Our first tomba of the day, and an unusual one in that is has two pairs of side cells off its corridor. The entrance to the tomba is away from the road, though the back has fallen so you can see right the way through.
The right hand wing of the esedra has been lost in the field; the left side forms part of the field boundary.
The info board showed a tomba in the field directly opposite, but we couldn't spot it and didn't investigate too closely as there were numerous dogs barking at us from the farm next door, but as usual no one in sight for us to ask.
From the fork in the road, it's just over 250 metres, and just past a house on the right, to the field the dolmen is in on the left. The signpost was lying in the long grass - Beardy picked it up and put in on the wall - but an info board (a little too weary from the sun to be of much use) confirmed we were in the right place.
No one had been here for a while, from the height of the grass and wild flowers!
It actually took us quite a while to find the dolmen ..... from the road, there's a narrow strip before the field opens out. From the end of this strip, there are two distinct clumps of trees ahead - go between them and look for a stone kerb on your left. There's a rocky outcrop at the end of the kerb, and I spotted, buried in the grass, a bright yellow "DOLMEN" sign. Look to your left and you should see the capstone.
This tomba is right in Birori - it reminded us of the cairn circle at
Aviemore for its proximity to the houses.
To find it, go to the centre of the village where, at a cross roads, there's a couple of shops. Turn to the north; the first, almost immediate, left turn goes into a parking area - we asked directions here - and were told to take the second left instead, and follow the road round. The tomb is signposted from here, with modern development all around. Look for the pink neon hotel sign to help you locate it, if lost.
The grasscutters were out with strimmers in the village, but hadn't reached the site yet, so we were waist deep in grass at many points.
The tomb is sizeable - approx 17m long and 12m wide; there's no stele, but the corridor has two side niches opposite each other, a feature that we'd only seen at
Lassia nearby. There's a bench along the front of the esedra, and the walls of the corridor angle in towards each other.
The esedra in particular is easy to see is of double walled construction, with the cavity filled with smaller stones, rubble and earth.
If you are heading west on the 129 towards Macomer, this is what you'll find at the first junction you come across for Birori.
There's no way in; there are two collapsed small tholos rooms on its south side, so the chances are it's at least a trilobate if not quadrilobate structure.
There are some village huts visible in the long grass around the nuraghe too.
From
Nuraghe Miuddu, head to the gate where you enter the field and then the corner beyond it. Follow the edge of the field south - there'll be a hedgerow to your left - and climb the (low) wire fence at the end. Now clamber over the big rocky outcrop to the right. The tomba is on the slope just below and to the right a bit.
Quite ruinous, with a bush growing right in front of the centre of the esedra. There's one capstone still in place - the views from here are incredible!