Tombs of the Giants in Sardinia
There are still many unanswered questions regarding the Giants' Tombs in Sardinia. Some say that these are the tombs of giants who walked the Earth in the distant past and that the gravestones would be remnants of the legendary lost continent of Atlantis. Who built these enigmatic structures? And for what purpose? Were they used as mass graves?
During the Bronze Age, (3300 – 700 BC), the Nuragic civilization erected in Sardinia what have become famous as the Tombs of the Giants. These megalithic structures were used by the Nuragic people as public tombs, for the common burial of many individuals.
So far, more than 300 similar monuments have been discovered in Sardinia, among which the most famous is certainly that of Coddu Vecchiu.
These particular tombs essentially consist of a burial chamber up to 30 meters long and up to 3 meters high. Originally the entire structure was covered by a mound more or less resembling an overturned boat. The front part of the structure is delimited by a sort of semicircle, almost symbolizing the horns of a bull, and in the most ancient tombs, in the center of the semicircle there is a stele, in some cases up to 4 meters high, finely sculpted and equipped with a small opening at the base which - it is assumed - was closed by a stone and through which the tomb was accessed.
The impressive dimensions of these structures recall the nebulous and somewhat mysterious past of human history, which is still full of unanswered questions.
According to some legends, before the arrival of the Nuragic civilization, these tombs housed the remains of powerful giant men who lived in the area, an idea largely due to the massive size of the stones used, some of which reach a height of 30 meters. However, no remains of giant humans have ever been found in the graves.
The tomb of Coddu Vecchiu is the most enigmatic site, as little is known about the rituals that were performed at the site, or the symbolism that was evoked. Some believe that the tombs were considered portals to the afterlife, a sort of passage from the physical to the spiritual world.
The Nuragic civilization built the tombs on sites believed to be highly geo-energetic: the slabs were arranged in a semicircular position, so as to align themselves with the energy lines of the Earth and had the ability to capture and amplify this geo-energy.
The body was placed on stones to obtain healing from the positive energy emanating from the area. This force was believed to also benefit the dead, aiding them in the process of separating the spiritual soul from the physical body.
Therefore, the Giants' Tombs offer an interesting insight into the rituals of ancient civilizations, but they do not provide much other information beyond the fact that they were used as tombs: they seem to offer more questions than answers.
Sardinia is also known for the remarkable statues of the Giants of Mont'e Prama, an extraordinary set of stone statuary fragments from the Nuragic era depicting archers, warriors, boxers and models of nuraghe.
The statues, of monumental dimensions, represent the manifestation of a civilization that has no equal in the entire western Mediterranean basin and project new light on the art and culture of the populations of Sardinia.
A common feature of the statues is the rendering of the face and in particular of the eyes. Two concentric circles, together with a very prominent forehead that descends onto a stylized and pronounced nose, make the gaze of the statues magnetic and severe.
There remains, therefore, the suggestion and the great mystery that seems to shine through from the vestiges of the Nuragic civilisation, which still seems to jealously guard many of its secrets.
Someone has linked the large nuraghe tombs to the legend of the giants of Atlantis... who knows, perhaps our Sardinia was one of the colonies founded by the survivors of the Atlantean civilization.
