Nuraghe Losa is located in the central western part of Sardinia in the basaltic plateau of Abbasanta, in the province of Oristano. Easily accessible from all ports and airports on the island, located a short distance from 131 between km 123 and km 124.
The Losa is one of the highest expressions of Nuragic architecture, for the organic design, the compactness of the volumes and the refinement of the masonry techniques.
Built with basalt blocks, it consists of a keep and a three-lobed bastion protected by an antewall and an additional wall; inside the walls there are remains of circular huts. In the vicinity, there are traces of a tomb of giants in isodomed work.
The outer wall, sub-elliptical (172 x 268 m), has two towers projected towards the outside of the curtain, with double arched entrances arranged in axis.
The antewall, with a broken line, which originally completely surrounded the bastion, has remained in place for about m 3 of height in the N and W of the three-lobed structure; it also includes two towers to the SW and to the N (diam. east. m 10 and int. m 5.60; diam. east. 8.90 m and int. m 4.50) equipped, like the connecting curtain, with numerous loopholes, a fact that demonstrates the defensive function of the structure. The direct connection of two segments of the antewall with the bastion wall defines a trapezoidal courtyard accessible through a small door.
In SE, very close to the entrance to the bastion, there is hut 1, a circular tower-hut (diam. east. approx. 10.50 m and h 3.60 m) with two entrances, wall niches, bed niches and loopholes. The discovery inside of a trachyte pillar (bettilo-tower?) suggests a ritual function of the environment.
The three-lobed bastion (SE-SO tower axis m 25.70; h max. res. m 13), which rests on a megalithic foundation plateau (h m 2-2.50), has a concave-convex profile with rounded vertices and has an arched entrance, raised above the country level, in S-E; it leads to an internal corridor that leads to the SW and SE towers. The NNO tower is accessible from outside the bastion through an entrance facing NNE. The SE tower chamber is elliptical, the chamber of the SO tower and the NNO tower is circular. In the room of the NNO tower, m 2 high from the floor, a staircase opens up that led to the stands and, connecting to another staircase, to the keep. A small room with an ogiva vault and a truncated conical interwall silos dominate the NNO tower.
The keep (diam. east. m 12; h res. 11,40) has the entrance to SE; it leads to a corridor that leads to the “tholos”, intact, circular (diam. m 5.20; h m 7.60) and equipped with 3 semi-elliptical niches (prof. m 1.80, width m 1.60 and h m 2.60). The corridor has a niche on the d. and on the s. the access to the spiral staircase (width. m 1; h m 3) leading to the upper compartment (diam. m 2.88; h m 3.46). The staircase was perhaps originally illuminated by loopholes then occluded by the bastion.
The upper compartment has a window coinciding with the downstairs door connected to the staircase. Halfway down the stairs, there is also an intra-wall closet accessible through an opening at the base of the wall.
The staircase then allowed ENE to reach the curtain wall, connecting to the staircase that led from above to the interior of the NNO tower.
The complex reveals various construction phases: XV-beginning XIII century BC, construction of the keep; mid-XIII-end XII century BC, probable construction of the bastion, the antewall and (final phases) of the outer wall; end XII-beginning of the 9th century BC, construction of hut 1.
The site was still inhabited in the early Iron Age (beginning of the 9th-second half of the 7th century BC) and in the following periods, also for funerary purposes, up to the VII-VIII century AD.

History of excavations
The Nuraghe Losa tells the history of archeology in Sardinia, in fact it was the first to be systematically investigated with the objective of archaeological research and valorization. The first excavation campaigns were carried out in 1890 by Filippo Vivanet and Filippo Nissardi. Antonio Taramelli's investigations, involving the village, followed in 1915. In the 1950s Giovanni Lilliu carried out a first examination of the materials found during the excavations. In 1970 and 1975, the excavation, consolidation and restoration carried out by Ferruccio Barreca made it possible to make the site usable. From 1989 to 1994, Vincenzo Santoni, Paolo Benito Serra and Ginetto Bacco investigated the keep chamber and parts of the bastion.

Bibliography
G. Pinza, “Primitive Monuments of Sardinia”, in Ancient Monuments of the Lyncei, XI, 1901, coll. 222-223, tavv. VII-VIII, figg. 75-78;
A. Taramelli, “Abbasanta - Research in the Nuraghe Losa”, in Excavation News, 1916, pp. 235-261; G. Lilliu I nuraghi. Prehistoric Towers of Sardinia, Cagliari, La Zattera, 1962, pp. 101-105;
G. Lilliu, “Abbasanta (OR), Nuraghe Losa”, in I Sardi: Sardinia from the Paleolithic to the Roman Age, edited by E. Anati, Milan, Jaca Book, 1984, pp. 141-143; V. Santoni, The Nuraghe Losa di Abbasanta, series “Educational Notebooks”, Archaeological Superintendence for the Provinces of Cagliari and Oristano, 10, 1993; G. Santoni, The Nuraghe Losa di Abbasanta, series “Educational Notebooks”, Archaeological Superintendence for the Provinces of Cagliari and Oristano, 10, 1993; G. Santoni, The Nuraghe Losa di Abbasanta, series “Didactic Notebooks”, Archaeological Superintendence for the Provinces of Cagliari and Oristano, 10, 1993; G. Santoni, The Nuraghe Losa di Abbasanta, series “Educational Notebooks”, Archaeological Superintendence for the Provinces of Cagliari and Oristano, 10, 1993; G. Santoni, Nuraghe Losa, Ghilarza, 2004;
V. Santoni, The Nuraghe Losa di Abbasanta, series “Sardinia archeological, Guides and Itineraries”, Sassari, Carlo Delfino, 2004.

How to get there
Nuraghe Losa is easily accessible from all ports and airports on the island. It is located a short distance from the SS 131 “Carlo Felice” route, clearly visible from the road, between km 123 and km 124, at the junction for Nuoro, on the right for those coming from Sassari and on the left for those coming from Cagliari.