Palau, Tomb of the Giants of Saiacciu

The archaeological area is located in the town of “Stazzo S'Ajacciu”, on a short granite terrace, on the eastern slope of a hill overlooking the course of the Liscia river, in coastal Gallura.
The complex includes a tomb of giants, a megalithic circle with two menhirs, and a rectangular building.
The burial belongs to the type of row burials with a “toothed” tassel.
The monument still partially preserves the wings of the exedra, while almost nothing remains of the chamber, already demolished in Byzantine times - to build a rectangular building nearby - and dismantled in recent years by mechanical means. The hemicycle of the exedra (arc m 20.00; alt. m 1.50) - oriented to the south-east - is made of medium and large rectangular granite blocks, placed in regular rows: the boulders of the second row are 0.30 m compared to the underlying ones, delimiting a bench-seat. The entrance to the burial compartment opens almost in the center of the exedra. In the area in front of the wings of the hemicycle there is an ashlar with a “toothed” frieze: the trunk-pyramidal block (length. m 1.55; height. cm 0.90; thick. m 0.50) - well finished - keeps three recesses in the upper surface. The presence, in the hemicycle area, of two votive wells dug into the rock, and the discovery inside them of numerous ceramic fragments, attest to the sacred function of this part of the monument.
The burial dates back to 1400-900 BC.
At the tomb there are a menhir and a megalithic circle, which testify to the site being visited at an earlier stage.
The circle, preserved for half of its development (diam. cm 4.60; thick. m 0.45), it is built with granite slabs embedded with a knife and arranged on two parallel and curvilinear alignments. Two menhirs lie to the east of the circle.
Just northeast of the tomb's exedra, there are the remains of a rectangular building (long. m 6.00; height. m 0.30) with a double-row wall of orthostatic slabs; a rectangular structure was built on the corner of the building (length. cm 11; width. m 4.20; height. m 0.45) made with stones with a well-worked outer profile.

History of excavations
The tomb was excavated in the 80s of the twentieth century, by the Archaeological Superintendence for the provinces of Sassari and Nuoro.

Bibliography
A. Antona, “S'Aiacciu d'Ingiò (Palau, Province of Sassari)”, in Journal of Prehistoric Sciences, XL, 1-2, 1985-1986, p. 430; M. Solinas, “Palau. Tomb of the Giants of S'Ajacciu”, in Archaeology of the Territory. Territory of archaeology: a territorial information system oriented to the archeology of the Gallura environmental region, edited by R. Caprara, A. Luciano, G. Maciocco, Sassari, Carlo Delfino, 1996, pp. 655-656; M. Solinas, “Palau (Sassari). Locality of Monte Sajacciu”, in Archaeology Bulletin, 43-45, 1997, pp. 91-92.

How to get there
Exit from Palau and take the SS 133 in the direction of Santa Teresa Gallura. After a few kilometers you arrive at a restaurant where you turn left into a small paved road. At the first fork, turn right, following the signs for the church of San Giorgio. Continue on this road passing the gate of the land where there is the church, a next house and a couple of curves (the first on the right, the second on the left) after which you will find on the right a dry stone wall with a wooden staircase, after which you will reach the tomb of giants.