(Monday is supposed to be P-Day for missionaries, but many times it's a day of travel for us so we can be in the zone prepared for zone conference the next day. The Assistants have to follow the same schedule we do and don't get a normal P-Day. Sometimes we take an occasional diversion so they can see or do something, even if only for a few minutes. On this trip, we had a three hour drive to get to Cagliari for interviews and an unusually long length of time to get there since our ferry landed so early in the morning. As we started on our journey in Sardegna, we saw a sign that said "Tomb of the Giants" and decided to check it out.)
HISTORICAL PERIOD: around the Early Bronze Age (2000 B.C.)
The Tombs of Giants, so called because of their gigantic dimensions, are another typical element of Sardinia's megalithic period. Usually the frontal part of their structure has some sort of semicircle, almost as to symbolize a bull's horns.
The tomb of the giants is an enormous Sardinian gallery grave. Built during the bronze age by the Nuraghic civilization, it shows the true strength of the Sardinian people during the megalithic period.
Popular folklore holds that these tombs were the burial site for giants that once dominated the mountainous lands in western Sardinia. The average Sardinian is small in stature, thus leading archaeologists to believe that these tombs were instead used as a site for massive and multiple burials.
Over 350 tombs have been found scattered throughout the island. The small arched entrance at the bottom of the stone slab is not a door leading into the massive grave. It’s a passage way for the spirits who rest in them.
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