Funtana Coberta, the ‘covered fountain’, is one of the best-preserved Nuragic sacred wells in Sardinia. Built between the thirteenth and ninth centuries BC over a spring near Ballao, in the Gerrei hills, it follows the classic three-part plan of a small open vestibule, a stone staircase of twelve steps beneath a covered roof of lintels, and a round chamber with a false dome about 5.5 meters high, above a well shaft five meters deep.
The Nuragic people worshipped water here, and excavations found bronze swords, oxhide-shaped ingots and bronze statuettes. Excavations started in 1918 under Antonio Taramelli and resumed in 1994 and 2008. Today a steel grille protects the well.
