Gesturi, Protonuraghe Bruncu Madugui

The complex overlooks the S/E edge of the Giara, a basaltic plateau on the border between the regions of Marmilla, Sarcidano and Arborea.
The main building is of considerable architectural importance, as it falls into the type of protonuraghi or “corridor” nuraghi.
It is a powerful cyclopean construction made of irregular basalt blocks. It has an irregular, almost reniform plan (m 3.80 x m 16.50), and is kept elevated for about m 4.50. The entrance (width 1.00 m; height 1.70 m) faces S-S/O and leads to a staircase that overlooks, on the d., a niche. The staircase, covered with overhanging rows, then extends into an entrance that, going up, gives access to two curvilinear rooms: one on the s., the other further down the d.; at E-N/E of the latter, there is the stretch of a corridor in line with the first, which presumably originally, at a low level, led to a second entrance to the building on the N/E side. On the other side of the corridor, a gap goes deep into the masonry, probably the beginning of the staircase that led to the terrace.
The building, difficult to read, has been dated for a long time to Chalcolithic and ancient Bronze, due to the presence of grooved ceramics attributed to the culture of Monte Claro and for the dating to C14 of some organic finds found inside a chamber (1820 BC, with an oscillation of 250 years). More recent studies propose a date to Middle Bronze (XV-XIV century BC) and give a new architectural interpretation of the building: in particular, the two main rooms would not be huts with stramine-like roofs visible on the terrace, as assumed by Lilliu, but internal rooms with vaulted vaults with trunk-ogival sections.
A village of huts stretches about 100 m W of the Nuraghe. These are collected in blocks, connected together and arranged around central common courtyards. The rooms have a circular shape and paved and cobbled floors; there are fireplaces, niches, seats and shelves on the walls. The huts returned materials from the Final Bronze (XIII-X century BC).

History of excavations
The nuraghe and a part of the village were excavated in 1962 by Giovanni Lilliu. Investigations of the village continued in 1980-83 by Gabriella Puddu and later by Alessandro Usai.

Bibliography
E. Contu, “Nuragic Architecture”, in Ichnussa. Sardinia from its origins to the classical age, Milan, Scheiwiller, 1981;
M.G. Puddu, “Preliminary note to the 1980-83 excavation campaign in the Bruncu Madugui nuragic complex”, in Territorio di Gesturi. Archaeological Census, Cagliari, Provincial Administration of Cagliari - Department of Culture, 1985, pp. 275-286;
G. Lilliu, The Civilization of the Sardinians from the Paleolithic Age to the Nuraghi Age, Turin, Rai ERI, 1988;
A. Usai, “Excavations in block B of the Nuragic Village of Bruncu Madugui (Gesturi): 1990 campaign”, in Notebooks of the Archaeological Superintendence for the Provinces of Cagliari and Oristano, 8, pp. nurku 87-99; U. Badas, “The Brunku Brunku campaign” Madugui di Gesturi: a review of the monument and the ceramic equipment”, in Notebooks of the Archaeological Superintendence for the Provinces of Cagliari and Oristano, 9, 1992, pp. 31-66; G. Lilliu, The Nuraghi. Prehistoric Towers of Sardinia, preface by A. Moravetti. Nuoro, Ilisso, 2005.

How to get there
From the center of the town of Gesturi, on the left, marked by signs, the road to the Giara begins. Proceed for 4.2 km until you reach the car park located at the top of the Giara, where there is also the current entrance to the park: the nuraghe is on the left and is about 4000 m away from walking or driving on a small road.