Giants' tomb (tomba di giganti)
Madau
DatedEst. 1900–730 BCE
Photo Marcello Seddaiu · CC BY-SA 4.0Photo taken at this location (Wikimedia Commons)Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
What the sources say
Madau ist ein archäologischer Fundplatz bei Fonni in der Provinz Nuoro auf Sardinien. An der Straße von Pratobello zum südlicher gelegenen 1118 m hohen Passo di Caravai liegt eine Nekropole aus der Bronzezeit, die aus vier benachbarten Gigantengräbern besteht, die auf den Bergsattel Arcu Corr’e Boi ausgerichtet sind. Die in Sardu „Tumbas de los zigantes“ und (italienisch Tombe dei Giganti – plur.) genannten Bauten sind die größten pränuraghischen Kultanlagen Sardiniens und zählen europaweit zu den spätesten Megalithanlagen. Die 321 bekannten Gigantengräber sind Monumente der bronzezeitlichen Bonnanaro-Kultur (2.200–1.600 v. Chr.), die Vorläuferkultur der Nuraghenkultur ist.
Article in GermanRead on Wikipedia3 min readCC BY-SA 4.0
Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
The full article
Madau: the whole story
In briefSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): MadauCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): MadauCC BY-SA 4.0
Madau is an archaeological site near Fonni in the province of Nuoro on Sardinia, Italy. Along the road from Pratobello to the Passo di Caravai, it contains a Bronze Age necropolis made up of four neighbouring giants’ tombs aligned along the Arcu Corr’e Boi saddle.
The four tombs belong to the later type of giants’ grave, with a façade of shaped and laid stone blocks. Two are heavily damaged. The third measures about 22,0 m in length and has a forecourt 24,0 m wide, making it the largest in the group; its gallery, partly covered by a tumulus, is nine metres long and has a dentillated frieze near the entrance. The fourth tomb was built over the portal stele of an older-type giants’ grave.
Among the finds are a bronze bracelet, many ceramic pans, small ceramic forms from the 14./13. centuries v. Chr., small baityloi made of trachyte, and more than a dozen glass paste beads in various colours and shapes. The Nuragic settlement of Gremanu lies nearby.
The site is dated to 1900 BCE to 730 BCE by typological estimate. The record names the monument type as Giants' tomb (tomba di giganti).
No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the German article "Madau", shown in the original language.
Summary in EnglishSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): MadauCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): MadauCC BY-SA 4.0
Madau is a giants' tomb (tomba di giganti) in Fonni, Italy. A typological estimate: 1900 BCE to 730 BCE. No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the German article "Madau", shown in the original language.
TypenfolgeSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): MadauCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): MadauCC BY-SA 4.0
Baulich treten Gigantengräber in zwei Varianten auf. Die Anlagen mit Portalstelen und Exedra gehören zum älteren Typ. Bei späteren Anlagen besteht die Exedra statt aus monolithischen Stelen, aus einer in der Mitte deutlich erhöhten Quaderfassade aus bearbeiteten und geschichteten Steinblöcken. Die Gigantengräber von Madau gehören zum jüngeren Typ (mit Quaderfassade).
BeschreibungSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): MadauCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): MadauCC BY-SA 4.0
Die beiden der Straße nächstgelegenen Anlagen sind stark zerstört. Eine hat eine mit Schälchen übersäte Kammerrückwand. Die dritte Anlage hat etwa 22,0 m Länge und einen 24,0 m weiten Vorplatz. Es ist die größte der Gruppe. Sie gehört zum Madautyp mit Quaderfassade. Der zugehörige Zahnfries (ital. fregio a dentelli), ein zinnenförmiges Ornamentband, liegt wenige Meter vom Eingang entfernt. Die in Kragtechnik überwölbte Galerie ist neun Meter lang und wird zum Teil von einem aus mehreren Schichten und Erdreich gebildeten Tumulus bedeckt.
Die Quaderfassade der vierten Anlage, ist auf der Portalstele eines Gigantengrabes des älteren Typs (Orthostatengrab) errichtet. Die Kammer ist in Kragtechnik überwölbt, zumeist ist eine Sturzabdeckung üblich. Vor der Anlage liegt eine Feuerstelle und ein runder Schalenstein.
Unter den Funden sind ein Bronzearmband, viele Keramikpfannen, einige Keramikformen des 14./13. Jahrhunderts v. Chr., einige kleine Baityloi aus Trachyt und über ein Dutzend Glasflussperlen in verschiedenen Farben und Formen.
In der Nähe liegt die Nuraghensiedlung Gremanu.
How this page was madeSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): MadauCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): MadauCC BY-SA 4.0
The summary at the top of this page was written by MiniMax-M3 (2026-11-07) from the cited Wikipedia article “Madau”, translated from German. The numbers in it were checked automatically against the source text. The rest of the page is the article itself, the structured records and computed distances.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Sardinian giants' graves (tombe di giganti)
"Giants' grave", tomba dei giganti in Italian, is the name given by local people and archaeologists to a type of Sardinian megalithic gallery grave built in the Bronze Age by the Nuragic civilization. They were collective tombs, and about 800 have been found throughout Sardinia. A stone cairn lies over the burial chambers, and some examples have a cup-shaped entrance forecourt like that of the court cairns of Ireland.
There are two general types. In the "slab type", uncut slabs are set on end in the ground and arranged side by side; there is usually a central stele, the largest slab and up to 4 metres high, with a doorway cut through it. A second type has a stele and walls built of shaped blocks.
Coddu Vecchiu, near Arzachena in northern Sardinia, is one of the larger giants' graves, with a stele, megaliths and a gallery grave, and the Nuraghe La Prisgiona nearby. It was excavated in 1966 by Editta Castaldi, who recovered pans, bowls and plates with comb decoration, and vases with bent necks, of the early Nuragic Bonnanaro culture. This suggests that it was built early in the Nuragic period, about 1800 to 1600 BCE. It appears to have begun as a cist that was expanded in the Middle Bronze Age and covered by a gallery grave with the ornate stele portal stone.
The name "giants' grave" was given by local people, and archaeologists have kept it; it is a popular label, not evidence of who was buried.
Dating is by the pottery found inside, which can show that a tomb was used over a long time.
When visiting, look for the curved forecourt, the tall central stele with its doorway, and the long mound behind it.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Giants' grave, Wikipedia: Coddu Vecchiu, Wikipedia: Nuragic civilization · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 600 BCE
Die 321 bekannten Gigantengräber sind Monumente der bronzezeitlichen Bonnanaro-Kultur (2.200–1.600 v. Chr.), die Vorläuferkultur der Nuraghenkultur ist.
Source
Photographs
1 photograph, each with its author and licence
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 1900–730 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for giants' tombs in Italy; this site has not been dated itself. The Sardinian giant's graves are collective funerary structures of the whole Nuragic era and were replaced by pit graves in the Iron Age.Source for this date
Where it stands
Italy
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 40°07′14″ N, 9°19′52″ EFor a GPS or map app: 40.12056, 9.33111
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q1883189wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Tomba di giganti di Madau.jpgMarcello SeddaiuCC BY-SA 4.0
Report a correctionWrong date, name, photograph or source? Tell us and it will be put right.
Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Text from the Wikipedia article "Madau" (German), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors
- Wikipedia (German): MadauCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q1883189CC0