Also significant is the
presence of corridors which act as regular storerooms.
Although this monument can rightly be included in the category of
corridor nuraghe, the tholos, anomalous since it was not carried to its
conclusion, nevertheless denotes experience in building that had been
assimilated over a long period of time.
Some structural characteristics, such as the covering of spaces with
a flat arch, are apparently evidence of archaism, but it must not be forgotten
that the very nature of granite, with orthogonal fracture faces,
allowed the use of techniques that cannot always be adopted with other
kinds of stone and that such techniques can be used over a very long
period of time. That some ‘tholos’ nuraghi and the Albucciu nuraghe
date from more or less the same period is proved by common characteristics
of artefacts that came to light during excavations.
The ceramics are all ascribable to forms and types that are well
known and fit into the category of everyday kitchenware. They are
hemispheric and carinated saucers and bowls, large vases for the storing
of foodstuffs (ziri) or for the cooking and processing of foodstuffs
(jars) and above all, pans of all shapes and sizes. There is no lack of
pots for the processing of dairy products.
The pans, besides being used as plates, must also have been used for
the cooking of flat bread and, in this case, the entire inside, both sides
and bottom, is decorated with comb impressions.
In the final period of the life of the construction, following a period
of temporary abandon, we find different kinds of recipients, such as the
‘milk boilers’ or carinated bowls decorated with eye-like circles with
dots inside. The bronze material brought to light by excavations is
scanty but, taken all together, quite significant.
The most important finding is a small jar with two handles covered
by a carinated bowl which was found under one of the slabs on the
floor of the terrace where it had been hidden. It was full of pieces of
copper and bronze put aside for smelting and reuse; there were also
some pieces of an ingot of the so-called ‘Minoan-Cypriot’ type, ascribable
to the Late Bronze Age; these were the most important findings
for dating and an understanding of cultural relations.
Still on the terrace were found some fragments of a bronze situla
with plant-like decorations in the Middle-Eastern style and datable to
the second half of the 7th century BC, and a bronze statuette of a per-
52

son praying. Although the figurine shows a certain roughness in the
making, it is certainly far older; the votive dagger with the hilt in the
form of a gamma found in stratum 4 of chamber n dates back to the
same epoch as the figurine. Hourglass-shaped spools with bronze wire
wound around them, a bronze ring with a braided decoration and cylindrical
bronze spools were found in corridor b1a and a bronze wheel
with four spokes comes from entranceway c.
In conclusion, the Albucciu nuraghe at Arzachena is a monument of
the greatest interest both because of its good state of conservation and
because it has yielded extremely interesting data on this particular kind
of nuraghe and on its chronological and cultural definition in the
course of archaeological exploration. Indeed, the material brought to
light during excavations allows us to study the changes in form of the
pottery throughout the life of the nuraghe and, as concerns the decorations,
it confirms the greater age of pottery decorated with comb
impressions compared to the kind with decorations consisting of circles
with dots in the centre. In terms of absolute chronology, the
archaeological strata were formed in the conventional C 14 age
between 1060 and 720 BC, while on the basis of archaeology the
nuraghe’s life took place between the end of the Middle and the beginning
of the Late Bronze Age, with a brief revival in the Iron Age following
a period of abandon (see the Chronological Table).
The Village
Traces of habitation in huts have been found in the area around the
nuraghe, both at the front and in the ample flat land opening towards
the Rio Buccilolgu. The intensive removal of stones in different periods
has almost completely cancelled the parts of the huts above
ground, leaving in place only rare shards worn by time.
The Tomb
MARIA LUISA FERRARESE CERUTI
To reach the tomb, on returning along the road to Olbia, after about
a hundred metres turn off onto a path on the left where you find the
53

54
Fig. 23 Nuraghe Albucciu: fragment
of a bronze situla decorated with
plant patterns in the Orientalizing
style (from the terrace).
Fig. 24 Nuraghe Albucciu: plate
with the impression of a basket
woven with plant stems.

Fig. 25 The small Malchittu temple: plan.
55

tomb belonging to the complex in question (see inset ‘Moru Tomb’ on
page 66).
6
The Malchittu complex
Not on flat land like Albucciu, but situated on the highlands delimiting
the Arzachena Plain to the north, we find another complex of the
nuragic period. It consists of a large circular hut, a nuraghe, a religious
edifice and a large number of mortuary tafoni.
This small nuragic nucleus is located on the edges of a small valley
parallel to the Rio Bucchilalgu which opens onto the plain surrounding
the Gulf of Arzachena to the south. To reach the site you (like the original
inhabitants) must climb up the hill on the northeast side following
a narrow path winding through the thick vegetation and rocks.
The nuraghe and the temple, at 130 metres a.s.l., are located in a
short depression between the two granite peaks that rise to 149 and 140
metres from which it is possible to dominate the entire valley below
and its termination at the coast on one side and the Arzachena Plain on
the other; the Albucciu nuraghe is perfectly visible from here, even
though it is partly hidden by the thick vegetation.
The Hut
Located much farther down than the other two buildings just mentioned,
and the first one that is sighted going up the path, is a large hut,
still in some places quite well preserved (maximum height two metres
above the ruins, 5.9 metres in diameter) built at the foot of the rocky
plateau at a point where the northern slope of the hill flattens into a
short terrace.
The first stone courses are of noteworthy size, with a tendency to
decrease gradually with the increase in the height of the walls. There
is no apparent trace of the entrance, although it was probably built facing
southwest, which is to say in the direction of the other buildings of
the complex. This also means that it presented a solid wall, which was
made inconspicuous to those approaching from the valley by the high
rocks just behind it.
56

