27b: The Pranu Muttedu park, in Goni, represents one of the most evocative archaeological sites in inner Sardinia. The park area is divided into two parts, with a total extension of about 200,000 square meters, and is home to one of the most important monumental complexes of Sardinian prehistory. The excavations carried out in the early 1980s uncovered numerous artifacts of different types and craftsmanship, attributable to settled communities dating back to the Recent Neolithic (3200 – 2800 BC). The presence of numerous tombs and menhirs suggests that the site was used for burial and religious rites connected to ancestor worship. The archaeological complex has one of the highest concentrations of Menhirs known in Sardinia (about sixty, variously distributed in pairs, alignments, or groups).
The nuraghe Goni, located in the territory of the town of the same name, is a circular single-tower building about 10 meters in diameter, adapting to the plateau and incorporating rock outcrops in its base structures. The external walling, made of hewn limestone blocks arranged in regular rows, is preserved to a maximum remaining height of 8.10 meters. On the sides exposed to the West and Southeast, at a height of 3/3.5 meters from the ground, there is clear evidence of a restoration carried out in antiquity, rendered necessary due to the collapse of the walls.
The photos of the Pranu Mutteddu park are by Bibi Pinna, Cinzia Olias, and Nicola Brbicha Tornello. Those of the Nuraghe Goni are by Francesca Cossu, Andrea Mura-Nuragando Sardegna, and Bibi Pinna.
