Laconi, Cromlech and menhirs from Is Cirquittus

The archaeological area is on the edge of the Cuccuru Mandareddu hill, in Arborea, a region of central Sardinia.
The cult complex consists of a “cromlech” flanked by an alignment of menhirs. In the surrounding area, to attest to the intense use of the territory in prehistoric times, there is an underground necropolis.
The “cromlech”, with a sub-circular shape (diam. m 20 x 30), consists of large rounded boulders of stones of different kinds (trachyte, gray granite and very white quartz) transported even from considerable distances.
It is accompanied by an alignment of at least five protoanthropomorphic menhirs.
Part of the alignment is a splendid two-meter-high monolith, forged in local brown trachyte, which has a slender façade with straight and parallel sides; the apex - rounded - is arched.
A second menhir, which remains today for a height of 2 meters, in yellow trachyte, broken at the top but similar in shape to the previous one, has the front surface entirely covered by 135 cups.
In the surrounding area there are remains of probable funerary structures; a unique subquadrangular construction (m 9 x 7.5), delimited by orthostats, probably had a sacred function.
The complex can be attributed to the late Neolithic (3200-2800 BC, culture of Ozieri) and early and middle Eneolithic (2800-2400, Filigosa and Abealzu cultures).

History of the excavations
Research is underway by Enrico Atzeni.

Bibliography
E. Atzeni, “Sardinian anthropomorphic statuary”, in Anthropomorphic Statuary in Europe from Neolithic to Romanization (La Spezia-Pontremoli, April 27-May 1, 1988), Sarzana, 1994, pp. 193-213; E. Atzeni, Laconi.
The museum of menhir statues. Sassari, C. Delfino, 2004 (Archaeological Sardinia. Guides and itineraries; 34).

How to get there
From Laconi, take the SS 442 to Uras; after about 6.5 km, turn right for Asuni. About 1.5 km before arriving at this last center, 200 meters before the sports field, you turn into a small road on the right, and immediately after another road, always on the right, which you travel for about 1 km, to the edge of the Cuccuru Mandareddu hill: the circle is to the left of the path, while on the right are the menhirs aligned.