There do not appear to have been any accessory spaces within the
hut (niches, closets, etc.), which only excavation may bring to light,
nor is it possible to establish the presence of a possible atrium.
The overhang of the walls, perfectly perceptible at the uppermost
part of the construction, is quite pronounced and would lead one to
think of a corbelled (tholos) roof over the building were it not for the
slenderness of the walls (90 cm) in relation to the large diameter of the
room and the presence of not enough debris to indicate a collapsed tholos;
also considering the position of the complex, in a strongly recessed
area from which stones have not been removed, a wooden roof of tree
trunks converging towards the centre and covered with leafy branches
for waterproofing is certainly more probable.
Continuing the climb, passing through a narrow, rather steep passage,
with signs of having been widened in ancient times, you arrive at
the saddle: on your left you see the ruins of a nuraghe against the crag
and, on your right, the temple.
The wall
Continuing along the path, made difficult by the rugged terrain and
the thick Mediterranean bush, in the direction of the eastern edge of the
saddle, which on this side is accessible, but not easily so, you come to
the ruins of a straight defensive wall, only a few courses of which are
left here and there.
The nuraghe
Today, the nuraghe is completely buried by an enormous mass of
debris from its collapse. The remaining walls are hidden by this and
therefore it is impossible to say how much of the structure may be left
beneath. Here and there we see parts of walls, but for the present this
is not enough to arrive at an understanding of what sort of rooms and
walls the debris hides.
It is likely that the use of rather small stones was the main cause of
the collapse of the nuraghe, a part of which has fallen on the nearby
temple.
57

Fig. 26 The small Malchittu temple before excavation.
The temple
The temple is a sub-rectangular building the back wall of which is
rounded, almost forming an apse. It is divided into two distinct parts:
an atrium and a main body containing a single large room.
The atrium is irregularly four-sided and, while the abutment on the
left of the entrance is almost perfectly straight and perpendicular to the
façade, the one on the right is curved because of the lay of the land and
accompanies with no interruption the curve of the entire plan of the
walls. Today, only the final part of this wall appears to have shifted
slightly towards the inside owing to pressure from the collapsed part of
the nearby nuraghe which struck the small vestibule, causing only
some damage to the top courses of the wall.
Originally the abutments of the atrium must have been the same
height as the main body of the edifice and therefore it can reasonably
be hypothesized that it too must have been covered with a pitched roof.
The side with the entrance must have been completely open while in
the back we see the façade of the small temple which has at the top a
58

Fig. 27 The small Malchittu temple before excavation.
small pediment which, although in fairly good condition, does not rise
to its original height. Here we can see the use of small, medium and
large granite blocks, most of which laid without being dressed: only
the jambs at the entrance show a careful choice of the stones employed,
which are large ones.
At the top of the doorway we see a long, thin lintel above which is
a large relieving aperture, it too with a lintel. This aperture, which is
present in almost all nuragic buildings, is for the purpose of lightening
the weight bearing on the structure at its weakest point, which is to say
the doorway, to avoid the breaking of the lintel. Since in this case the
walls did not have to reach a great height, perhaps no more than a
metre at the centre of the façade, it may have been installed in accordance
with building customs that had become consolidated in time, in
the fear that the wooden roof structure might weigh too heavily on the
wall, and to provide light and air when the wooden door that must have
closed the edifice was in place.
Beyond the entrance is a short passage formed by the thickness of
the architraves delimiting the door, that of the façade and that of the
59

interior. Just under the architraves, in the wall abutments, we find two
small rectangular niches similar to the ones seen at Albucciu for blocking
the door.
The atrium and entranceway are paved with closely fitting granite
blocks; the live rock comes through to a certain height only in the lefthand
corner of the atrium, between the façade and the left-hand abutment.
It is not clear if it was intentionally left in order to form a sort of
bench after levelling off with pebbles and mud grout.
The large chamber, which occupies two thirds of the area of the
building, is subrectangular in plan with rounded corners more carefully
shaped at the back wall, which tends to follow a flat curve. It has no
accessory spaces and stretches out along the same axis as the entrance.
A rather high counter is supported by the back wall, thus straightening
its concavity, perhaps built for the placing of votive offerings or the
symbol of the cult. It is in fact not by accident that near it were found
the largest number of ceramics, some even whole, but unfortunately
completely crushed by the tangle of roots of a large holm-oak which
grew at the base of the counter.
Along the right side of the chamber two steps occupy the centre of
the room where there was perhaps a seat for the officiant, while the
people admitted to take part in the religious ceremony must have stood
along the sides, along a low step. Another step is found on the other
side, near the counter.
To one side with respect to the centre of the space reserved for the
officiant and in front of it is a round hearth made of a series of wellfitting
slabs joined with mud grout.
Four small niches, two on the left and two on the right, mark the
walls of the chamber: two of these are symmetrically placed on either
side of the counter, perhaps to hold sacred objects. Moreover, in the
corner formed between the front wall and the wall on the right there is
a long embrasure, perhaps placed there to observe the path leading up
to the temple, or perhaps for the circulation of air and, to a limited
extent, to admit light.
On the left side, a series of medium-size stones are arranged as segments
of a circle, but they do not belong to the first stage in the building
of the monument. They were placed there later, when the steps and
the hearth were already covered by a layer of earth. This situation
made it possible to identify two different stages in the building of the
60

Fig. 28 The small Malchittu temple: front view.
Fig. 29 The small Malchittu temple: side view.
61

temple, an older one certainly connected with religion and a more
recent one showing a sporadic and civil use of the building.
The ceiling of the chamber, like that of the atrium, was pitched, with
a beam in the centre supported by the pediments of the façade and the
back wall. The smaller beams supporting the branches and leaves were
attached crosswise to the central beam. The oldest floor was of regularly
placed pebbles while the more recent one was simply clay.
The building is in a good state of conservation and almost intact,
which increases its interest and makes it easy to imagine how it must
have been originally. This is the only monument of its kind and it can
be only partially compared to other rectangular ones of the nuragic
period, the so-called megaron temples of Serra Orrios near Dorgali,
Domu de Orgia near Esterzili and Sos Nurattolos at Alà dei Sardi, just
to mention a few. The archaeological investigation carried out on the
nuragic complex focused exclusively on the temple – the monument
which for its originality and state of conservation was most likely to
yield scientific data of interest. The investigation inside the chamber
revealed two distinct archaeological strata separated by a sterile one
(the clay pavement) which indicates a partial reorganization of the
building.
The temple must not have had a long lifespan, as is shown by the
thinness of the strata, and its use must have been interrupted by abandonment
of the site rather than because of some disastrous event; during
excavations, no traces of fire or devastation appeared, nor were
there any bronze implements, perhaps taken away when the site was
abandoned. The pottery found both in the first and third strata (the second
was sterile) shows characteristics in common and for the most part
is composed of pans, often with the lip turned outward, carinated
bowls and hourglass-shaped vases decorated with vertical ribbing of
different lengths starting from the lip. On the whole, it presents affinities
with pottery found in the Chessedu nuraghe at Uri, in the Sa
Turricula village at Muros, in the Oridda hypogeic grave at Sennori in
the province of Sassari and in the Monte s’Ape giants’ tomb at Olbia.
All of these elements go together to set the date of the complex not too
late in the Middle Bronze Age, at the time when the megalithic works
of the nuragic peoples were rapidly expanding.
62

