Among the ceramic artefacts found in the giants’ tomb of Thomes (fig. 1) there is a fragmented cup. It is a vascular form created for the table, which corresponds to a deep container generally with a handle, used for drinking and similar to a bowl.

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

Only a section of the cup’s wall is preserved, with an enlarged circular rim, and part of its circular flat bottom. There is an evident handle attachment between the rim and the bottom, presumably elbow-shaped (fig. 2).

Fig. 2 - Fragment of the cup from the giants’ tomb of Thomes-Dorgali (photo by Unicity S.p.A.).

The surface, moulded by hand and devoid of any decoration, is smoothed and beige. The mixture instead is grey.

The cup, which corresponds to a typology widespread in Northern Sardinia during the Middle Bronze Age (1600-1300 B.C.), contemporary to the Nuraghic phase of burial usage, may have been part of the grave goods laid inside the chamber (fig. 3).

Fig. 3 - Nuraghic cup from the giants’ tomb of San Cosimo-Gonnosfanadiga, XV/XIV centuries B.C. (from MORAVETTI, ALBA, FODDAI 2014, p. 232).

The artefact is on display in the Archaeological Museum of Dorgali (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4 - Fig. 4 - Archaeological Museum of Dorgali (from http://www.museoarcheologicodorgali.it/wp/museo_archeologia_in_sardegna/collezione-2/collezione-sala1/).