Subjects
Subjects
The monument stands on the edge of a cliff, in the countryside of Olzai, the center of Barbagia di Ollolai, in central Sardinia.
The giant tomb of S'Ena 'e Sa Vacca is particularly interesting for some architectural features that in the past have led scholars to consider it a dolmenic structure.
The burial consists of an apsidal tomb (length 5.00 m; width 3.20 m) - of which only a row of sketched blocks remains - which encloses a rectangular burial chamber (length m 3.80; width m 0.80; height m 1.00). The compartment is accessible through a narrow entrance (depth m 0.60; width m 0.50; height m 1.00) delimited by two blocks. The walls of the burial chamber consist of a base of orthostats - well worked on the exposed surface - on which there are rows of boulders arranged in a slight projection, functional to regulate the installation plan of the flat roof. The latter consists of a single large polygonal slab (length m 3.00; width m 2.50; thickness m 0.35). A wall covering made of the mass of the grave body parallel to the walls of the burial chamber was to reinforce the structures of the latter. On the front of the grave body, there is still a trace of the exedra hemicycle (residual arch 4.00 m): three blocks of the S. wing and a boulder of the d wing.
The specialty of this burial is given by the large roof slab, devoid of any finishing, which, covering the entire grave compartment, gives the monument the appearance of an elongated dolmen or “allée couverte”. The slab, however, is supported by a row wall work typical of the tombs of giants of an evolved phase, characterized by the disappearance of the curved stone. Furthermore, it is disproportionate to the size of the grave compartment, while in dolmenic structures the dimensions of the roof and those of the burial chamber are the same. To summarize, the characteristics of the grave body, the presence of the exedra and the wall work in rows of the burial chamber, are all elements that lead us to consider the monument of S'Ena 'e Sa Vacca a tomb of nuragic giants. It is more difficult to justify the presence of a covering characteristic of a different type of grave, an expression of another era and another culture. Probably, at a certain point, the tomb of giants “in rows” of S'Ena 'e sa Vacca suffered damage and was rebuilt using as a cover the slab of a dolmen that stood, perhaps, not far away. The burial dates back to Middle Bronze, Recent Bronze.
History of studies
The tomb is cited in various bibliographic sources.
Bibliography
D. Mackenzie, “Dolmens and Nuraghi of Sardinia”, in Papers of the British School at Rome, 5, n. 2, 1910; pp. 127-170;
E. Castaldi, “Tombs of Giants in the Sassari Area”, in Origins, III, 1969, pp. 106-107, 118;
G. Lilliu, The Civilization of the Sardinians from the Paleolithic to the Nuraghi Age, Turin, Nuova ERI, 1988, p. 297; G. Manca, “Olzai. S'Ena de sa Vacca”, in Sardigna Antiga, 6, 1990, pp. 17-20;
A. Moravetti, “On the dolmens of pre-Nuragic Sardinia”, in Sardinia. Papers from the EAA third annual meeting at Ravenna 1997, 3, “BAR international series” series, 719, edited by A. Moravetti-M. Pearce-M. Tosi, Oxford, Archaeopress, 1998, pp. 25-45;
G. Manca, “Mysterious little dolmens”, in Ancient Sardinia, 17, 2000, pp. 1-6.
How to get there
From Sedilo, take the SS 537 Sedilo-Olzai. Four kilometers after passing the overpass over the SS 131, at km 17.4, park and head to the right side of the road, walking to the
escarpment.
Content type:
Archaeological monument
Archaeology
Usability: unmanaged site
Province: Nuoro
Common: Olzai
Macro Territorial Area: Central Sardinia
POSTAL CODE: 08020
Address: SP 36
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