Birori, Tomb of the Giants of Palatu

The monument is located inside the town of Birori, at the foot of the Marghine chain, in central-northern Sardinia.
The tomb, oriented along the NO/SE axis, with entrance to SE, consists of an elongated and apsidated grave body (length 14.50 m; width 4.00-4.30 m) preceded by a wide exedra (cord m 11.70; arrow m 3.25).
The wall thickness of the grave body, as well as that of the wings of the exedra, is made up of minute stone.
The rectangular burial corridor (m 11.55 in length; width 1.10 m on average and m 0.55 at the entrance) is built with large orthostatic basic slabs on which protruding rows of medium-sized stones have just been drawn; the roof is flat, while the floor must have originally been paved, just as, perhaps, it was part of the exedra.
The burial compartment has two opposing quadrangular niches carved into the wall thickness near the entrance: the niche in the s. (m 0.85x0.60x0.84 in height) is formed by three orthostatic slabs on each side and one of the floor, well worked and connected; the niche on the right has completely similar sides to the previous one, while the floor is slightly raised (cm 30) and composed of two stones worked together crudely and placed side by side with little care.
Eight orthostats of the exedra are currently preserved (height 2.25-1.25 m; average thickness 0.30 m; width 1.10-1.75 m) - four on each side - and a modest portion of the lower part of the large curved stele that marked the entrance to the burial chamber.
Along the outer profile of the exedra was the seat - composed of medium-sized blocks placed side by side - which the excavation proved to be subsequent to the installation of the tomb.

History of excavations
The tomb was excavated by Alberto Moravetti in 1982.

Bibliography
A. Moravetti, “Sardinia News”, in Journal of Prehistoric Sciences, XXXVI, 1981, pp. 360-64;
A. Moravetti, The archaeological heritage of the Municipality of Birori: detailed plan of census, valorization and enjoyment, Cagliari, Pisano, 1985, fig. 8; A. Moravetti, “The tombs and the funerary ideology”, in The Nuragic Civilization, Milan, Electa, 1990, p. 123, fig. 135, n. 132, p. 134, figg. 8-149;
A. Moravetti, “The Tomb of the Giants of Palatu (Birori, Nuoro)”, in New Sardinian archaeological bulletin, I, 1984, pp. 69-96;
G. Lilliu, The civilization of the Sardinians from the Paleolithic to the Age of the Nuraghi, Turin, Nuova ERI, 1988, p. 319 ff.; A. Moravetti, Archaeological Research in the Marghine-Planargia. The Marghine - Monuments, Part One. Sassari, C. Delfino, 1998 (Archaeological Sardinia. Studies and monuments; 5);
A. Moravetti, Archaeological research in the Marghine-Planargia. The Planargia — Analysis and Monuments, Part Two. Sassari, C. Delfino, 2000 (Archaeological Sardinia. Studies and monuments; 5).