Nuraghic people began burying their dead in megalithic burials called giants’ tombs from the Middle Bronze Age (1600 B.C.). These are collective graves, intended for an entire social group, where individuals of both sexes and of all ages were placed. Recent research carried out in the territory of Dorgali surveyed over forty giants’ graves (figs. 1, 2, 3), a very substantial number which, in relation to the number of Nuraghe known to date, shows the high density of this type of funerary monuments.

Built of local stone, some of them have been completely destroyed (Sant'Arvara, Isalle, S'Ulumu, Su Muristene). Most are of the dolmen-orthostatic type, i.e. built with stone slabs stuck vertically in the ground, but there are also tombs built with the isodomic technique, i.e. shaped blocks stacked in rows. The tombs of Matta 'e Sole, Thomes, Abba Noa I, Sedda de Sarviti, Tinnias, Lottoni, Biristeddi III still have their large monolithic stone slab, otherwise known as arched stele, which stands at the front of the burial area, at the centre of the ceremonial space of the exedra.

The capstone of the façade with three recesses, the so-called ashlar block, was found in Biristeddi, Nuraghe Mannu and Francudunue I; in other cases they were discovered isolated, in pairs (Abba Noa, Muristene, Francudunue, San Nicola, Baru-Picchio, Zorza Pranos, Doinanigoro), or even in threes in one single area (Biristeddi).

Fig. 1 - The Giants’ Tomb of San Basilio, in the territory of Dorgali during the thirties of the last century (from MORAVETTI 1998, fig. 2, p. 12).

Fig. 2 - Giants’ tomb of S’Iscra 'e Lottoni (from MORAVETTI 1998, fig. 14, p. 24).

Fig. 3 - The stele of the Giants’ tomb of Matta 'e Sole
(from MORAVETTI 1998, fig. 16, p. 25).