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Depositions in the giants’ tombs

The poor condition of the graves does not allow, at least in part, to reconstruct the rituals associated with the burial of the deceased. It is possible that access to the burial chamber, as may be seen in the tomb of Pascaredda, in the area of Calangianus (fig. 1), could occur by shifting a removable element, made of wood or stone, placed between the closing slabs of the funerary corridor.

The dead were laid out without any personal belongings which could distinguish them; the few everyday objects in ceramic, stone and metal, refer to the community of the dead.

 

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Fig. 1 - Tomb of Pascaredda-Calangianus (from http://www.sardegnadigitallibrary.it/mmt/480/97433.jpg).

For the first time, in the tombs of Sa Sedda’ and Sa Caudela, near Collinas (figs. 2, 3) the presence of burials according to an age range has been documented.

 

2,32,3
Figs. 2, 3 - Tombs of Sa Sedda’ and Sa Caudela-Collinas (from ATZENI, USAI, BELLINTANI, FONZO, LAI, TYKOT, SETZER, CONGIU, SIMBULA 2012, table III p. 40, table VIII p. 45).


Instead, in the tomb of Bidistili, in the territory of Fonni (fig. 4) the grave goods were laid on a bed of river pebbles, which according to the interpretation given by archaeologist Giovanni Lilliu, symbolised the journey on the water which the deceased undertook to reach the afterlife.

 

 

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Fig. 4 - The giants’ tomb of Bidistili-Fonni (from http://www.visitfonni.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Area-archeologica-Bidistili.jpg).

 

Bibliografia

  • ATZENI E., USAI A., BELLINTANI P., FONZO O., LAI L., TYKOT R., SETZER T.J., CONGIU R., SIMBULA S., Le tombe nuragiche di Sa Sedda’e Sa Caudela (Collinas-Ca). Scavi 1982-84, in Quaderni, 23 (2007-2012), Cagliari 2012, pp. 28-54.
  • BAGELLA S., Elementi del rituale funerario nelle tombe di giganti, in Atti della XXXV riunione scientifica, vol. II, Firenze 2003, pp. 1097-1100.
  • BAGELLA S., Stato degli studi e nuovi dati sull’identità del fenomeno funerario delle tombe di giganti della Sardegna nuragica, in Corse et Sardaigne prehistoriques relations et echanges dans le contexte Mediterraneen, Parigi 2007, pp. 349-357.
  • FERRARESE CERUTI M. L., Architettura e ceramica dell’Età del Bronzo in Sardegna, in ANTONA A. LO SCHIAVO F. (a cura di), Archeologia della Sardegna preistorica e Protostorica, Nuoro 1997, pp. 509-513.
  • LILLIU G., La tomba dei giganti di Bidistili e i Templi a“megaron” della Sardegna nuragica, Sassari 2010.
  • MORAVETTI A., Le tombe e l’ideologia funeraria, in AA.VV., La civiltà nuragica, Milano, 1990, pp. 120-168.
  • MORAVETTI A., Nota sulle tombe dei giganti, in Moravetti A., ALBA E., FODDAI L. (a cura di), La Sardegna Nuragica. Storia e materiali, Sassari 2014, pp. 69-84.

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