Tombs in tafoni
Along the entire eastern slope of the highland, half hidden by the
thick vegetation, six tafoni used as graves, the sixth of which quite
recently, were discovered.
In all probability there are other graves hidden in the rugged mountainside,
which must have been the necropolis of the Malchittu nuragic
complex.
Excavation of the Malchittu temple was undertaken in December
1967, inspired by the uniqueness of its structures and its excellent state
of conservation, which promised to produce important scientific
results. As has been seen, the promise was kept.
MARIA LUISA FERRARESE CERUTI
63

The giants’ tombs
Of the monuments on the lands of Arzachena the so-called tombe di
giganti, or ‘giants’ tombs’ deserve special attention.
From their enormous size came the inspiration for the name evoking
the legendary personages traditionally believed to be buried in such
majestic graves, also known in Gallura as tumbi di li paladini (tombs
of the paladins).
In reality they were community graves of which there are several
hundred examples in Sardinia; their presence has raised many questions
concerning their origin, development, dating and the cultural and
social units that built and utilized them.
It is now the opinion of most scholars that this kind of grave was
arrived at through a long process of architectural development starting
with the simple dolmen, a megalithic monument based on the principle
of the trilithon introduced into Sardinia starting from the Late
Neolithic.
The next step in their development was represented by the gallery
grave, or allée couverte, a mortuary construction composed of a corridor
covered with tabular slabs resembling an elongated dolmen which
was quite common in the cultural milieu of the megalithic period in
Europe. In the Sardinian context, the allée couverte belongs to the period
between the end of the Early Bronze and the beginning of the
Middle Bronze Age.
The special form given to the allée couvert in Sardinia finally led to
the giants’ tomb.
As said before, this construction is composed of a rectangular chamber
for burials closed within a building with an apse at the back and at
the front end two walls reaching out in a semicircle to enclose the exedra,
or forecourt.
This imposing burial monument was destined to contain many bodies;
in some cases several dozens of burials have been found (Lu
Brandali and La Testa at Santa Teresa di Gallura) and, in others still,
even more than two hundred.
It is not yet clear whether the giants’ graves were used for all inhabitants
of the village or only for a privileged part of the society. The
number of burials found appears to be too high to imagine that only
one social class or family (for example the chief’s family, as has been
64

proposed by some), had access to them, even considering the long period
of time over which the tombs were used and thus the burial in them
of several generations. We must keep in mind the fact that the remains
of skeletons found belong to individuals of different ages (small children
, youths, elderly) and both sexes.
Another issue is the ritual of burial. Both primary burials – inhumation
of the intact body of the deceased – and secondary burials – deposition
of the skeleton only – have been found.
The part of the tomb for religious ceremonies was the exedra; it represents
the most monumental part of the construction accentuated by
the presence of a series of slabs stuck upright in the ground to form a
semicircle. They are placed at the sides of the most significant element
of this kind of tomb: the stele, composed of a large upright slab (or two
placed one on top of the other) in a central position in front of the
entrance to the corridor. It is almost always semi-elliptical in shape,
decorated all along the edge with a frame in bas relief and with a horizontal
slab in the middle dividing the rounded upper part from the
lower part in which there is the small door (port-hole) giving access to
the tomb. Several different interpretations have been proposed concerning
the meaning of the stele, seen by some as a reproduction in
stone of the wooden door that presumably closed certain allées couvertes;
others believe that they have an evident funerary symbolic
meaning having the value of a menhir; others see it as a false entrance,
or door to the nether world; finally there are those who believe it is the
reproduction of the façade of a religious edifice.
Imposing, albeit less monumental than the one just described, is
another kind of exedra the arms of which are made of rows of stones
placed one on top of another with an opening with a lintel giving
access to the corridor.
The area of the exedra, in which there is almost always a seat or
bench running along the base of the stones forming it, was for ceremonies
connected with the cult of the dead. This is shown by the finding
of votive offerings in it and the presence of betyls, sacred stones
evoking the divinity.
These elements taken all together, added to the monumental form of
these tombs, suggest that their purpose was not only to give solemnity
to the burial, the moment of departure of the deceased from the community
of the living, but most of all must have been the seat of the cult
65

Fig. 30 The Moru giants’ grave: aerial view.
of the dead in accordance with a religion that must have had as one of
its dogmas the belief in life after death and the attribution of a sort of
divinity to the deceased.
Following this hypothesis, the exedra of giants’ tombs must have
been where the rite of incubation was performed, a rite mentioned in
many literary sources, from Aristotle and his commentators to
Tertullian and Solinus. These sources report that it was a custom
among the inhabitants of Sardinia to sleep near grave sites, remaining
there immersed in sleep for as long as several days. The purpose was
to receive advice from heroic ancestors or to overcome obsessions.
As concerns the issues raised by giants’ graves, the examples of such
monuments near Arzachena are considered to be among the most
meaningful.
7
Moru
The Moru tomb is the burial monument associated with the
Albucciu nuraghe, from which it is separated by about eighty metres to
66

Fig. 31 The Moru giants’ grave: plan.
67

Fig. 32 The Moru giants’ grave: front view.
the northeast. The information gathered by Michele Ruzittu, who
reported the presence of a tomb in the area, was confirmed in February
1988, when work for the widening of the rural road passing alongside
the nuraghe brought to light the upper part of some of the slabs delimiting
the corridor of the grave site. Archaeological excavations, performed
immediately afterwards, brought to light the remains of the
tomb.
It is made up of a rectangular body of flat slabs surrounded by a
mound of stones, it too rectangular, and can be classified among the
allèes couvèrtes. However, the presence at the front of two stone walls
delimiting the exedra also allows its classification as a giants’ tomb.
But in the ceremonial area, the monumental aspect that we find at
the nearby Li Lolghi and Coddu Vecchiu tombs is lacking. In the Moru
tomb the exedra is defined by a series of blocks and small slabs which
certainly do not express the same aesthetic and monumental intention
that inspired the sense of grandeur in the builders of the other tombs
68

