Neolithic stone cists and circles in Sardinia

Five stone cists make up the Necropolis of Li Muri, an archaeological site in the municipality of Arzachena, Sardinia. This site dates back to the second half of the fourth millennium BC, a product of the Neolithic Arzachena culture.

The necropolis is surrounded by four stone circles that originally marked the limits of the mound of earth and rubble erected over the burial. Bodies were interred inside the cists, probably individually - unlike in the rest of Sardinia where the graves were usually collective. The dead were accompanied by grave goods including pottery, stone vessels, hatchets and bead necklaces of steatite and gemstones.

The architecture of the necropolis shows strong similarities with contemporary sites of Corsica, Provence and the Pyrenees. The Necropolis of Li Muri forms part of the Arzachena Archaeological Park along with two other antiquities: the Nuraghe Albucciu and the Giants' grave of Coddu Vecchiu.

Sources: Wikipedia, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons