Urzulei, Tombs of the Giants of S'Arena

The archaeological area is located on the edge of a plateau in the town of Fennau, in the southern area of the Supramonte di Urzulei, in central-eastern Sardinia.
The burials are part of an archaeological complex that includes the nuraghe and the village of Perdeballa, located a short distance away. The tombs, made of limestone and oriented to the east, are of the isodome structure type with an elongated grave body and a semicircular exedra. Tomb I (total length 15.50 m; grave body length about 10.50 m) has an apse built with well-shaped ashlars. The wall structure of the body (max. width 1.80 m) consists of three distinct walls: the first two — the one adjacent to the inner chamber and the one in between — were made of isodome work, while the outer one is built with medium and large blocks arranged in generally irregular rows. The body encloses the trapezoidal burial compartment (length about 7.00 m; max. width 1.10 m), slightly tapered towards the bottom. The compartment was accessed through an entrance (width m 0.60; depth m 0.20; h m 0.60) delimited on the sides by two orthostats. The floor is paved and a block acts as a threshold at the entrance.
Of the exedra with a wide semicircular profile, made of a double wall wall, only the blocks of the base row supported by reinforcement blocks remain. At the exedra there is a granite toothed tanning.
Tomb II, smaller in size (overall length 14.50 m), has the entrance (width 0.50 m; depth 0.20 m) to the burial compartment delimited by two opposing blocks.
The room has a trapezoidal plan with a concave back wall, while the wall walls are made of medium-sized blocks placed in rows.
The floor is paved with generally regular blocks.
The apsidated tomb has two wall walls: the outer one is made of small and medium-sized semi-finished stones. Of the semicircular exedra, built with a double wall, only the basic rows reinforced by functional stones to level the underlying rock plane remain.
The tombs can be dated to the Late Bronze-Final Bronze.

History of excavations
The tombs were recently excavated and restored by the Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of the provinces of Sassari and Nuoro.

Bibliography
G. Lilliu, The Sardinian Civilization from the Paleolithic to the Nuraghi Age, Turin, Nuova ERI, 1988, p. 379;
C. Bittichesu, The Tomb of Busoro in Sedilo and Nuragic Funerary Architecture, Sassari, Lorziana, 1989, pp. 34-35, 39-40, 55, 70, 92, 147;
A. Moravetti, “The territory in the Neolithic and Pre-Nuragic Era (about 6000 BC - 1500 BC)”, in The Province of Oristano, the Footprint of History, edited by F. C. Casula, Milan, 1990, p. 124; G. Cabras, “Ogliastra: the nuragic landscape and archaeological research”, in Bulletin of Archaeology, 43-45, 1997, 2004, pp. 60-64.
C. Nieddu, “Tombs of the Giants of S'Arena”, in C. Nieddu (edited by) Archaeological Sites of Ogliastra, Tortolì 2006, pp. 60-61.

How to get there
Starting from Tortolì, take the SS 125 to the north of the city; cross Lotzorai and Baunei, and continue to the Genna Cruxi pass, crossing the intersection with the SP 37 which, on the left, leads to Urzulei. From there you go up Punta Is Gruttas to the Campu Oddeu plateau. At a crossroads, turn left following the signs for Fennau-Televai-Lattorbè. Continue to the end of the paved road, after a bridge, and continue on the dirt road crossing a second bridge; immediately after that you turn right, cross a bridge and after 1 km you reach the tombs of the giants.