Detailed sheets

The domus de janas on the plain

In the above-lying plain, there are some domus de janas with a simpler structure (XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV) and easy access, some of which have collapsed in part.

Tomb XI (figs. 1, 2, 3) is located a short distance, about 30 metres to the west, from the sculpture known as “Campanile”, made from a single block of trachyte, the shape of which is reminiscent of a headless bull. It has an open access corridor (dromos) that gives access to the central cell via a sub-rectangular door, without a recess for a wooden or stone cover. The main cell is square with a flat ceiling, in the centre of which there is a circular hole that may be the top of a well for collecting rainwater, built at a later date. This cells leads on to a second cell via raised hatch; this is also square and with a flat ceiling, now intentionally uncovered.

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Fig. 1 - Domus de janas XI (by TARAMELLI 1919, fig. 54, page 115).
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Fig. 2 - Entrance to hypogeum XII (photo by Unicity S.p.A.).
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Fig. 3 - Hypogeum XII (photo by Unicity S.p.A.)

Tomb XII is about 12 metres east of the “Campanile”. Partly collapsed, there is still a part of the ante-cell, from where the square cell was entered through a hatch, where the ceiling has now collapsed and which communicates with another cell. An attempt at expansion of the main cell is to be attributed to extension of the original square room in a sub-trapezoidal room.

The domus de janas XIV (fig. 4) is a simple single-cell structure. It has a small open-air corridor (dromos), the final stretch of which, roofed, was a part of the ante-cell. The cell is entered from a hatch with a raise step, where the flat ceiling has now partly collapsed. It communicates with the nearby hypogeum XIII via an open door in the Southeast wall. The cell has a niche in the northwest wall.

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Fig. 4 - The hypogeums XIII, XIV located on top of the plain (photo by Unicity S.p.A.).

The hypogeum XV (fig. 5) is in the outer western part of the plain, about 15 metres in a south-easterly direction compared to the group of hypogeum XIII and XIV. It is a single-cell tomb, with an ovoid shape ante-cell, a sloping ceiling towards the interior and a small oven cell.

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Fig. 5 - Hypogeum XV (photo by Unicity S.p.A.).

 

Bibliografia

  • BONINU A., SOLINAS M., La Necropoli di Sant’Andrea Priu. Bonorva, Mores 1999.
  • CAPRARA R., La necropoli di S. Andrea Priu. Sardegna Archeologica. Guide e Itinerari, 3, Sassari 1986.
  • FOSCHI A., Bonorva. Loc. Sant’Andria Priu, in Anati E. (a cura di), I Sardi. La Sardegna dal Paleolitico all’Età Romana, Milano 1984, pp. 287-289.
  • MELONI G. M., Le domus de janas del Logudoro-Mejologu, in L’ipogeismo nel Mediterraneo. Origini, sviluppo, quadri culturali, Atti del Congresso Internazionale, Sassari - Oristano 23 - 28 maggio 1994, II, Muros 2000, pp. 789 - 802.
  • TANDA G., L’Arte delle domus de janas nelle immagini di Jngeborg Mangold, Sassari 1985, pp. 61-65.
  • TARAMELLI A., Fortezze, Recinti, Fonti sacre e Necropoli preromane nell’Agro di Bonorva (Prov. di Sassari), con rilievi e disegni del Prof. Francesco Giarrizzo, in Monumenti Antichi dei Lincei, XXV, 1919, coll. 765-904.
  • TARAMELLI A., Edizione archeologica della Carta d’Italia al 100.000, Foglio 193 Bonorva, quadrante II NE, Firenze 1940 (XVIII), pp. 48-49.
  • USAI L., La necropoli di Sant’Andrea Priu a Bonorva, in Almanacco Gallurese, 2013-2014, Muros, pp. 40-47.

 

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