ITALY AND ITS ISLANDS 



suggests that the existence of the fortified en- 

 closure of Nossiu, where there is no sign of a true 

 nuraghe, may mean that there were certain 

 communities which succeeded in maintaining 

 their independence in the face of these powerful 

 rulers. But here, as he himself is the first to 

 admit, we are in the realm of pure conjecture. 



Fig. 18. Giant's Tomb at Muraguada, Sar- 

 dinia. (Mackenzie, Papers of the British School 

 of J\owe, V. ) 



It is now established that in the Giants' Tombs 

 of Sardinia we are to see the graves of the inhabi- 

 tants of the nuraghe villages. Every Giant's 

 Tomb lies close to such a village, and almost every 

 village has its Giants' Tombs, one or more in 

 number according to its size. A Giant's Tomb 

 consists of a long rectangular chamber of upright 

 slabs roofed by corbelled masonry (Fig. 18). 



87 



