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The function of the exedra in giants’ tombs

In giants’ tombs, the exedra is the semi-circular external ceremonial space at whose centre there is the entrance to the burial chamber, which is both a symbolic and sacred architectural element for collective rituals in memory of the dead (fig. 1).

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Fig. 1 - Giants’ tomb of Thomes (photo by Unicity S.p.A.).

"There is no doubt that this semi cycle had to be a sacred shrine...its sacred nature...stems from all the details of the semi-circular exedra of these graves" noted French archaeologist Christian Zervos in his book La civilisation de la Sardaigne du début de l´Énéolithique à la fin de la période nuragique published in 1954.

Giovanni Lilliu, the greatest Nuraghic expert, thought that the pattern of the giants’ tomb reproduced a bull's head, where the exedra indicated the horns, with a strong reference to Nuraghic funerary ideology. Archaeologist Editta Castaldi on the other hand ruled out any sacred hypothesis and hypothesises that the exedra, including its counter-seat, would have had a practical and functional purpose, mainly related to the need to consolidate the base of the orthostatic slabs.

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Fig. 2 - Exedra of the Giants’ tomb of Li Lolghi-Arzachena (from http://www.sardegnacultura.it/immagini/7_112_20090429173616.jpg).

Ancient literary tradition reports ritualistic and therapeutic incubation rites, which would have taken place on the tops of the frontal exedras of ancestors’ tombs, identified by some scholars precisely as the giants’ tombs.

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Fig. 3 - Exedra of the giants’ tomb of San Cosimo-Gonnosfanadiga (from http://www.sardegnacultura.it/immagini/7_93_20071009110906.jpg).

 

Bibliografia

  • BAGELLA S., Elementi rituali nelle tombe di giganti della Sardegna nuragica, in Atti della XXXV Riunione Scientifica IIPP, Lipari 2-7 giugno 2000.
  • BAGELLA S., Incubazione e riso sardonico come eco di possibili pratiche nuragiche carattere rituale e terapeutico, in La civilta nuragica, nuove acquisizioni, Atti del Congresso (Senorbi, 14-16
  • Dicembre 2000), vol. I, Quartu S.Elena 2005, pp. 143-151.
  • CADEDDU F., Aspetti della religiosità nuragica tra archeologia, letteratura ed etnografia, in ArcheoArte, Rivista elettronica di Archeologia e Arte Supplemento 2012 al numero 1, pp. 47-65.
  • MORAVETTI A., Le tombe e l’ideologia funeraria, in AA.VV., La civilta Nuragica, Milano 1990, pp. 120-168.
  • PETTAZZONI R., La religione primitiva in Sardegna, Piacenza 1912.
  • UGAS G., Il mondo religioso nuragico. In Sardegna preistorica. Nuraghi a Milano, Milano 1985, pp. 209-225.
  • UGAS G., Il mondo religioso funerario, in AA.VV., La civiltà Nuragica, Milano 1990, pp. 196-203.
  • ZERVOS C., La civilisation de la Sardaigne du début de l'énéolitique a la fin de la periodo nouragique, Paris, 1954.

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