just mentioned. Nor does it appear plausible to suppose that the course
of stones in question could act as a support for large orthostatic slabs
that might have been removed over the centuries. Indeed, at the time of
excavation the compactness and homogeneous colouring of the soil
were such as to discard the hypothesis of the presence of other structural
elements no longer present. To these soil characteristics must be
added the finding of many shards and ceramic vases very close to the
base of these blocks, thus giving the impression that they were still in
their original positions.
We are therefore led to think that this tomb must have had a façade
consisting of a dry wall built with blocks of different sizes, with the use
of better-shaped slabs near the entrance.
The wings of the exedra, besides delimiting the cult area, must have
had the primary function of containing the tumulus, or better, the small
artificial hill created by the accumulation of stones and earth piled
against a short natural slope in the land – within which the tomb developed.
No traces of a stele were found, but there was a rectangular slab
measuring 40x50 cm found fixed in front of the entrance and reused in
a later period, as will be seen shortly, which may have been the slab
used to close the port-hole to the tomb.
The original position of the large monolith lying on the right-hand
side of the exedra has not been identified.
The body of the tomb (11.30 metres in length, 5.20 metres in width)
stretches in the east-west direction and is bordered on the outside by a
row of blocks of different sizes, smaller on the long sides, larger on the
short sides. The front, which is concave, was built using slabs placed
vertically; only some of these are still in place, but their height must
have been similar to those used in building the corridor.
The walls are quite thick, varying from 1.80 to 2.25 metres. They are
made of stones and earth to form a compact whole offering solid support
for the inside walls of the burial corridor, made of slabs of different
heights placed vertically in the ground alternating in some points
with dry walls consisting of large blocks of stone. The terminal slab is
the highest, with its 1.70 metres.
The corridor is 9.10 metres long; the width decreases from front to
back. However, in the first part, two well squared-off granite blocks
laid parallel to the walls narrow the access, forming a sort of small dro-
69

Fig. 33 The Moru giants’ grave: pot in situ.
mos (roughly 40x90 cm), a detail that is present in other giants’ tombs
as well, the closest one being the Li Lolghi tomb.
Unfortunately, the roof is missing, apparently destroyed by Tuscan
woodcutters in the 19th century. It must have been made of a series of
tabular slabs placed side by side to form a flat arch. Only one of such
slabs remains (3.15x1.10 metres) which appears to be turned slightly
from its original position and broken, but sufficient to give us an indication
of the height of the room, which at that point is 1.45 metres.
Excavation of the tomb supplied elements of great interest: two distinct
levels of use, documented by a great quantity of cultural material,
now the subject of study, came to light.
Inside the corridor, the oldest level yielded a series of miniature
vases placed on the floor at the back; there is an hourglass vase with a
handle on the keel, another with a horizontal lip turned outward, a cup
and several small bowls with a single handle. The typological characteristics
appear to belong to the Middle Bronze Age cultural horizon
70

(see the chronological table), which is the same period of time in
which the allèes of Li Lolghi and Coddu Vecchiu were being transformed
into giants’ tombs.
Among the material belonging to the more recent level of use of the
tomb, there are carinated cups and bowls with a small handle and a
tongue on the hull on the side opposed to the handle for lifting.
Of special interest is a cup with a high flattened conical pedestal
found upside down near the slab at the end of the corridor. The shape
of the part that held the liquid is the same as that of the carinated cups
described above.
Fig. 34 The Moru giants’ grave: pots in situ.
71

Also brought to light were the fragments of two daggers and an
amber bead in the form of an astragal, of the kind found in the ‘treasure’
of Tiryns. The materials described above date back to the Late
and Final Bronze Ages (see chronological table).
On exhibition in the Sanna Museum in Sassari is a bronze votive
sword, found perhaps in the final decades of the 19th century when the
monument was plundered at the time of the building of a dry wall indicating
the boundaries of a farm.
Excavation of the exedra was found to be of great interest. The considerable
amount of pottery found there represents the remains of
offers left in obedience to rites of the cult of the dead throughout the
entire period in which the tomb was used.
Moreover, a hole dug in the ground in the area in front of the
entrance contained a large number of shards. It is plausible to suppose
that this was the place where materials removed during the cleaning of
the tomb were dumped. This cleaning-up operation must have been
performed more than once, since there are types of vases corresponding
to those found in both levels of the corridor.
The Moru tomb has also yielded traces, however slight, of frequentation
in Punic times. A coin (head of Thanit facing left, equine protome
facing right on the other side), found inside the corridor near the
entrance supplies us with a date between 300 and 264 BC.
Although the tomb has yielded no sign of Punic burials, they must
have realized that it was a particularly sacred place. Evidence for this
is a mark made on the stone previously described as the one used to
close the entrance to the tomb, which was found supported by stone
wedges and probably used by the Carthaginians as a small stele.
The mark is the letter daleth of the Semitic alphabet. This same
symbol has been found at two other burial sites. It was engraved on a
rock in the Sulci tophet at Sant’Antioco in the Province of Cagliari and
on the hill known as Is Croccas, just a few kilometres from the tophet.
In neither case has the meaning been decyphered, although it is evidently
connected with religion and burial.
72
ANGELA ANTONA RUJU

8
Li Lolghi
The Li Lolghi giants’ tomb is situated in the Li Muri region, the
same in which there is the well-known Neolithic circle necropolis,
only about two hundred metres away as the crow flies.
There is reason to believe that the name given to the giants’ tomb
may be the result of an exchange in place names which took place at
the time the monuments were recognized: in fact, the meaning of the
word lalghi in the Gallurese dialect is rings, or circles. So, given the
conformation of the circles in the Neolithic necropolis, it is likely that
the place name ‘Li Lolghi’ was first given to the latter.
This giants’ tomb was known to Taramelli, who had pointed out the
noteworthy size of the stele, which at that time had fallen and was broken.
Despite being reported again by Michele Ruzittu, the tomb
remained hidden by the vegetation for many more years until it once
again came to the attention of scholars in 1959 when, on the initiative
of the Superintendent of Antiquities Guglielmo Maetzke, the site was
surveyed by Salvatore Maria Puglisi. Shortly after, in two distinct
excavation campaigns (1959, 1965) directed by Editta Castaldi, the
monument was brought to light and restored.
The tomb appears to have been associated with a nuraghe situated
some fifteen hundred metres away to the northeast, of which few traces
remain but sufficient to justify the place name given to it: lu Naracu,
the local name for ‘the nuraghe’.
The position on the summit of a hilly rise makes the tomb appear
even more monumental and allows a vision of the magnificent monolithic
stele at the entrance to the burial corridor even at a great distance.
The stele, obtained from a single granite slab about 20 cm thick,
3.75 metres high and 2.45 metres wide, is well shaped into the typical
semi-elliptical form and decorated with a bas relief frame all around
the edge.
A slab of the same type divides the stele transversally, separating
with an elegant balance of forms the elliptical upper part from the
lower rectangular part with the opening through which access was
gained to the corridor inside the tomb.
To the sides of the stele, fourteen upright monoliths, four of which
reconstructed during restoration of the monument, decreasing in height
73

