27 – The Well Temple of Funtana Coberta, in Ballao, is one of the 31 sites proposed to Unesco as standard bearers of the grandiose Nuragic civilisation, its history and its immense material evidence.
“The temple, built with limestone boulders in opus subquadratum, consists of a small vestibule, a narrow descending staircase covered with a stepped slab, and a circular chamber covered with a ‘tholos’ (total length 10.60 m).
Of the elevation, only the plan profile has survived. The emerging structures are currently limited to the keyhole-shaped perimeter wall enclosing the vestibule and the well drum. The vestibule or atrium, partially paved, has a rectangular plan: there is no bench-seat. The staircase to the well chamber, with vertical walls, has 12 steps. The width of the stairwell, 0.90 m at ground level, widens considerably in the middle of its development and then narrows again to about 0.90 m near the last step, for a total depth of 2.70 m.
The ‘tholos’ chamber, lacking the last closing ring, is almost circular in plan (3.50 m in diameter) and approximately 5.50 metres high. The masonry consists of roughly squared blocks arranged in regular rows with a few wedges. The chamber is paved with limestone slabs arranged in a radial pattern. In the centre of the floor opens the shaft, the width of which goes from 1.35 m at the mouth to 0.90 m at the base given by the live rock; it extends below the floor of the chamber and is lined – throughout its development (5.20 m deep) – with medium-sized stones arranged in 36 rows’ (Sardegna Cultura).
The photos of the shaft temple of Funtana Coberta, in Ballao, are by Sergio Melis, Bibi Pinna, Nicola Castangia and Alberto Valdès.
