Tomb VI of the domus de janas necropolis of Sant’Andrea Priu known as “Tomba del Capo”, was reused for Christian worship in two different periods, reaching the present day as a consecrated church dedicated to Sant'Andrea.

The domus de janas is formed by eighteen rooms; the three largest rooms are arranged in length (fig. 1) and underwent considerable transformation during the paleo-Christian, Byzantine and Medieval ages, becoming a narthex, room and presbytery (bimah).

Fig. 1 - “Tomba del Capo”, Byzantine phase (from CAPRARA 1986, page 46).

The entrance room (eso-narthex or external narthex) was created from the original pre-historic ante-cell. It is sub-rectangular, 4.20 metres wide, and 1.50 metres deep, with an average height of 2.10 metres. A door with an architrave placed horizontally above the two supporting structures leads into a semi-circular room (endo-narthex or internal narthex) with a 7 metre diameter, where the floor contains several hollows dating back to the pre-historic age concentrated around a circle and two tombs from a Byzantine Age (fig. 2).

Fig. 2 - Byzantine tombs (photo Unicity S.p.A.).

The endonarthex ceiling reproduces the ceiling of pre-Nuragic age huts: it is a little hollowed, in the shape of a shell, decorated with radial grooves that start from a semi-circular relief work (fig. 3).

Fig. 3 - The endonarthex ceiling (photo Unicity S.p.A.).

A door 2 metres high and 1.45 metres wide, topped by a visible architrave, leads from the narthex to the room (figs. 4-5).

Fig. 4 - The door that leads from the narthex to the room (photo Unicity S.p.A.).

Fig. 5 - Detail of the architrave (photo Unicity S.p.A.).

When the burial site was converted to a church, these two area (esonarthex and endonarthex) kept their original details from the Prehistoric Age The only transformation is on the digging of two tombs in the floor of the endo-narthex during the phase of use in the Byzantine Age. The traces of red ochre (fig. 6) found on the ceiling are from a prehistoric age, while traces of plaster above the architrave are attributed to reuse of the room during the Middle Ages.

Fig. 6 - Traces of red ochre found on the ceiling of the endo-narthex (photo Unicity S.p.A.).