Carbonia · IT

Parco Archeologico Cannas di Sotto

Hidden in the green heart of Carbonia, on a low limestone hill between Corso Iglesias and Via Alghero, the Parco Archeologico Cannas di Sotto protects one of Sardinia's most intriguing prehistoric cemeteries: a sprawling necropolis of *domus de janas*, the rock-cut chamber tombs that islanders long believed to be the dwellings of fairies. Around twenty-six of these underground 'fairy houses' have been identified, carved into the travertine and reused, reshaped and reoccupied over millennia, until a rural farmhouse settlement eventually grew directly on top of them. What makes the site special is not just its age but its remarkable continuity. The earliest tombs date from the Final Neolithic — the Ozieri and San Ciriaco cultures, roughly from 4400 to 3700 BC onward — and the necropolis remained in use into the Copper Age. A covered walkway links the park to the nearby Museo Archeologico Villa Sulcis, where the burial goods and a full-size reconstruction of the excavated Tomb 12 are displayed, making the open-air park and the museum two halves of a single story.