Lanusei, Tombs of the Giants by Seleni

The tombs of giants belong to the Seleni Archaeological Park located inside a magnificent forest of oak and chestnut trees, on the granite relief of Selene, in Ogliastra, a region of central-eastern Sardinia.
The burials have the canonical planimetric scheme: an apsidal body, a covered corridor and an architectural façade that opens into a hemicycle (exedra).
Of Tomb I, arranged along the S-E/N-O axis, with an entrance to S-E, the plant profile is clearly readable, delimited by a residual row of little or no processed blocks (m 11.35 x m 7.80 wide). The wall thickness varies from 2 to 4 meters.
The exedra, equipped with a bench-seat, consists of orthostats worked in the visible face. The entrance to the monument (0.57 m wide), which opens at the center of the exedra, has no lintel. Immediately after the entrance there is a small corridor intended to separate the ritual area from the burial area. The funerary corridor, with a rectangular plan (m 6.90 x m 0.78-0.95; m 1.10 in residual height), is built with orthostatic plates fixed with a knife, inclined inwards. All the finds found during the excavation date back to the 15th century BC (central phase of the Middle Bronze Age).
Tomb II, located about 80 m south of Tomb I, stands on a slight rock relief. The plan profile of the monument (m 12.30 x m 5.00; m 1.20 of residual average height) and - on the side of the grave body - the remains of the peristalite are preserved.
The exedra consists of rows of granite stones with an obliquely cut exposed face. The corridor is also built with finely worked granite blocks and, from the third row upwards, jutting inwards.
The excavation of the area in front of the exedra has returned a trapyramidal-shaped block equipped, in the upper face, with three holes: this is the ashlar that crowned the top of the exedra, where three betilines were inserted.
The materials found during the archaeological investigation date back to phases of the recent Bronze Age with delays in the final Bronze Age (XIV-XII century BC).

History of excavations
The two tombs of giants were excavated and restored in 1995, by Mauro Perra.

Bibliography
M. Perra, “Funerary rituals and ancestor worship in Ogliastra during the Nuragic Age”, in Ogliastra. Historical identity of a Province. Proceedings of the Study Conference (Jerzu-Lanuesi-Arzana-Tortolì, 23-25 January 1997), Mountain Community n. 11-Ogliastra, 2000, pp. 221-232.
C. Nieddu, “Archaeological Complex of Selèni”, in C. Nieddu (edited by) Archaeological Sites of Ogliastra, Tortolì 2006, pp. 38-39.

How to get there
From Tortolì, take the SS 198, cross Ilbono and continue to Lanusei. At the exit of the town, in the direction of Nuoro, follow the road signs for the “Bosco Selèni”. At the intersection with special road signs, turn south and continue to a large space equipped for parking cars.