indoor on Giants' grave Sa domu e s'orku near Siddi village, Sardinia, Italy
Image details
Contributor:
Massimo Piacentino / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
CTAWN5File size:
34.9 MB (1.1 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
2848 x 4287 px | 24.1 x 36.3 cm | 9.5 x 14.3 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
31 March 2012Location:
Siddi, Cagliari district, Sardinia region, Italy, Europe EUMore information:
Giants' grave (Italian: Tomba dei giganti, Sardinian: Tumbas de sos gigantes) is the name given by local people and archaeologists to a type of Sardinian megalithic gallery grave built during the Bronze Age. They can be found throughout Sardinia, and so far 321 have been discovered. A stone cairn lies over the burial chamber itself. Some examples have a cup-shaped entrance similar to the Court Cairn tombs of Ireland. There are two general types of giant's tomb. In the so-called "slab type", uncut slabs are buried on end in the ground, and are arranged side-by-side. There is usually a central stele, which is the largest (up to 4 m in height) slab and has a doorway cut through it. The sepulchres have a characteristic rectangular plan with an apse. The burial chamber is usually 5 to 15 meters long and 1 to 2 meters high. The structures were originally covered by a mound resembling the shape of an overturned ship. Near the entrance was an obelisk (betile in Sardinian), which symbolizes the gods or ancestors who watched over the dead. In the more primitive slab-type giant's tombs, the central slab is unmodified aside from the entrance that is cut through it at the base, or else there is a crude dolmen-like arrangement of 3 uncut rocks to form the entrance