Fig. 35 Li Lolghi giants’ grave: part of the oldest burial corridor (in foreground)
followed by the nuragic one. At the back, and seen from the back is
the arched stele with the orthostatic stones of the exedra.
74

on both sides of the central one, form a ring around the semicircle of
the exedra.
The noteworthy overall size of the Li Lolghi tomb (27 metres from
the centre of the area of the exedra to the end of the mound) is the
result of different stages in building and additions, the ideological reasons
for which are not clear. However, the material aspects are more
immediately perceptible and were probably connected with a social
organization that made large works possible and with a society that had
been renewed with respect to the past and which had increased not
only in numbers but also in power and prestige. The tomb is in fact
Fig. 36 Li Lolghi giants’ grave: aerial view.
75

Fig. 37 Li Lolghi giants’ grave: exedra with arched stele.
Fig. 38 Li Lolghi giants’ grave: detail of the oldest ‘allèe couvert’ grave.
76

Fig. 39 Li Lolghi
giants’ grave: plan.
composed of two rooms with different dimensions and characteristics,
corresponding to two different building stages.
The monumental elements of the exedra just described are to be connected
with the works that enlarged the tomb and created the long burial
corridor behind the stele. It consists of a long buried cist made of
slabs stuck vertically in the ground and completed with dry masonry.
At the end of this room there is a separate area on two levels, presumably
of special religious importance: a large slab placed horizontally
defines a sort of shrine where it is thought that votive offerings could
be placed.
All that remains of the roof is a slab used as part of a flat arch; the
triangular incision on it is a trigonometric point set in recent times by
military map-makers.
In the final part of the monument, which is 80 cm higher than the
floor of the long cist, we find the oldest part of the tomb: it is a gallery
grave with a granite floor (3.70 metres long, 95 cm wide) formed by
77

Fig. 40 Li Lolghi giants’ grave: detail of the oldest ‘allèe couvert’ grave.
78

Fig. 41
Li Lolghi giants’
grave: detail of the
burial corridor
with the shelf in
the back wall of
the room.
upright slabs. Unfortunately there is no trace of the slabs that must
have been used to cover the grave.
This cell must have been covered by a mound of earth and stones,
the remains of which are to be seen in the peristalith containing it,
which appears an elliptical circle surrounding the burial site. At the
front, the mortuary cell is preceded by a rectangular corridor, uniquely
wider than the burial room, the filling of which was removed up to
the slab closing the tomb to allow construction of the corridor belonging
to the second stage.
All the elements described thus far were included in a single large
barrow that was created at the time of the enlargement and reorganization
of the tomb, bringing them all together to form a majestic complex
79

which, besides satisfying the needs for more space for burials, must
also have represented, with the monumental exedra, a conspicuous
sign of the wealth and power of the community to which this territory
belonged.
The materials found during excavations confirm the two building
stages. The grave goods in the oldest part of the tomb date back to the
Early Bronze Age (1800-1600 BC, the Bonnanaro culture), documented
by small vases with a base and conical bowls with handles.
The material belonging to the later stage is instead ascribable to the
Middle Bronze Age (1600-1300 BC, the Sa Turricola facies), with
ceramics that are more traditionally nuragic.
9
Coddu Vecchiu
The Coddu Vecchiu giants’ tomb is to be considered a part of an
archaeological unit composed of the La Prisciona nuraghe, some six
hundred metres to the southeast, and the Demuro nuraghe, about two
Fig. 42 The Coddu Vecchiu giants’ grave: aerial view.
80

Fig. 43 The Coddu Vecchiu giants’ grave: during restoration of the arched
stele.
hundred metres from the tomb, of which only a few courses at the base
remain. The former is instead a complex nuraghe composed of a central
tower inside a bastion with at least two towers further surrounded
by a turreted boundary wall. At present it is best not to visit it because
the structure is in danger of collapse.
The burial monument is of special importance in the study of
Sardinia’s nuragic mortuary architecture since it confirms the architectural
sequence that starts with the gallery grave and finishes with the
giants’ tomb.
The Coddu Vecchiu tomb is the result of two architectural stages:
initially, it was built as an allèe couverte; later a semicircular exedra
defining the ceremonial area was added. It is bordered by a series of
slabs stuck vertically in the ground in front of the tomb which are supported
at the back by a curving wall connecting the exedra to the body
of the tomb. The slabs decrease in height at the sides of the majestic
two-stone stele at the centre (4.40 metres in height, 1.90 metres wide
81

Fig. 44 The Coddu Vecchiu graves: detail of the arched stele.
82

Fig. 45
The Coddu Vecchiu
giants’ grave: plan.
at the base) which marks the entrance to the burial chamber and which,
as at Li Lolghi, represents the most conspicuous element of the monument.
It is composed of two elements, one placed above the other, rectangular
the one at the bottom, rounded the one at the top, both decorated
around the edge with a bas relief frame.
At the bottom we find the moulded port-hole behind which there is
a small dromos delimited by two slabs on end and slightly oblique
which, besides setting it off from the ceremonial area and the burial
area, has the main function of connecting the added part of the forecourt
to the older part of the monument.
The gallery grave is ten and a half metres long and three and a half
to four metres wide; it encloses a rectangular corridor built on the
inside with granite blocks laid in slightly oversailing courses placed on
the slabs at the base fixed edgewise in the ground. The roof was made
of slabs laid to form a flat arch. The stone pavement follows the natural
lay of the land but unfortunately the end of the corridor has been
completely destroyed by unauthorized excavations.
The material brought to light by the excavations directed by Editta
Castaldi in 1966 shows a cultural sequence corresponding to the dif-
83

ferent stages in the building and use of the tomb; besides numerous
kinds of vases associated with the nuragic age, also found were some
shards of vases decorated with a cord held vertically and a handle with
‘horned apices’ belonging to the so-called Bonnanaro culture, already
pointed out in the description of the Li Lolghi tomb.
Other shards with rib-like decorations appear to belong to the
Copper Age Monte Claro culture, and these probably mark the cultural
milieu at the time the site was first used.
84
Fig. 46
The Coddu Vecchiu
giants’ graves: detail of
the small entrance at the
bottom of the arched stele
seen from the inside.
ANGELA ANTONA RUJU

