The necropolis of Anghelu Ruju, the largest and most important prehistoric necropolis in northern Sardinia, is located in the hinterland of Alghero, 9 km from the sea, in a fertile plain crossed by the Filibertu River.
The necropolis consists of 38 domus de janas dug into the sandstone and arranged in two cores of 7 and 31 units; the stone peaks used to dig them were found numerous inside the tombs at the time of the excavation.
The grotticels, variously oriented, seem to be arranged in a non-preorderly way. They have articulated, mostly complex plans (up to 11 rooms), while only one tomb, the 26th, is single-celled. They have mainly tabular ceilings.
They are of the vertical and horizontal projection type, that is, accessible through a vertical well or a long descending corridor (or “dromos”), sometimes of monumental dimensions, almost always equipped with steps that lead to the vestibule.
Pit tombs, probably older, often have irregular floor plans and round, oblong or rectocurvilinear cells.
The “dromos” burials prefer a symmetrical and regular plan and have at least the second cell with a straight base profile. The main cell, preceded by a small pavilion and an antecell, is often arranged transversely with respect to the axis of the tomb. It was the place for the funeral ceremonies, while the cells that were generally arranged in a beam around it were intended for burials. The domus were sealed on the outside with stone slabs, sometimes found in place.
The rooms show the typical elements of Neolithic religiosity, such as the cups dug into the soil of the cells, intended to contain funeral offerings and meals, and the sculpted or engraved architectural decorations that recreate the environments of the home of the living: frames in the entrance doors of the cells, sometimes surmounted by fake lintels, plinths, pilasters or columns that simulate the basic wall structures and the wooden supporting elements of the roof of the hut. The use of red ochre, the color of blood and regeneration, is also widespread, while false doors of oriental descent symbolize the door to the underworld.
Protomes and bullfighting horns carved into the walls and pillars protected the sleep of the dead. Of great interest is Tomb 28, which has the associated symbols of the divine couple “mother bull and goddess” carved on the sides of the door of the main cell: two bullfighting protomes with double horns and a head schematized in a rectangle with engraved concentric circles. Tomb A also has rich friezes of taurine protomes.
As for the types of burial, the rite of burial prevails in the necropolis. The tombs housed 2 to 30 individuals, many of whom were found lying on their backs. The skeletons refer to the last stages of the necropolis and are of the “Mediterranean” type, mainly dolichocephalic.
There are also some cases of semi-cremation, a very rare fact in Sardinian prehistory, and a burial in a pit.
The situation of disruption of the tombs highlighted by archaeologists at the time of the excavation, due both to clandestine interventions and to the alterations caused by the same prehistoric communities that used to move the previous burials to each new burial, has not made it possible to have a sufficiently defined chronological picture of the necropolis. However, the types of tombs and the items recovered, consisting of vases, statuettes of the mother goddess, weapons, necklace beads and more, date the installation of the necropolis to the final Neolithic period (culture of Ozieri, 3200-2800 BC) and attest to its use up to the Copper and Bronze Ages (cultures of Filigosa, Abealzu, Monte Claro, the Campaniform Vase, Bonnanaro: 2800-1600 BC).

History of excavations
Discovered in 1903, it was excavated several times by Antonio Taramelli (1904, 1908), Doro Levi (1936) and Ercole Contu (1967).

Bibliography
A. Taramelli, "Scavi nella necropoli a grotte artificiali di Anghelu Ruju", in Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1904, pp. 301-351;
A. Taramelli, "Alghero: nuovi scavi nella necropoli preistorica di Anghelu Ruju", in Monumenti Antichi dei Lincei, XIX, 1909, coll. 397-540;
D. Levi, "La necropoli di Angelu Ruju e la civiltà eneolitica della Sardegna", in Studi Sardi, X-XI, 1952, pp. 5-51;
J. Audibert, "Préhistoire de la Sardaigne-Résultats de mission archéologique", in Bulletin di Museé d'Anthropologie préhistorique de Monaco, 5, 1958, pp. 189-246;
E. Contu, "Notiziario Sardegna", in Rivista di Scienze Preistoriche, 1968, pp.421-430;
G.M. Demartis, La necropoli di Anghelu Ruju, collana "Sardegna Archeologica. Guide e Itinerari", Sassari, Carlo Delfino, 1986.