The first picture of the ancient inhabitation of the territory may be obtained from the 1928 edition of some excavation essays carried out in the territory of Dorgali curated by the archaeologist and scholar of ancient Sardinia: Antonio Taramelli.

The following year, after the topographic surveys carried out in order to prepare sheet 208 of the Carta Archeologica (Archaeological Map), he published some summary information concerning the surveyed monuments known until then.

"I must point out to scholars how greatly interesting and important Dorgali is; the beauty of its land with its superb Dolomites, the enchanting woods, the brilliantly blue gulfs, the mysterious underwater caves and the caverns where the most amazing stalactites march as candles in a procession".

Thus wrote Taramelli, considered one of the fathers of Italian Archaeology, in 1933 in the introduction to a more in-depth report of his research of the territory, where he summarises his research conducted at the Nuraghic village of Isportana, the Grotta of Su Anzu, the Nuraghic village of Tiscali (fig. 2), the giants’ tombs of Biristeddi, Nuraghe Mannu (fig. 1), Su Nuraghittu, the Nuraghic village of Nuraghe Arvu (fig. 3) and the remains of the Roman road Caralis Olbiam per ora.

Fig. 1 - Nuraghe Mannu (from TARAMELLI 1933, fig. 11, p. 450).

Fig. 2 - Nuraghic village of Tiscali (from TARAMELLI 1933, fig. 4, p. 443).

Fig. 3 - Plan of the Nuraghic village of Nuraghe Arvu
(from TARAMELLI 1933, fig. 24, p. 460).