Arzachena: La Prisgiona and the Giants’ Tomb of Coddu Vecchiu
Sardinia, Italy
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The False Dome
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250
XP
+100 Italy
= 350 total
1 day
Arzachena: La Prisgiona and the Giants’ Tomb of Coddu Vecchiu
250 + 100 XP
Two Bronze Age sites stand within a few hundred metres of each other outside Arzachena. The nuraghe of La Prisgiona was lived in from the 14th to the 9th century BC: its central chamber carries a false dome more than eight metres high, a well over seven metres deep sits in the courtyard, and fifteen of the huts of the village around it have been excavated, among them a meeting hut with a ring-shaped bench. The giants’ tomb of Coddu Vecchiu was built in three goes — a corridor dolmen about ten metres long in the Chalcolithic, reuse in the early Bronze Age, and rebuilding in the middle Bronze Age, in the nuragic period proper.
Required Activities
1
of 5
Stand in the central chamber of La Prisgiona and look up into the false dome — over eight metres of stone corbelled inwards course by course, holding itself up with no mortar and no arch
2
of 5
Find the meeting hut in the village and count the places round its ring-shaped bench: twelve, set facing inwards
3
of 5
Find the well in the courtyard, sunk more than seven metres, and work out what that depth says about how long the place expected to be lived in
4
of 5
Walk the village and pick out how many of the excavated huts you can still read on the ground, and where the excavated ground stops
5
of 5
At Coddu Vecchiu, trace the corridor dolmen of the earliest phase, about ten metres end to end, then find where the later nuragic rebuilding was added in front of it
Stand in the central chamber of La Prisgiona and look up into the false dome — over eight metres of stone corbelled inwards course by course, holding itself up with no mortar and no arch
Find the meeting hut in the village and count the places round its ring-shaped bench: twelve, set facing inwards
Find the well in the courtyard, sunk more than seven metres, and work out what that depth says about how long the place expected to be lived in
Walk the village and pick out how many of the excavated huts you can still read on the ground, and where the excavated ground stops
At Coddu Vecchiu, trace the corridor dolmen of the earliest phase, about ten metres end to end, then find where the later nuragic rebuilding was added in front of it
Before you go
La Prisgiona and Coddu Vecchiu are separate sites with separate entrances, a few hundred metres apart on the same lane outside Arzachena, so allow for two stops rather than one.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
250 XP
Italy country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
350 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in Italy.
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