References
For the megalithic circles
S.M. PUGLISI, Villaggi sotto roccia e sepolcri megalitici della Gallura,
Bullettino di Paletnologia Italiana, n.s., VVI, 1941-42, pp. 123-141.
M. RUZITTU, Cronistoria di Arzachena. Dall’età della pietra ai nostri
giorni, Oristano, 1948, pp. 145-155.
S.M. PUGLISI E. CASTALDI, Aspetti dell’accantonamento culturale
nella Gallura preistorica e protostorica, Studi Sardi XIX, 1964-65,
pp. 59-148.
E. ATZENI, Aspetti e sviluppi culturali del Neolitico e della prima età
dei metalli, in “Ichnussa”, Milano 1981, p. XLI, fig. 20.
E. CASTALDI, La Necropoli di Li Muri, in Various Authors, “Arzachena.
Monumenti Archeologici, breve itinerario”, Sassari, 1983, pp. 29-
36.
A. ANTONA RUIU, Arzachena: proposta di un itinerario archeologico,
in Various Authors, “Arzachena. Monumenti”, cit., 1983, p. 17.
E. CASTALDI, Arzachena. Loc. Li Muri, in “I Sardi. La Sardegna dal
Paleolitico all’Età Romana”, Milano, 1984, pp. 284-285.
G. LILLIU, La civiltà dei Sardi. Dal Paleolitico all’età dei nuraghi,
Torino, 1988, pp. 65-72, 193 ff.
For comparisons with Corsica
R. GROSJEAN, La Corse avant l’histoire, Paris, 1966, p. 68 ff., tables.
6-8.
L. F. DE LANFRANCHI - M.C. WEISS, Les chambres funéraires megalitiques
incluses dans un tumulus limitè par des cercles de pierres ou
dalles, in Atti del XXII Congresso dell’I.I.P.P., Firenze, 1980, pp.
469-473.
For the tafoni
V. ANGIUS in G. CASALIS, s.v. Gallura, in “Dizionario geografico, storico,
statistico, commerciale degli Stati di S.M. il re di Sardegna”,
Torino, 183-56.
S.M. PUGLISI, Villaggi cit., 1941-42, pp. 123-141.
S.M. PUGLISI - E. CASTALDI, Aspetti cit., 1964-65, pp. 59-148.
85

S. BONICELLI VARDABASSO, Cenni geografici, in Various Authors,
Gallura Cagliari, 1962.
M.L. FERRARESE CERUTI, Tombe in tafoni della Gallura, in Bullettino
di Paletnologia Italiana, n.s., XIX, 1968, pp. 375.
F. GERMANÀ, Resti scheletrici umani delle tombe in tafoni della
Gallura, in Bullettino di Paletnologia Italiana, n.s. XIX, pp. 167-185.
For the Albucciu and Malchittu complexes
M.L. FERRARESE CERUTI, Nota preliminare alla I e 11 campagna di
scavo del Nuraghe Albucciu (Arzachena, Sassari), Rivista di
Scienze Preistoriche, XVII, 1962, pp. 161-204.
M. L. FERRARESE CERUTI, Un singolare monumento della Gallura. Il
tempietto di Malchittu, “Archivio Storico Sardo”, XIX, 1962, p. 5-
25.
F. NICOSIA, Etruskische Zeugnisse und Einflusse, in “Kunst und Kultur
Sardiniens vom Neolithikum bis zum Ende der Nuraghenzeit”,
Karlsrhue, 1980, p. 217 ff.
E. CONTU, L’architettura nuragica, in Various Authors, “Ichnussa”,
Milano 1981, pp. 5-175.
G. LILLIU, La civiltà nuragica, Sassari, 1982, p. 110 ff.
M.L. FERRARESE CERUTI, Il Nuraghe Albucciu, in Various Authors,
“Arzachena. Monumenti”, cit., 1984, pp. 50-63.
M.L. FERRARESE CERUTI, Il tempietto di Malchittu, in Arzachena.
Monumenti”, cit., 1984, pp. 64-71.
A. ANTONA RUJU, Arzachena: Tomba di giganti in località Moru, in
“Bollettino d’Archeologia”, Ministero Beni Culturali, Roma 1990,
pp. 254-255.
For the Li Lolghi and Coddu Vecchiu giants’ tombs
E. CASTALDI, Tombe di giganti nel Sassarese, Origini, III, 1969, pp.
119-206.
E. CASTALDI, Ancora sulle stele delle tombe di giganti, Bullettino di
Paletnologia Italiana, n.s. XXIV, 82, 1975-80, pp. 267-285.
M.L. FERRARESE CERUTI, Sisaia. Una deposizione in grotta della cultura
di Bonnanaro. Quaderni Soprintendenza Archeologica, 6,
Sassari, 1978, pp. 14-16, 68.
E. CONTU, Il significato della stele nelle tombe di giganti, Quaderni
Soprintendenza Archeologica, 8, Sassari, 1978.
86

E. CONTU, L’architettura nuragica in “Ichnussa”, Milano, 1981, figs.
143-145, 148, 151, 152.
G. LILLIU, La civiltà nuragica, Sassari, 1982, p. 21 ff.
E. CASTALDI, La tomba di giganti di Li Lolghi, in Various Authors,
“Arzachena. Monumenti”, cit., 1984, pp. 37-43; ibidem, La tomba
di giganti di Coddu Vecchiu, pp. 44-49.
A. MORAVETTI, Le tombe e l’ideologia funeraria, in Various Authors
“Civiltà Nuragica”, Milano, 1985, pp. 175-176.
G. LILLIU, La civiltà dei Sardi dal Paleolitico all’età dei nuraghi, 1988,
p. 276 ff.
87

