Grotta Corbeddu

About the museum

The Grotta Corbeddu opens in the Lanaittu valley, in the Supramonte di Oliena, and extends for about 130 metres across three chambers. The last stretch ends in a shaft that once connected it to the wider cave system of the Supramonte. The name recalls a famous bandit, Giovanni Corbeddu Salis, who took refuge there for a long time; the cave also appears in a novel by Grazia Deledda.

Excavations in the second chamber have yielded some of the oldest remains of Homo sapiens in Sardinia: a temporal bone and a jaw of the same individual, dated to about 13,500 years ago, and a hand phalanx dating to about 20,000 years ago. Along with the human remains, stone and bone tools and fossils of now-extinct animals have emerged, including the deer Megaloceros cazioti and Prolagus sardus. Analyses suggest that these populations, isolated on the island, differed from contemporary ones in continental Europe. The cavity was visited again in the Neolithic period.

Nearby are the Nuragic village of Tiscali, the spring of Su Gologone, the caves of Sa Oche and Su Bentu and the Monte Corrasi massif.

Highlights

• Three chambers over about 130 m of length
• Homo sapiens remains among the oldest in Sardinia
• Fossils of Megaloceros cazioti and Prolagus sardus
• Natural setting of the Lanaittu valley

Admission & discounts

Full ticket price as listed by Museionline; the Sardegna Turismo portal, however, reports free admission.

Accessibility

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Kids & families

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Getting there & parking

From Oliena take Via Mannironi and the SP 46 towards Dorgali; after a few kilometres turn right towards the spring of Su Gologone and then, at the junction, right towards the Lanaittu valley.

Amenities & dining

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Events & venue rental

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