The giants’ tomb of Is Concias was built between the Middle Bronze Age and the Recent Bronze Age (1900-1150 BC).

A COURSED TOMB

The massive curved wall at the entrance characterises the tomb: it is built with stone blocks laid in horizontal courses, which is why Is Concias is called a “coursed” giants’ tomb.

At the centre of the wall opens a small lintelled entrance leading to the funerary chamber.

THE FUNERARY CHAMBER

The tomb structure is over 11 metres long and built with large granite blocks, progressively smaller towards the top.

Inside is the funerary corridor. Its floor coincides with the carefully levelled rock outcrop. The two walls gradually converge upwards, producing an ogival section. At the end is a stone bench against the wall.

THE EXEDRA AND THE RITUAL SPACE

In front of the entrance the curved façade encloses a space called the exedra, which may have played a central role in ceremonies for the dead and ancestors: funerary rituals and offerings of food, drink, flowers and essences were held here.

THE BETIL AND THE RITUAL HEARTHS

Next to the exedra stands a granite sacred stone, the betil, set vertically into the ground and symbolically associated with the deity, the ancestors or fertility.

A few steps from the tomb are three ritual hearths: circular structures cut into the rock and bordered by concentric stone circles. Together with the betil they testify to the cult practices of funerary ceremonies.

WHO WAS BURIED HERE

Giants’ tombs are generally considered collective burials of Nuragic communities. Their relatively small number compared with settlements may indicate a more selective use, perhaps reserved for the most important members of society.

The tomb was not simply a burial place but a sacred space where the community renewed its relationship with its ancestors.

Excavations began in 1962, directed by Enrico Atzeni. In 1987 a conservation restoration was carried out.

Is Concias_Master.docx.

La Sardegna nuragica. Storia e monumenti (eds. Moravetti, Melis, Foddai, Alba), 2017, entry 40.

SardegnaCultura, “Quartucciu, Tomba di giganti Is Concias”.

SardegnaTurismo, “Tomba di Giganti di Is Concias”.

The monument is also known as Sa Domu ’e s’Orku, “the house of the ogre, of the monster”: in popular tradition monstrous beings hid in monuments of this kind.