Glossary
Abealzu (Culture of) Sardinia’s Copper Age culture.
Allée couverte A synonym for gallery grave.
Aniconic Said of a cippus with no figure (icon) on it.
Antemural The external boundary wall enclosing the
keep and bastion of a nuraghe.
Apse Part of a Christian church, usually semicircular
and located behind the altar. In
nuragic architecture the term stands for
the concave-convex face of the end of the
external wall of giants’ tombs or other
buildings.
Archaeological stratum The accumulation of rubbish at a site
where human beings have lived.
Architrave A long, solid element placed horizontally
to support the weight of a masonry structure.
It is said of the large slab (lintel) that
delimits the top of entrances to nuraghi. A
series of slabs placed side by side (flat
arch) is found in the entranceways of certain
nuraghi and as the roof of the burial
corridors of giants’ tombs.
Arrowhead A stone element (flint or obsidian) to be
mounted at the top of a wooden shaft to
form an arrow
Askoid A vase with a closed form (pitcher) imitating
an askos.
89

Askos Said of a vase of closed form (pitcher)
suitable for pouring liquids from a spout
or narrow opening.
Astragal Heel bone, in antiquity used as a die (for
gaming), sometimes imitated in amber
for use as a bead in necklaces.
Atrium The first entrance to any kind of building,
a vestibule.
Bell-beaker culture It takes its name from its most characteristic
form, that of an upside-down bell. It
was widespread in western and central
Europe, from Scotland to Sicily. The
users of these beakers spread the techniques
of copper metallurgy.
Bench (seat) A long ‘bench’ made of several blocks of
stone side by side which follow, either
entirely or partially, the interior circumference
of a room (the chamber of a
nuraghe or hut). It is also present in the
exedras (forecourts) of giants’ tombs. It
had the two-fold function of supporting
the upright slabs of the wall and as a
place to leave offerings for the dead.
Betyl An erect stone, often dressed, believed to
be the ‘home of the god’. The term is of
Semitic origin (b thel), but in Sardinia it
is used with reference to manifestations
of the prenuragic, nuragic and
Phoenician-Punic cultures.
Bilithic An element made up of two stones, one
on top of the other.
90

Bonnanaro (Culture of) A culture that characterized the Early
Bronze Age in Sardinia.
Carbon 14 A system for absolute dating based on the
determination of the amount of residual
radioactivity in carbon to measure the
time elapsed from the death of a living
organism. In archaeology, this method is
used to establish the date of an organic
sample (wood, bone) found during excavations.
Cardial Pottery diffused in the Early Neolithic in
the Mediterranean decorated by making
impressions on the clay prior to baking
with the serrated edge of a shell (usually
a cardium [cockle]).
Centring A wooden element used as a support in
building an arch. In a figurative sense it
stands for an arched frame.
Chalcolithic It is a synonym for Copper Age or
Eneolithic.
Cist (lithic) A structure in the shape of a box formed
by stone slabs placed edgewise and used
as a coffin.
Clactonian A flint industry of the Lower Palaeolithic
the artefacts of which consist of trimmed
flint flakes.
Closet The whole of metallic materials (coins,
bronze objects, precious metals and so
on) deposited underground or hidden in
walls. The material is often inside a terracotta
recipient.
91

