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On the SS292 south of Villanova Monteleone, with great views towards Lago de Temo.
It was 2pm on a gloriously hot day; the site is fenced off and a recently adapted notice said that it would open at 14:30, so we sat in the car park and had a picnic, and read. And waited. No sign of anyone, we waited another 10 mins and then decided to wait no longer. Beardy took the direct route of over the tall padlocked gates, and I went for the walk along the drystone wall between the barbed wire approach. For future reference, the easiest method if needed is the exit I used - under the tree at the corner of the road and carpark!
The entrance fee is 1½ euros, and we left sufficient coins on a stone by the ticket hut, in case someone appeared ...
There are 9 tombs here, set into two outcrops of rock, of which the most interesting is no 8, with its main chamber (through an anti chamber) having a ceiling carved to represent a roof and rafters, and a false door to the afterlife. The tombs mainly have double framed entrances and cups in the floor of the anti-chambers for offerings, and grooves which I assumed where for drainage.
Admittedly, we'd missed some carvings (other than the architectural features) here, but for a signposted, pay to enter site, I was a little disappointed, compared to what we'd seen already (and without knowing where our next stop would be, the fabulous Santu Pedru).
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We'd driven north through Putifigari in search of Laccaneddu tomba di gigante (in vain, with poor babelfished directions and no signposting) and had planned to head for a beach and relax, but chief navigator Beardy spotted this on one of my bits of mapping and announced it was right on the road, on the way back.
Heading west towards Olmedo on the 127bis, there's a sign for this site about 400m before it, at a right turn. Don't turn right, but watch out for the layby contained within the slip roads of the junction as it's probably the best place to park.
Tomb 1 really is right up against the road.
A 16m corridor first - with a metal gate padlocked across the entrance, but someone had already bent back one of the bars and we were able to squeeze into the anti chamber with an impressive entrance to the main part of the tomb. Apparently discovered by chance 1959, still sealed by the stone slabs of the Bonnanaro culture circa 1600BCE.
I donned my headtorch and climbed in ....
The first room has two massive pillars supporting it, and a false door carved into the wall immediately facing the entrance. It's huge .... and dark! The torch wasn't thowing out much light at all, so I had to rely on the trusty method of flash photography and was immediately spooked by the shape on the right hand wall. The walls are painted in blood coloured ochre with carved doors, but I looked for the bulls horns mentioned in one set of research notes in vain.
A series of rooms lead off this main chamber, with their doors set maybe 3ft high in the walls. With limited light, I didn't climb in but have included a link to a diagram of the whole layout.
So, some not so dainty wiggling back through the main entrance and the bent gate, to explore the slopes of the hill ....
There are another 8 tombs up here!
The entrance area to one was flooded with thousands of tadpoles in the murky green water, and another was mainly collapsed. Further up though, crawling into a tomb revealed another huge double pillared room with chambers off it. Even though I'd been warned there was one in there, I couldn't help but shriek as the resident bat swooped past me .....
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Oh my! Wow! It took a while for us to find this place, we'd been trying to get to it from the wrong road.
Easiest - from Monte D'Accoddi, you are forced to turn south along the 131 towards Sassari (and it should be noted, there are two bits of 131 round here, you want the east branch to find the altar). At the first opportunity, turn back on yourself, pass the entrance to Monte D'Accoddi again, and straight on at the next side turns - you'll see a Q8 petrol station on the other carriageway and then 24km marker just before a large cluster of dilapidated buildings. Turn right (obviously!) here and choose the left hand one of the two tracks in front of you and drive to the end at the back of some houses.
The tombs start right at the edge of the track and continue across the scrub land between the fields. I'd seen a couple of images online and knew I had to visit, but wasn't expecting quite what was found ..... and further research reveals more we missed too!
The site has incredibly deep cart ruts - like those found on Malta for example at Clapham Junction - running across it.
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Mystery solved!
Having located its neighbour, it would have been rude to pass only a few km from Li Mizzani and we were feeling still in need of a good tomba having spent most of the week exploring domus je janas (groups of rock cut tombs).
The site had been so busy on our previous visit, we weren't surprised to see a few cars parked along the fence. We wandered in, to find just 4 people there, and in a combination of Italian, German and English, struck up conversation, and were fed delicious local cheese for our efforts. Cheers, Salvatore!
A couple of A4 laminates hung in the tree confirmed - the magnetic energy here is being used for natural healing!
I'm not sure about the claims that it can cure glaucoma and infertility, amongst other things, but this certainly is a beautiful place with a definite charm. I'll be back again.
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Article about the use of Li Mizzani for healing
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Follow the directions to Li Mizzani, but at the fork in the road where you turn left for that now signposted site, go right following signs to a church instead. Keep going, not far past the path to the church and 2.2km from the turn, you'll find an old wooden ladder and a more modern white metal one to help you climb over the dry stone wall under a tree on the right, with a fallen info board.
There's more than a tomba here!
A fallen menhir, the remains of a round building and a more recent rectangular building too.
The tomba itself ... sadly ruinous; there's no stele, no funeral corridor, all that remains is the esedra and that's quite overgrown. You could almost miss it while standing in front of it.
One for completists - we'd driven part way down the road 18 months before and not found this site, so I'd been determined to see what was there ....
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A short distance north east of the pretty fishing village of Marsaxlokk is Tas-Silg temple. I knew it wasn't officially open to the public, but decided to go and take a look anyway. The site has a reasonably tall wall round it, and the gates are chunks of solid metal. Nothing to see here, without an appointment!
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