Astronomical Orientations of Five Megalithic Tombs at Madau,near Fonni in Sardinia

Gallery dolmens represent a later phase of simple or elongated dolmens of the pre-Nuraghic Age (c. 2000–1500 b.c). Cf. Giovanni Lilliu , La civilta' dei Sardi (Turin, 1983), 95–105, 170–1.

The “tombe dei giganti” are collective tombs characteristic of agro-pastoral societies organized in communities. The name derives from the popular belief that these large graves were built for the burial of giants.

Lilliu , op. cit., 216–17, 251–2.

Ibid., 309–14.

Bull's head friezes are present in several hypogeous graves and small artificial caves in different parts of Sardinia. The best-known are the friezes of bovine heads on the graves at Anghelu Ruiu near Alghero (cf. Lilliu , op. cit. 60; Alistair Service Jean Bradbury , Megaliths and their mysteries (London, 1979), 92).

Angius V. , Bibliografia Sarda (Cagliari, 1839).

De Lamarmora A. , Viaggio in Sardegna (Cagliari, 1840), Parte II, Lib. I, Chap. II.

Lilliu , op. cit. 309.

Melis E. , Carta dei Nuraghi della Sardegna (Spoleto, 1967), 19–25.

Lilliu G. , Monumenti antichi barbaricini (Sassari, 1981), 82–132.

Mereu G. , Fonni resistenziale (Nuoro, 1978), 13–48.

Cantacuzino Gh. , “Necropola preistoricâ de la Cernica şi locul ei în neoliticul românesc şi european”, Studii şi cercetâri de istorie veche, xviii (1967), 379–400.

Singeorzan I. , “Zur Forgeschichte der Astronomie”, Andromeda, i (1970), 1–33.

Barlai K. , “On the orientation of graves in prehistoric cemeteries”, Archaeoastronomy bulletin, iii/4 (1980), 29–32.

Parisot J. P. Petrequin P. , “Orientation astronomique des tombes mérovingiennes du cimitière de Soyria (Jura)”, Archaeoastronomy (Supplement to Journal for the history of astronomy), no. 4 (1982), S41–48.

Lilliu , op. cit. (ref. 10), 86.

Lilliu G. , “Uno scavo ignorato del dott. Ferruccio Quintavalle nella tomba di giganti di Goronna a Paulilatino”, Studi Sardi, viii (1948), 43–72, p. 45.

Cf. e.g. Aveni A. F. Romano G. , “Archaeoastronomical research in Veneto-Friuli, Italy”, Archaeoastronomy (Supplement to Journal for the history of astronomy), no. 10 (1986), S23–31.

Mereu A. , Carta archaeologica del comune di Fonni (Cagliari, 1968).

This and the following information on the typology of the “tombe dei giganti” at Madau was kindly supplied by Mereu A. , Honorary Inspector of Antiquities and Fine Arts of the town of Fonni.

The dating of the “ashlar” tombs was carried out by A. Mereu on the basis of the discovery, inside the tombs, of fragments of pottery with comb decorations, which in Sardinia are characteristic of the period from the end of the Bronze Age to the beginning of the Iron Age.

This information was given by Mereu A. .

Cf. Aveni Romano , op. cit. (ref. 18), S28 and ref. 8 therein.

Mereu , op. cit. (ref. 11), 45–46.