Corbel (or bracket) A projecting element of support, either in
stone or wood, placed at the top of a construction.
Its purpose in nuraghi and castles
in general was to support the overhanging
parts of tower and curtain wall
terraces.
Corridor nuraghe An edifice similar to the tholos nuraghe,
but mostly composed of corridors, often
covered by horizontal slabs placed side
by side. There are also rooms with false
vaults.
Course Horizontal row of stones in a masonry
structure.
Culture The whole of human activities represented
by the artefacts produced (material
culture) by, and beliefs (cults, rites and so
on) of a society.
Cyclopean This is said of dry walls built with large
(technique and architecture) irregular stones laid in horizontal courses
Dolmen A megalithic chamber tomb, rectangular
or polygonal, covered in the former case
with slabs placed side by side and in the
latter case by one large, often round slab
placed horizontally.
Domus de janas Literally, ‘home of the fairies’, it is the
name given to Sardinian Neolithic and
Copper Age prehistoric tombs cut into
rock and often composed of several intercommunicating
rooms.
They are sometimes decorated with
painted or sculpted symbolic figures
(bull’s heads, architectural elements such
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as the roof and walls and so on).
Dromos A corridor-like entranceway leading into
a burial chamber. It is a structural element
of artificial caves or megalithic tombs.
Dry masonry A wall-building technique using stones
only and supported by their weight.
Embrasure A narrow vertical aperture in a wall
which in nuraghi widens towards the
inside; it was used to supply light and air
to corridors, cells and so on. It could also
be used in defending the building from
attack.
Eneolithic The Copper Age, also known as the
Chalcolithic.
Exedra The sacred forecourt, prevalently semicircular,
facing the façade of giants’
tombs.
Facies A particular and distinct feature of a culture.
False vault A vault having a circular base and formed
by laying stones so that each course oversails
the one below it. In Sardinia, it was
used as the ceiling of the chambers inside
nuraghi and well temples.
Fictile An adjective meaning clay, mud and so
on used to make pottery and other
objects.
Filigosa A Copper Age Sardinian culture.
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Flat arch A structural element in the form of a parallelepiped
laid horizontally side by side
with others to form the ceiling of an
entranceway or rooms, which thus have
flat ceilings.
Flint A stone of sedimentary or metamorphic
origin which is found in the shape of nodules
or strips. In antiquity it was a raw
material used in the making of utensils
and weapons.
Ingot Smelted metal having a specific shape
used in trade. Its weight is often standard
and its purity is guaranteed. In nuragic
Sardinia copper ingots were either flatconvex,
a ‘pig’, or ox-hide of the kind
known as Minoan-Cypriot
Lithic Of stone. The term is also applied to
stone industry objects (arrowheads,
javelin heads, hatchets, axes, ornaments
such as beads for necklaces, pendants,
bracelets and so on).
Megalithic The term is applied to masonry works
performed with large stones laid without
grout.
Megalithism A system of building with large stones
which in Sardinia was the technique used
by prenuragic and nuragic peoples.
Megaron A rectangular building composed of a
main chamber preceded by a vestibule. At
the centre of the main chamber there is a
hearth. In Greece this type of building
appeared during the Neolithic. In
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Sardinia the Greek term is used.
Menhir A monolith which may be of different
shapes. It is usually elongated and placed
vertically in the ground. Its function was
religious or mortuary. Menhirs are difficult
to date and must not be confused
with betyls, which are conical or conical
with a flat top and are assignable to the
nuragic age. Sardinian menhirs belong to
pre-nuragic times.
Menhir The Italian term pietra fitta means literally
‘stone stuck in the ground’. It is a
monolith stuck vertically in the ground
having a sacred or mortuary function.
Microlith A small tool obtained during the working
of a blade or flake. It sometimes assumes
a geometric shape (triangle, trapeze, halfmoon)
and was fixed on a wood or bone
handle.
The whole of these objects goes under the
name of the microlith industry.
Monolithic Composed of one stone only.
Moulding A horizontal piece that protrudes from a
flat surface and emphasizes architectural
frames.
Necropolis Its literal meaning is ‘city of the dead’. It
is a large area set aside for burials.
Neolithic Literally, the ‘new stone age’. The term is
used to define the age which saw the
development of agriculture and animal
husbandry and in which dressed stones
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were used for the production of weapons
and utensils.
Obsidian Grey or black vulcanic glass, in ancient
times used in the production of weapons
and utensils. In Sardinia Monte Arci
(near Oristano) contains extensive
deposits. Monte Arci obsidian was widely
traded and has been found in central
and north Italy as well as in Corsica and
mainland France.
Ogive An acute arch following the profile of the
false vault of rooms and entranceways of
nuraghi.
‘Orthostat’ A wide stone or slab placed upright.
Ozieri (Culture of) Sardinia’s Late Neolithic culture.
Palaeolithic The remotest age of human beings, it is
also known as the ‘flaked stone age’. It is
the age during which human economy
was based on gathering (hunting, fishing,
root and fruit gathering and so on).
Palaeosol The oldest floor level.
Panel The flat part of a recessed architectural
element set inside a cornice.
Pediment A triangular architectural element placed
above a door to crown the masonry structure.
Pig A flat-convex ingot.
Port-hole slab A stone slab used to close the entrance to
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graves, both domus de janas (rock-cut
tombs) and giants’ tombs.
Primary burial The deposition of a corpse in a grave
immediately after death. The body may
be distended, flexed (with the knees bent)
crouched, supine or placed on one side.
Pseudo-cupola Synonym for false, or corbelled, vault.
Relieving aperture An opening left in the masonry just above
a lintel to lighten the weight bearing on
the centre of it, thus avoiding its yielding.
Sacred well or spring These are buildings destined for use in
the water cult.
Sa Turricula (Culture of) A Sardinian culture dating from the
beginning of the Middle Bronze Age.
Secondary burial The burial of the bones only of the
deceased following removal of the flesh
by exposure, cremation and so on.
Stele A cippus or vertical slab marking a grave
or having votive value. In giants’ graves it
is rounded at the top.
Stratigraphy The superimposition of natural or artificial
deposits in a site. The accumulation
of rubbish, documented by the remains of
a material culture or meals, forms an
archaeological stratum. The temporary
abandon of a site is documented by a sterile
stratum. The lowest strata are always
the oldest and the upper strata the most
recent ones.
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Tafone The term is of Corsican origin and indicates
a natural cave in granite produced
by erosion.
Tholos A room or construction covered by a false
vault obtained by progressively decreasing
the diameter of each course of stones.
Tholos nuraghe An edifice characteristic of Sardinia. In
its simplest form it is a tower tapering
towards the top with circular rooms
placed one over the other and covered
with a false vault (corbelled roof). The
rooms are connected by a spiral stairway
inside the thickness of the walls.
The more complex form is composed of a
series of towers (from one to five) surrounding
the central tower (keep) and
connected by straight or concave-convex
walls. An antemural made of towers and
straight curtain walls surrounds the
whole.
Torre A construction typical of southern
Corsica in the form of a tower dating
back to the Middle and Late Bronze Age;
it is considered to be related to the
nuraghe owing to the masonry technique
employed in the building.
Trilithon A structure composed of two upright
stones with a third placed as a lintel
between the two.
Tumulus A mound of earth and stones, often held
in place by a circle of boulders, which
covered ground-level megalithic burial
sites (dolmens, allées couvertes, giants’
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tombs and so on) forming a low hill or
barrow.
Type A circle A funerary structure of the Late Neolithic
built using small stones placed in a circle
to contain the barrow covering a stone
cist burial placed at the centre of the circle.
Type B circle A circular structure of the nuragic age
formed by a double masonry wall containing
an entrance against which a higher
slab is placed.
Vestibule Space in front of the entrance to a building.
Wall face The structural part of masonry that is visible.
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Drawings and photographs
Archives of the Superintendency of Archaeology of Sassari 1, 5,
10,14,15,
16,18,20,23, 26,27,30,31,36,42, 43
A. Antona Ruju: 33,34
M. Azara - S.B. Orecchioni: 3,6
M. Carrieri: 24
E. Castaldi: 39,45
M. Crillissi: 17, 19
G. Ferrarese Ceruti: 7,8,12, 13, 25
M.L. Ferrarese Ceruti: 9, 21,22
A. Moravetti: 4,11, 28,29,35,37,38, 40,41,44, 46
S.M. Puglisi - E. Castaldi: 2
100

Contents

Gallura in prehistoric and proto-historic times 5
The archaeological monuments in the land of Arzachena 21
1 - The Li Muri Necropolis 23
2 - Macciunitta 28
Tafoni 29
3 - Monte Incappiddatu 34
4 - Monte Mazzolu 35
The nuragic complexes 36
5 - The Albucciu nuragic complex 37
a) The nuraghe 37
b) The village 53
c) The tomb 53
6 - The Malchittu complex 56
a) The hut 56
b) The wall 57
c) The nuraghe 57
d) The temple 58
e) Tombs in tafoni 63
The giants’ tombs 64
7 - Moru 66
8 - Li Lolghi 73
9 - Coddu Vecchiu 80
References 85
Glossary 89
103

Printed in may 2003
by A.G.E., Via P.R. Pirotta 20-22, Roma