The complex dates to the beginning of the Iron Age, between 900 and 800 BC.

At the current state of research the construction date of individual parts cannot be defined more precisely.

THE NURAGHE AND THE COVERED COURTYARD

The heart of the nuraghe is the central tower, with two superimposed tholos chambers. The tower is surrounded by four secondary towers linked by curtain walls.

The curtains enclose a courtyard covered by a vault with a small opening at the centre, the oculus. The oculus let in light and could allow smoke from hearths to escape. A vaulted courtyard is unusual in a Nuragic building.

The entrance leads to the courtyard, from which the central and secondary towers are reached. The internal passages are called ànditi, some still in excellent condition.

The upper and outer parts of the nuraghe have collapsed over time.

THE VILLAGE

Around the nuraghe extended a village of which only some huts have been excavated; originally there were about 200.

The huts have circular or quadrangular plans, face courtyards and mostly do not communicate directly. Walls are of stone courses bonded with mud mortar and stabilised with small chinking stones; inside, some rooms are divided by stone slabs and have niches.

THE OTHER MONUMENTS

The area also includes “Punta ’e su Crabile”, a single-tower nuraghe with one chamber. In front of it are two small dolmens, prehistoric tombs.

Between the two nuraghi, in a cork oak grove, is a giants’ tomb with an apsidal rectangular body and one semicircular arm. A megalithic circle and a megaron temple are also reported nearby.

The huts were dwellings and probably also storerooms and workshops. In the village foodstuffs were stored, cereals ground, pots fired, wool worked and tools sharpened.

Excavations yielded jars, grinding stones, mortars, pestles, pottery discs, pans, whetstones, flint and obsidian flakes, bronze sickles, askoid vessels, spindles and loom weights.

The first excavation campaigns of the village, between 2001 and 2003, brought to light fifteen huts.

Restoration and consolidation made the nuraghe structure more legible and clarified its architecture, especially the covered courtyard. Not all rooms have yet been investigated.

SardegnaCultura, “Villanova Monteleone, Area archeologica dell’Appiu”.

SardegnaTurismo, “Nuraghe Appiu”.

Augusto Mulas, report on nuraghe Appiu (2014).

The name Appiu may derive from the Sardinian àppiu, “celery”, referring to the wild celery growing in the area.