DOMUS DE JANAS: THE FAIRIES' HOUSES

In Sardinia, in the womb of Mother Earth, lies a mysterious underground world represented by over 3500 tombs carved into the rock starting in the mid-Middle Neolithic (around 4500 BC) and used for at least 2000 years, sometimes into historical times. Inspired by the cycle of nature and the concept of life-death-rebirth, the Sardinian people of the time created "stone wombs" over the centuries to lay their "sleeping" loved ones to rest, entrusting them to the arms of the Mother Goddess and the strength of the Bull, like seeds planted in the earth awaiting the awakening of a new life.

Dug into isolated boulders or rocky ridges, often forming necropolises, these thousands of collective burials still characterize the Sardinian landscape today and exude a magical enchantment that has inspired popular legends reflected in the variety of names they have been given: from forreddos (small ovens), to domos de sos nanos (dwarf houses), and domus de jannas (house of doors) . But the official name adopted is domus de janas ( fairy houses), because their chamber-like structure inspired the legend that they were dwellings ( domus ) in which fairy beings (the janas ) guarded immense treasures of gold and silver.

Domus de Janas are not the only cave tombs in the Mediterranean: in Sardinia, however, they display a unique and grandiose origin, development, and features. Indeed, the Neolithic people carved, engraved, and painted divine emblems and propitiatory figures on the walls of over 200 tombs, demonstrating remarkable artisanal and artistic skill and a devotion based on a symbolic universe that still inspires great wonder today : bovine horns, cupels, spirals, anthropomorphic and geometric figures, architectural elements for an ideal home, sa domu , with chambers, "false doors," and windows for life in the afterlife. The architectural and symbolic characteristics of the domus de Janas represent a unique and invaluable heritage and one of the most complete testimonies in the entire Mediterranean to the spirituality, funerary cults, and founding myths of the Neolithic people.

Sas Concas, Loc.Oniferi, photo by G.Concu

The largest necropolises are those of Montessu (Villaperuccio, 39 tombs) and Anghelu Ruju (Alghero, 38). The former is located in Sulcis, within a striking rocky amphitheater: the thirty-nine domus de janas are distributed into four groups: in the eastern group, the Tomba delle spirali and the Grutta de is proccus stand out; in the western group, the Sa cresiedda tomb features a large pavilion and two cylindrical columns; a little further south, the Tomba delle corna features magnificent reproductions of protomes or perhaps boats. Traces of red and yellow paint are still visible in other tombs.