The giants’ tomb, used by the Nuraghic people to bury their dead from the Middle Bronze Age (1600 B.C.), is characterised by a rectangular burial chamber with a semi-circular rear. The entrance to the tomb is located at the centre of the exedra’s large external ceremonial space.

The term "giants' tombs" was given by popular folklore which thought they contained the bodies of gigantic men because of the sometimes imposing dimensions of the monument.

The masonry techniques used for building the room are essentially two:

1. with orthostats, i.e. with large stones placed knife-wise into the ground, over which slabs of the same type were placed to form the roof;

2. with an isodomic structure, i.e. with stones positioned in regular horizontal rows. The higher rows narrow at the top so as to create a triangular cross section.

The orthostat type tomb, also called dolmen-type, in addition to Thomes, has also been found in S'Iscra 'e Lottoni, Sueredu, Abba Noa I (fig. 1) and San Basilio in the territory of Dorgali, and is in general widespread throughout central-northern Sardinia.

Fig. 1 - Plan of dolmen-type Giants’ tomb of Abba Noa 1 - Dorgali (from MORAVETTI 1998, fig. 18, p. 27).

The second type, characterised by a greater masonry sophistication, includes the graves of Biristeddi I, Ena 'e Iloghe, S'Ulumu. This type is mainly concentrated in central-southern Sardinia.

The length of the chamber varies considerably: from the 16.50 m. in San Cosimo-Gonnosfanadiga to the 2.55 m. in Ruinachesos-Sorgono. Practical items for worship, such as niches and benches, could be found inside. The floor surface is paved by laying either mosaic-shaped flat scales or carefully arranged large shaped tiles.

The tomb of Biristeddi I-Dorgali (fig. 2), also known as “Sa Tumba de Su Re" has a rectangular burial chamber (length 8.00 m; width 1.20 m; residual height 1.80 m), made with large well-carved square blocks, arranged in regular rows.

Fig. 2 - Isodomic type of giants’ tomb in Biristeddi I
(from MORAVETTI 1998, fig. 69, p. 82).

Tomb 2 in Iloi-Sedilo also falls in the category of row-type graves (fig. 3) as does the tomb of San Cosimo-Gonnosfanadiga, one of the largest known to date (fig. 4).

Fig. 3 - Giants’ tomb of Iloi 2-Sedilo (from http://www.sardegnadigitallibrary.it/index.php?xsl=615&s=17&v=9&c=4461&id=211113).

Fig. 4 - Giants’ tomb of San Cosimo-Gonnosfanadiga (from http://www.sardegnadigitallibrary.it/index.php?xsl=615&s=17&v=9&c=4461&id=103511).

In many giants’ tombs, the materials which make up the grave goods are located outside the chamber. Sometimes, the reason for this arrangement of the grave goods is due to the clandestine looting of the tombs which occurred over the centuries.