Three new prehistoric Domus de Janas tombs have been found within the necropolis of Sant’Andrea Priu in northern Sardinia. These finds carry to complete variety of tombs discovered within the necropolis as much as 20.
Domus de Janas (which means “dwelling of the fairies in Sardinian) are rock-cut chamber tombs carved out by a number of of Sardinia’s pre-Nuragic cultures within the interval between 3400-2700 B.C. The chambers have been carved to resemble houses, generally in extraordinary element down the beams, wainscotting, hearths, jams and false doorways. The partitions have been usually adorned, painted with purple ochre and carved or etched with symbols together with giant linked spirals, zig zags and bull horns. The deceased have been painted with purple ochre too, and have been buried with grave items from day by day life.
The brand new discover is an ideal approach to have fun the Domus de Janas being formally added to the listing of UNESCO World Heritage Websites. There are greater than 3,500 Domus de Janas scattered all through the island amongst 26 websites. Seventeen of the necropolises have been granted World Heritage Website standing as “essentially the most in depth and wealthy manifestation of hypogean funerary structure within the western Mediterranean.”
The necropolis of Sant’Andrea Priu is without doubt one of the extra important grouping of Domus de Janas. It was constructed by the Late Neolithic Ozieri tradition (3500–2900 B.C.) with a unprecedented diploma of complexity. Three tombs are significantly notable for his or her excellent situation and the knowledge they comprise concerning the evolution of pre-Nuragic society, structure and ritual. The Tomb of the Chief has 18 rooms organized round two principal chambers overlaying roughly 2700 sq. ft. Its dimensions makes it one of many largest underground tombs within the Mediterranean area. The Round Hut Tomb is small comparatively, only a rectangular antechamber and a spherical principal chamber, however its partitions are studded with votive niches and the ceiling is adorned with grooves in a sunburst sample replicating the roof joists of huts from the interval. The Chamber Tomb is a copy of the structure of a house, together with two pillars and a ceiling carved within the form of a double pitched roof.
The latest excavation targeted on the world between two tombs that confirmed indicators that there is likely to be one other tomb. Archaeologists discovered three as a substitute, organized in a fan form radiating out from the Tomb of the Fireside (Tomb XIII).
Tomb XVIII, the primary to emerge in the course of the excavation, encompasses a dromos (hall). Finds embrace pickaxes, a greenstone axe, a spindle and obsidian fragments. The construction consists of a central quadrangular cell, with a fireplace carved in aid, and from there there’s entry to an oblong principal cell, flanked on the left by a further smaller chamber. The smaller Tomb XIX encompasses a small pavilion on the surface, whereas the inside is split into an oblong cell and a second smaller, roundish cell. Among the many recovered finds are ceramic fragments and a miniature jar. Essentially the most complicated is Tomb XX, which has an entrance cell from which two aspect corridors department off, making a complete of seven cells. In considered one of these a painted ornamental band remains to be seen. The wealthy grave items, consisting of greater than 30 ceramic artifacts from the Imperial Roman interval, earned it the identify “Tomb of the Roman Vases.”
The tombs have been hundreds of years outdated by the point the Romans used them, however they’d been often reused over the millennia and have been so broadly accepted as sacred areas that even Early Christians used them for burials and painted their very own iconographic motifs on the partitions.
Excavations will resume within the fall and proceed by means of all of 2026.
