Thiesi, Necropolis of Mandra Antine

The necropolis is excavated on a trachytic ridge, in the Meilogu region, in northwestern Sardinia.
The complex consists of four domus de janas.
Among the burials, Tomb III or “painted tomb” stands out, known for the refinement of the symbolic and architectural motifs that decorate the main cell with polychromatic effect.
The domus consists of four rooms arranged in a “T” shape: a small elliptical antecell (width 1.00 m; depth 1.50 m) leads into the large rectangular chamber (width 3.60 m; depth 1.60 m), on whose side walls open the entrances of two elliptical compartments (width 1.10 m; depth 1.66 m).
On the back side of the main room, there is a complex full-wall composition, consisting of a false centralized door, framed by a band painted in red, dominated and flanked by five painted horizontal bands. The upper band, in contact with the ceiling, is painted in anthracite color; the second band is cinnabar red. Below, above and on the sides of the false door, there are three bands with vertices curved upwards, painted in red. Six blackish discs hang from the middle band (three on each side), while, on the same alignment, two other discs (one on each side) hang from two boxes placed laterally at the curved vertices of the two upper bands. The upper part of the false door is decorated in the center with a pattern of six triangles placed side by side and opposite each other at the vertex, painted in black. A red stripe runs at the base of the wall.
The composition depicts a bullfighting pattern, with the head (schematized by the false central door) and the horns (made by the bands with upward curved vertices) of the animal.
The meaning associated with the representation of hanging globes is still under discussion: these could be apotropaic “oscillations”, but the most reliable hypothesis is that they are solar disks connected with the cults of water or fecundity.
A similar decorative composition was probably painted on the opposite wall, but the figurative motifs, preserved only in part, are hardly legible.
The decoration of the ceiling of the cell also appears unique, showing two barely detectable slopes: the vault reproduces in negative relief the ridge beam and the transverse joists (ten on each side) of the double slope of the roof.
The ceiling is thus divided into twenty negative relief boxes bordered with red. Inside the boxes, in ivory color on a black background, other symbolic elements are represented: spirals, pseudospirals, semicircles and simple and double oblique bands.
On the floor, in a slightly decentralized position, there is a fireplace delimited by four concentric circles sculpted with a central cup.
The tomb can be dated to the final Neolithic - Eneolithic.

History of excavations
Tomb III was discovered and excavated by Ercole Contu in 1961.

Bibliography
E. Contu, “Prehistoric Painted and Sculpted Tombs of Thiesi and Bessude (Sassari)”, in Journal of Prehistoric Sciences, XIX, 1964, pp. 233-263;
M. L. Ferrarese Ceruti, “Domus de janas in Molimentos (Benetutti, Sassari)”, in Bulletin of Italian Palethnology, XVIII, 76, 1967, pp. 67-135, figg. 1-42;
G. Lilliu, The Sardinian civilization from the Neolithic to the Age of the Sardinians, Nuraghi Turin, E.R.I., 1975;
E. Castaldi, The 'cult' of the bull in the prehistory of Sardinia and the problem of the three cavities on the top of the elevations of the tombs of giants”, in Archives for Anthropology and Ethnology, CVI, 1976, pp. 439-458;
G. Tanda, Prehistoric Art in Sardinia.The sculpted bullfighting figurations of the Algherese in the framework of the figurative representations of the Sardinian hypogeans at “domus de janas”, Sassari, Dessì 1977, p. 12;
G. Tanda, The Art of the Domus de Janas in the images of Jingeborg Mangold, Sassari, Chiarella, 1985, pp. 148-152;
G. Tanda, “Thiesi Loc. Mandra Antine”, in The Sardis. Sardinia from the Paleolithic to the Age of the Nuraghi, edited by E. Anati, Milan, Jaca Book, 1984, pp. 320-321.

How to get there
Leave the town of Thiesi in the direction of Ittiri and after having traveled 2.5 km, turn left for Romana; continue for 5.4 km and turn right on a road with a natural background, marked by a tourist sign, which after 1.5 km leads to the tomb of Mandra Antine.