Laconi, menhirs and dolmens of Corte Noa

The archaeological area is located on the N slope of the Conca Zerfalìus hill, about 1.5 km south of Genna Arrale.
The site has an alignment of “protoanthropomorphic” menhirs, highlighted on the surface by agricultural work. The monoliths, in number of 7, between 1.25 and 2.23 meters high, worked with a hammer but devoid of figurations, have a slender profile with a flat face and a convex back. Six of them, respectively 79 m, 2.50 m, 5.30 m, 6.50 m apart, are arranged in an axis from NNE to SSO; the seventh, moved towards O and originally included between the first two, slipped downstream perhaps because of agricultural work. Sporadic obsidian chips are collected on the surface.
About 200 meters E of the alignment, at a slightly higher altitude, on the N branch of the Conca Zerfalìu, is the homonymous gallery dolmen ('allée converte'). The monument, now open-air, located near an old sheepfold, was used by shepherds as a refuge for small animals. In S, near the entrance, still buried and barely visible, a large dense trachyte stone emerges just over a meter high.
The grave body of the dolmen, arranged along the NS axis, about 9 m long, is delimited by orthostatic plates fixed with a knife arranged in two parallel rows, about 1.50 m high; the headboard consists of a large natural boulder with a smoothed inner surface. The width of the corridor goes from m 1.60 at the entrance to m 2.10 at the bottom. A slab on which the access door opened, and whose remains are still “in situ”, separated the entrance area from the actual burial cell. The monument, due to ancient profanations, is, as already mentioned, uncovered.
The excavation has returned scant skeletal remains; on the other hand, there are numerous elements of the funerary equipment that highlight eneolithic phases similar to the Filigosa and Abealzu cultures. We recall the numerous obsidian arrowheads with a pedunculated triangular body and with double-sided covering retouching, some metallic elements, such as flat or round rings, silver spirals and small frustles of metallic lead. Among the ceramic material, in addition to a few decorated fragments of the Ozieri type, probably referring to the first attendance (therefore framed in the final Neolithic period, 3200-2800 BC), it is worth mentioning the discovery of numerous long-necked vases, tripods, olles, which orient towards eneolithic types.

History of excavations
The dolmen was excavated in 1982 by Enrico Atzeni.

Bibliography
E. Atzeni, “Anthropomorphic menhirs and statue-menhirs of Sardinia”, in Annals of the Civic Museum of La Spezia, II, 1979-80, pp. 9-64, figs. 1-8, tables. I-XIX;
E. Atzeni, “Laconi”, in Journal of Prehistoric Sciences, XXXVII, 1-2, 1982, pp. 336-337; E. Atzeni, The discovery of statue-menhirs.
Thirty years of archaeological research in the territory of Laconi, Cagliari, Cuec, 2004;
E. Atzeni, Laconi. The museum of menhir statues. Sassari, C. Delfino, 2004 (Archaeological Sardinia. Guides and itineraries; 34).

How to get There
From the town of Laconi you head to the northern outskirts of the town following the signs for the Genna 'e Corte Farmhouse. After about 7 km, you reach the bridge over the Bidissariu River, after which you continue for 1.7 km, after which, in a flat area, there is an iron gate on the left. You enter on foot and walk a few hundred meters, then head left towards the depression and continue for another hundred meters, until the menhirs of Corte Noa are visible towards SE. For the dolmen you have to continue towards the hill, 250 meters NE compared to the menhirs.