From collective tombs to individual burials: changes and transformations in Sardinian society over the second and first millennia BC

The paper aims to analyse the Sardinian funerary practices through the development phases of the Nuragic and post-Nuragic cultural aspects, with the purpose to identify the transformations that occurred in society through this long development period. In the Middle and Recent Bronze Ages, the so-called Giants’ Tomb is the most widespread funerary structure, a monumental stone structure used as a collective tomb. In the Final Bronze and Early Iron Ages, although Giants’ tombs were still in use, other types of tombs came into use, both as collective (corridor tombs) and also as individual tombs (flat inhumations, pit or cist tombs). The analysis allows us to raise hypotheses about long-term changes in society. Monumental architecture and archaeological data will be considered in an attempt to outline the relationship between funerary practices and society during the Sardinian Late Prehistory.