Sedini, Domus della Rocca

The domus is carved into a limestone boulder on the edge of the cliff that delimits the deep valley of Baldana.
The multi-cellular hypogeum was originally accessible through a hatch on the S side of the boulder; it was located at a considerable height above the ground and was probably reachable with the aid of pebbles carved in the rock, but also through an additional boulder with steps, then rolled downstream.
At present, the access (perhaps built at the beginning of the twentieth century) consists of a hatch - open on the floor of the apartment carved into the boulder - and by means of a wooden staircase.
The hypogeum, used for a long time as a cellar, has undergone the expansion of the rooms, which today have built-in masonry and floors.
The burial consists of six cells, two of which have been united in a single environment.
The original access door to the tomb was expanded (1.25 x 1.60 m) in the Middle Ages.
The entrance led into the first room, with a quadrangular plan (m 2.50 x 2.50), whose original height is not easily determined due to the changes that have occurred over time.
The room has three raised niches on the walls, perhaps built later.
A hatch with built-in frame (width m 0.56; current height m 0.97) leads into another compartment. This room, with an irregular quadrangular plan (m 2.40 x 2.00; height 1.50 m), has a lowered floor.
From the cell you enter a third compartment, through an elevated door open in the wall and significantly expanded (m 0.82 x 0.96).
The room, with a subelliptical plan (m 2.40 x 2.00 x 1.45), has in the wall d. a niche (width m 1.30; depth m 0.40; height m 0.66) equal to that of the room a and raised above the floor plane.
A fourth compartment, in line with the previous one, can be reached through an expanded hatch (m 1.00 x 0.90).
The room, rounded (m 2.00 x 1.80; height m 1.10), has two niches built at ground level on the back and on the right side.
The last two side rooms are open on the eastern side of the second compartment (m 0.90 x 1.66), but can also be reached from the main room (m 0.50 x 0.80). The rooms are now combined in a single low room (m 4.00 x 3.00 x 2.10).

History of excavations
The monument was recently restored by the Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Sassari and Nuoro.

Bibliography
Ministry of Education, List of Monumental Buildings, LXIX, Rome, Type of Cooperative Roman Worker, 1922, p. 155; A. Boscolo-M.
Painter G. Loi Puddu, Dictionary of Sardinia, Cagliari, Valdes, 1955, p. 127;
G. Marcialis, “Vico Mossa, domestic architecture in Sardinia”, in Ichnusa, 9, 1957, p. 47, table 6;
V. Mossa, “The great monuments of men. The Domus of Sedini”, in The New Sardinia, December 20, 1981, p. 21;
P. Melis, The Elephant's Domus. Sassari, C. Delfino, 1991 (Archaeological Sardinia. Guides and itineraries; 15) pp. 39-42.

How to get there
The burial is located in Via Nazionale, in the center of Sedini, near the southern outskirts of thetown.