The necropolis is located on the E slope of the Trachitic Hill of Santu Pedru, in a position of extensive domination over the valley below, in Nurra, a region of northwestern Sardinia.
The complex includes a dozen tombs with an entrance corridor (“dromos”) and a multicellular planimetric scheme. Some (I, II, III, VI and X), sometimes of monumental dimensions, show architectural ornaments (steps, plinths, bands, frames, lintels, semicircular ceilings and pillars) and symbolic ornaments (false doors and bullfighting protomes).
Tomb I ('tomb of tetrapod vases') has a partially destroyed 'dromos' (length 16 m) that leads into the semicircular antebellum; this is decorated in the curved wall by a relief plinth and two pilasters, while the ceiling reproduces a roof with engraved beam beams.
In the back wall, originally painted red, the trapezoidal door opens - decorated with frames, surmounted by a relief lintel and preceded by two steps - which leads to the main cell.
The cell is quadrangular with a flat ceiling supported by two pillars; it preserves on the back wall a false arched door with frames painted red. On the walls, the raised doors of the secondary cells adorned with frames and equipped with a pedalboard for access open.
The entrance to the d cell is surmounted by two cow horns, in straight style, in relief.
Tomb VI, damaged and without a ceiling, originally had architectural scores in relief, enlivened with red ochre.
Tomb VII, of small proportions, is completely uncovered.
Tomb II consists of a long “dromos”, very damaged, which introduces a large quadrangular transverse cell. The ceiling, slightly sloping to the outside, is supported by two columns. Four small secondary rooms overlook the room with well-finished doors.
Tomb V, very damaged, has a sort of crude counter on the floor of the main chamber, which was never completed.
Among the other burials, located at a higher level along the slope, is Tomb III, similar to Tomb I, but equipped with more cells.
It consists of a long corridor, an antechamber with four dimples on the floor and a large quadrangular central chamber, painted red, with two pillars. A false door is carved on the back wall of the chamber, while ten raised doors lead into as many secondary cells.
The adjacent Tomb VIII, very damaged, preserves the quadrangular anticell and a main cell - painted red and decorated with relief frames - on which the secondary rooms open.
Tomb IV, located in the highest part of the slope, was remodeled and adapted to a rock church in the early medieval period: it is not unlikely that it originally had the same layout as tombs I and III.
The main room has been transformed into a large room with two apses containing small altars dedicated, according to tradition, to Saint Peter and Saint Lucia.
Going up the path to the right of Tomb IV, you reach the top of the hill where the Santu Pedru nuraghe stands, unusable due to the collapses; perhaps a mono-tower, it is built with blocks of trachyte that have just been drafted.
Around the nuraghe there is a vast settlement of circular and rectilinear huts.
Returning to the road, in the ground on the opposite side of the necropolis, there is Tomb X, recently excavated: it consists of a “dromos” (length m 5) that leads to a small antebellum; a door on the back wall leads into the main, rectangular cell, with two pillars and a fireplace carved in relief in the floor: on the opposite side of the entrance, a false door is dug. Three side entrances lead to as many large secondary cells.
The finds found during the excavations refer to the cultures of Ozieri, Filigosa, Abealzu, Monte Claro, of the Campaniform Vase, Bonnanaro (3200-1600 BC).

History of excavations
The necropolis was excavated by Ercole Contu, who highlighted Tomb I (1959), Alberto Moravetti (1989-94) and Paolo Melis (2004-05).

Bibliography
E. Contu, “The Tomb of the Tetrapod Vases in loc. Santu Pedru (Alghero-Sassari)”, in Ancient Monuments of the Lyncei, XLVII, 1964, coll. 1-196.; E. Contu, “Alghero. The tomb of the tetrapod vases, in the town of S. Pedru”, in I Sardi. Sardinia from the Paleolithic to the Roman Age, Milan, Jaca Book, 1984, pp. 223-224;
A. Moravetti, “Tomb II of the hypogeic necropolis of S. Pedru (Alghero-Sassari)”, in Sardinia Antiqua. Studies in honor of Piero Meloni, Cagliari, Edizioni della Torre, 1992, pp. 97-122;
E. Contu, “Hypogeic Necropolis of Santu Pedru (Alghero-Sassari)”, in Sardinia, edited by A. Moravetti, series “Archaeological Guides”, 2, Forlì, A.B.A.C.O., 1995, pp. 19-25; A. Moravetti. -V. Mazzarello—P. Flag, “The necropolis of hypogea in Santu Pedru (Alghero-Sassari). New Data”, in Sardinia. Papers of the EAA Third Annual Meeting at Ravenna 1997, 3, series “BAR, international series”, 719, Oxford, Archaeopress, 1998, pp. 7-19;
A. Moravetti, “New excavations in the hypogeic necropolis of Santu Pedru (Alghero-Sassari). Tomb VII”, in Multas per Gentes. Studies in honor of Enzo Cadoni, Sassari, EDES, 2000, pp. 251-278.

How to get there
Exit from Alghero and take the SS 127 bis to Uri and Ittiri; after crossing the junction for Olmedo, continue for 2.4 km: at the end of a long straight line and immediately after a bend to the right, at 24.5 km, there is, on the left, the entrance to Tomba I or Tomb of the Tetrapod Vases. The remaining burials are dug into the slope above, with the exception of Tomb X, located to the right of the road.