The nine Domus de Janas of the Necropolis of Puttu Codinu represent, along with the Appiu Nuraghe settlement, the most famous archaeological site in Villanova Monteleone.
The name of these 'houses of the dead', named after the fairies (janas) but actually the collective tombs of a village that must have been nearby, means 'well of rock' and dates back from 3500 BC (final Neolithic period) to the end of the 3rd millennium BC (Eneolithic) and were frequented, as is confirmed by the artefacts found here, until 1800-1600 BC (Early Bronze Age).
Two funeral hypogea open up in one rocky outcrop, and all the others in the second one. The burials are preceded by short corridors (dromoi). They extend longitudinally with a T-shaped design through a series of rooms (anteroom, main cell and lateral spaces), in which the deceased were placed along with their grave goods. Outside the domus 7 there are two menhirs, 'interpreted' as grave markers.
Villanova is dominated by Mount Minerva, a spectacular extinct volcano that is covered by a forest, where you can admire another Domus de Janas burial ground.
In an archaeological park in the forest of Mount Cuccu there is a complex dating back to the Iron Age (900-800 BC), formed by the trilobed Nuraghe of Appiu, a village of approximately 200 huts, another monotower nuraghe and a Tomb of Giants with two dolmens. Nearby, there is also a megalithic circle and a megaron temple. The Tomb of Giants of Laccaneddu and the towers on Mounts Lua and Sa Rughe are other Nuragic buildings in Villanova.
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