The Domus de Janasin Sardinian language “Fairy Houses“, They have become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. These buildings of Sardinia are hypogean tombs carved into the rock dating back to the Neolithic, therefore much older than the well -known Nuraghi. With this resolution of 12 July, the World Heritage Committee, during the Paris session, reconfirms theItaly The First country in the world for number of sites registered in UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Domus de Janas There are more than 2000 on the whole islandwidespread in each region of Sardinia (although in smaller numbers in Gallura, the north -western part), and were made by the pre -rage populations during the Neolithicstarting from V Millennium BCup to the threshold of the Bronze Age, around 2200-2000 AC these are artificial caves dig with stone toolsbefore the processing of metals, on the sides of the heights, isolated, or in real Necropolis with dozens of tombs. The Domus de Janas They are characterized by their architecture, very complex and varied. The simplest are composed of a single environment, while others have niches for the deposition of the deceased. The most spectacular ones have a succession of different rooms and the internal walls carved to remember the features of the huts in which the communities that had made them lived, with pitched roofs and wooden beams replicated in the stone, with painted walls or symbols such as Bull heads or spirals carved in the rock.
We don’t know much about the funeral customs of the pre -rage people, also because These hypogea were reused several times over the millennialeading to the dispersion of the most ancient human remains and archaeological materials. The Domus de Janas they were reused with different uses already starting from the Bronze Age (2200-1000 BC), during the nuragic phase of the history of Sardinia, and then cross the Phoenician, Punic, Roman and medieval period (some became churches in the Byzantine era). It was not unusual until a few decades ago that they were used like shelter for cattle or as a warehouse. Their great antiquity and the numerous reuses to which the Domus de Janas They were subjected to millennia have made it very difficult to reconstruct their original use. Their name in Sardinian, “Fairy Houses“, testifies to the charm and mystery that they had to exercise these artificial ravines in those who saw them in the following eras: one popular belief in fact he saw them as a residence of the Janaslegendary creatures with some sections halfway between do and the witch. According to legend, in fact, these ancient tombs would have been the homes of the Janashybrid creatures between fairies and witches.
The UNESCO candidacy, formalized between 2021 and 2023sees the Domus de Janas as serial sitethat is, composed of multiple goods. To date the Domus de Janas best known and better preserved than Sardinia are found in the necropolis of Herghelu Rujuclose to Algheroin the necropolis of Montessua Villaperuccioand in the necropolis of Sant’Andrea Priua Bonorva.
