Giants' grave

Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}}

File:Foto aerea della tomba Tomba dei Giganti "Sa Domu 'e S'Orku2 in territorio di Siddi. La tomba risale al periodo nuragico.jpg

Aerial view of the Giant's grave of Sa Domu 'e S'Orcu in Siddi.

Giants' grave (Template:Langx; Template:Langx or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) is the name given by local people and archaeologists to a type of Sardinian megalithic gallery grave built during the Bronze Age by the Nuragic civilization. They were collective tombs and can be found throughout Sardinia, with 800 being discovered there.<ref name=Atzeni.I>Aspetti e problematiche del rituale funarario di età nuragica</ref>

A stone cairn lies over the burial chambers, with some examples having a cup-shaped entrance similar to the court cairn tombs of Ireland.

Types

File:Giants' grave Coddu Vecchiu (Sardegna).jpg

Coddu Vecchju - Arzachena

There are two general types of giants' tomb. In the so-called "slab type", uncut slabs are buried on end in the ground, and are arranged side-by-side. There is usually a central stele, which is the largest slab (up to 4 m in height) and has a doorway cut through it.

In the more primitive slab-type giants tombs, the central slab is unmodified aside from the entrance that is cut through it at the base, or else there is a crude dolmen-like arrangement of 3 uncut rocks to form the entrance (Osono, Sortali, Lolghi, Pescaredda). In more advanced slab-type giants tombs, the central slab is modified so as to be rounded on top, and has a simple design carved into the front surface (Dorgali, Goronna, Santu Bainzu, Coddu Vecchju).

File:Nuraghe Palmavera (Alghero) 40.jpg

Graphic reconstruction

The sepulchres have a characteristic rectangular plan with an apse. The burial chamber is usually 5 to 15 metres long and 1 to 2 metres high. The structures were originally covered by a mound resembling the shape of an overturned ship. Near the entrance an obelisk (betile in Sardinian) is usually found, which symbolizes the gods or ancestors who watched over the dead.

The so-called "block type" tombs are made of rectangular-cut blocks (Bidistili, Madau II, Seleni II, Iloi, Mura Cuata).

There are also structures similar to the block-type giants tombs on the island of Malta, in the United Kingdom<ref>Giant's Graves</ref> and in Menorca (naveta).<ref>Giovanni Lilliu, La civiltà nuragica, Sassari 1982 p.54</ref>

File:Sardegna mappa tombe dei giganti.svg

Geographical distribution of the Giant tombs in Sardinia

List of major tombs

• Su Mont'e s'Abe, near Olbia
• Sa Dom'è s'Orcu, near Quartucciu
• Two 18th-century BC tombs near Lanusei
• Aiodda, near Nurallao
• Coddu Vecchiu and Li Lolghi, Arzachena
• Sa Dom'è s'Orcu, Siddi
• Imbertighe, Borore
• Madau, Fonni
• Muraguada, Bauladu
• Osono, near Triei
• Tomb of San Cosimo, near Gonnosfanadiga
• S'Ena'e Thomes, Dorgali
• Bainzu, Borore
• Sa Farch'e S'Artare, Seneghe

See also

• Nuraghe
• Naveta

Image gallery

• La protome taurina.jpg

  Giant's grave of S'Arena, Urzulei

• Calangianus - Tomba dei giganti di Pascaredda (41).JPG

  Giant's grave of Pascaredda, Calangianus

• Tomba dei Giganti Is Concias.jpg

  Giant's grave of Is Concias, Quartucciu

• Li Lolghi 11.JPG

  Giant's grave of Li Lolghi, Arzachena

• Madau.JPG

  Giant's grave of Madau, Fonni

• Tomba dei Giganti Barrancu Mannu.jpg

  Giant's grave of Barrancu Mannu, Santadi

• Complesso nuragico.JPG

  Giant's grave of Lu Brandali, Santa Teresa Gallura

• Tomba dei Giganti Iloi 02 B.jpg

  Iloi

• Tomba dei Giganti Iloi 02 - Camera.jpg

  Iloi 2

• Tomba giganti San Cosimo.jpg

  Giant's grave of San Cosimo, Gonnosfanadiga

External links

• Giants' Tomb in Sardinian archaeology Template:In lang