The site is geographically located in the basaltic plateau of Abbasanta, in central-western Sardinia, near the rural sanctuary of Santa Cristina.
Santa Cristina is one of the most important sacred areas of Nuragic Sardinia, one of the most significant examples of a sanctuary dedicated to the cult of water.
The complex comprises two sectors, NE and SW, separated from the church with its “cumbessias” (not earlier than the 18th century).
The NE nucleus includes the well temple, the so-called “meeting hut” with an adjoining enclosure and a series of other rooms.
The well temple, oriented N/NO and S/SE, consists of an atrium, a descending staircase and an underground tholos that houses the spring vein. Even today, spring water filters through the interstices of the chamber's masonry, which is particularly abundant in winter-spring.
Of the height of the well, only the plant profile remains, which, moreover, does not seem to fully reflect the original design. The upper-middle part of the staircase has been completely restored.
The emerging structures, limited to the perimeter wall in the shape of a key lock with a seat counter (perhaps later), include the rectangular atrium and the well drum. Everything is enclosed by an elliptical enclosure (m 26 x m 20) with an entrance facing N/NO, which separates the temple from the other structures of the sanctuary. The elliptical enclosure originally had to support an earthen mound in which the entrance to the staircase was framed, probably monumentalized as can be seen in the contemporary temple of Su Tempiesu (Orune) in excellent condition and recently restored.
The stairwell, with a trapezoidal plan and section (width at the bottom of the ground m 3.47; width at the last step m 1.40), has a total depth of about 6.50 m. The staircase consists of 25 steps and is covered by a stepped ceiling that reproduces a sort of inverted staircase. The tholos, very tapered, is masterfully built with rows of medium-sized basalt blocks with a slanted exposed face. The uppermost ring has no clasp.
The “meeting hut”, where the meetings of the leaders of the Nuragic communities who went to the sanctuary for the celebration of common rituals presumably took place, located W of the temple, is circular (diameter 10 m) and is preserved for a maximum remaining height of 1.70 m. The interior is paved with pebbles and has an annular seat.
Close to the room, there are rooms with a square, rectangular and circular plan, which go through a few rows, to be interpreted as living quarters for worship workers and pilgrims and as shops connected to the market that was to be held on the occasion of religious solemnities.
The excavations of the temple have revealed Syro-Palestinian bronzes from the end of the 2nd-beginning of the 1st millennium BC and bronze fibulae with simple bows and leeches from the 9th and 7th centuries BC, which testify to the commercial vitality of the sacred area. The bronze vessel reported by Taramelli was instead connected with the temple's favissa.
The sacred well is probably to be placed in the Final Bronze, probably in the eleventh century BC. In the late Punic age, the sanctuary was consecrated to Demeter and Core, as evidenced by the fictile ex-vows at the head of the goddess “kernophoros” and the cloaked mullebral figures, and in the late-republican age in Ceres.
The SW sector, about 200 m from the previous one, has a nuraghe and housing structures of various chronologies.
The nuraghe is a single-tower (outer diameter m 13; residual height m 6) with a staircase and a nest. It is built with freshly sketched basalt blocks. The chamber (diameter 3.50 m) has three niches arranged in a cross shape and still preserves the ogive vault intact.
Around the nuraghe there are traces of the town, in particular three elongated huts of uncertain chronology.

History of excavations
The archaeological site was recognized in the nineteenth century by Alberto Lamarmora and Giovanni Spano. Antonio Taramelli reported the discovery of a Nuragic spacecraft, but the first excavation of the well dates back to 1953. Other investigations were carried out in 1967-73 and 1977-83 by Enrico Atzeni. In 1989-90 Paolo Bernardini explored some environments in the village. The area is still being excavated and restored.

Bibliography
E. Atzeni, “Nuragic Sanctuary of Santa Cristina (PauliLatino), in Journal of Prehistoric Sciences, XXXII, n. 1-2, 1977, p. 359;
E. Contu, “Nuragic Architecture”, in Ichnussa. Sardinia from its origins to the classical age, Milan, Scheiwiller, 1981;
G. Lilliu, The civilization of the Sardinians from the Paleolithic to the Age of the Nuraghi, Turin, Nuova ERI, 1988;
A. Moravetti, The Nuragic Sanctuary of Santa Cristina, series “Archaeological Sardinia. Guides and Itineraries”, Sassari, Carlo Delfino, 2003;
R. Zucca, Journey into the Archaeology of the Province of Oristano, Oristano, E.P.T. Oristano, 2004, pp. 35-36.

How to get there
The archaeological area can be reached from the SS 131 Sassari-Cagliari: at the height of 114.300 km there is the junction, marked by signs, to reach the complex.