Sant'Antioco, Tomb of Giants Su Niu 'e su Crobu

The monument stands suggestively on a large rocky platform raised on the country level, not far from the sea, in the S part of the Sulcitan island of Sant'Antioco, in the SW of Sardinia. It is located NW of the Nuraghe Grutti 'e Acqua.
The burial, of the “row shaped” type, consists of an apsidic tombstone (10.20 x 1.25/0.80 m wide), a funerary corridor and an architectural façade that opens like a hemicycle, the so-called “exedra” (14.50 m of rope x 2.70 of lightning bolt). The monument, built with multifaceted trachyte boulders, was damaged by vandals who destroyed the sturdy parallelepiped lintel that surmounted the entrance.
The plan of the tomb is clearly legible, bounded by blocks of different sizes. The exedra consists of rows of freshly cut stones, decreasing in size upwards. The entrance to the monument, which opens at the center of the base row of the exedra, was - before the removal of the lintel - trapezoidal in shape; the jambs consist of one block on each side. The funerary corridor is built with little or no processed blocks, fixed like knives, on which are placed smaller stones arranged in irregular rows, raised with numerous wedges. The tomb has a width of 4.20 m on the cross axis of the chamber, at the meeting with the wings of the exedra. In the area in front of the entrance, among the material dispersed by a clandestine excavation carried out in 1977, a fragment of a “toothed” tanning came to light. This ashlar, made of soft rock, crowned - originally - the summit of the exedra.
The stratigraphic excavation of the area in front of the entrance has returned various materials: a hemispherical plate-shaped bowl with a flat bottom and a bugnette-shaped pot holder under the hem (17.2/18.00 x 5.5 cm high) with reddish-brown surfaces; the fragments of eleven elements in soft tufaceous rock in the shape of a horn, similar to those found in the town of Is Aruttas di Cabras, above an individual deposition, in a contracted position, inside a hemispherical pit dug in rock. The construction type of the monument and, above all, the cross-sectional corner of the burial chamber, make it possible to propose useful comparative links with Tomb I of Saint Cosimo di Gonnosfanadiga. The burial dates back to the Medium-Recent Bronze Age.

History of excavations
The monument was excavated in July 1977 by Vincenzo Santoni. Surface research has not made it possible to identify, at least for now, the reference town.

Bibliography
: V. Santoni, “Our Story Open Air”, in Il Cagliaritano, September 6, 1977, pp. 20-30; G. Pinna, Sulci.
Guide to the Island of S. Antioco, Cagliari, Sulci, 1981, p. 44;
V. Santoni, “The History of the Nuraghi”, in Living Archaeology, IV, 5, 1985;
V. Santoni, “Prehistory and Protohistory”, in P. Bartoloni, Sulcis, series “Itineraries”, 3, Rome, Polygraphic Institute and State Mint, 1989, p. 75-76; M. Frau-R. Mound, Sulcis. Archaeological guide: Calasetta, Carbonia, Carloforte, Giba, Masainas, Narcao, Nuxis, Perdaxius, Piscinas, Portoscuso, S. Giovanni Suergiu, S. Anna Arresi, Santadi, S. Antioco, Teulada, Tratalias, Villaperuccio, Florence, Art and Nature, 1990, pp. 35-36;
D. Cocco, “The centuries of prehistory: the Nuragic”, in Sulci: the centuries found, Cagliari, Autonomous Region of Sardinia, 1990, p. 20.

How to get
To the town of Sant'Antioco, continue for about 1 km until you find a fork: turn right here and, after another 2 km, you will see - on the left of the road - the hill where the Nuraghe Grutti 'e Acqua stands. Not far away, heading NE, are the remains of the tomb of Su Niu 'e Su Crobu giants. The archaeological site is marked by special signs.