Nuraghe Armungia

A strategic point on the Flumendosa valley

Overlooking the Flumendosa valley to the north-east, the nuraghe had a key role in controlling the territory. The river, already in prehistoric times, was a route of contact and exchange with other communities, even beyond the sea. The findings of fragments of Mycenaean ceramics and Cypriot copper in nearby sites, such as the Nuraghe Arrubiu in Orroli and the sacred well of Funtana Coberta Ballao , confirm this. This scenario gives us the image of a system of towers in communication with each other, which guarded the natural routes of Sardinia.

The interior: construction techniques and reuse over time

The entrance, facing south-east, leads into an ogival corridor with two lateral cells. The internal chamber , over five metres in diameter, extends in height for about nine metres, with 31 concentric rows in projection. The archaeologist Giovanni Lilliu defined it as “one of the most spacious Nuragic chambers on the island”. A staircase carved into the masonry allowed one to climb to the upper levels, perhaps reachable via a wooden mezzanine.

During the excavations of 1985, traces of the reuse of the monument in the Byzantine era emerged: a cistern plastered in cocciopesto and the remains of a burial with an early medieval bronze buckle , dating back to between the 8th and 9th centuries AD.