Funtana Coberta is a limestone sacred well with vestibule, staircase and tholos chamber, surrounded by the spaces of cult activities.
THE MONUMENT
The well was built between the Middle Bronze Age (1900-1350 BC) and the Recent Bronze Age (1350-1150 BC).
Frequentation during the protohistoric age seems to end by the beginning of the Final Bronze Age (1150-850 BC).
The well remained abandoned until the late Punic period.
At the beginning of the Republican age one of the rooms was used as a store for amphorae.
DESCRIPTION
THE WELL AND THE SANCTUARY SPACES
The well, in limestone, consists of a small forecourt (vestibule), a staircase and a circular chamber.
The twelve-step staircase descends to the circular chamber covered with a tholos, a false dome. At the centre of the chamber opens the well shaft cut into the rock, from which the spring water rises.
The well was not isolated: around it are still visible rooms, hearths and walls documenting the many activities carried out there.
THE BRONZE HOARD
In a room next to the well, a buried jar contained a hoard of bronzes: working scraps and objects intended for remelting, axes, blade fragments, pieces of ingots and votive swords.
The deposit is not a simple accumulation of metal for remelting, but a ritual gesture linked to the sacredness of the place. Traces of burning around the well also testify to the use of fire in cult activities.
ABANDONMENT AND REUSE
After the Nuragic frequentation the well seems to have been abandoned until the late Punic period and the beginning of the Republican age. In this phase one of the rooms was used as a store for amphorae dating to the 3rd–1st century BC.
HISTORY AND USES
The late Punic and Republican reuse shows the continuity of frequentation of the area, with a function different from the original cult one.
EXCAVATIONS
Antonio Taramelli first excavated Funtana Coberta in 1918. Research resumed in 1994, followed by new excavations in 1998 and 2003. In recent times the monument has been restored.
SOURCES
Funtana Coberta Ballao_Master.docx, scientific project document.
Maria Rosaria Manunza, “La stratigrafia del vano α di Funtana Coberta (Ballao-CA)”, Fasti Online, 2008.
SardegnaCultura, “Ballao, Pozzo Sacro di Funtana Coberta”.
IDESE – Ministero della Cultura, “Pozzo sacro Funtana Coberta”.
SardegnaTurismo, “Funtana Coberta”.
THE NAME OF THE SITE
Funtana Coberta means “covered spring” and recalls the spring enclosed within the sacred well.
THE LANDSCAPE
Ballao lies in the Gerrei, in south-eastern Sardinia, in an area of valleys and limestone reliefs.
The well stands in a small valley: the spring water was the reason for the sacredness of the place and its frequentation.
