The cult of the waters is one of the hallmarks of nuraghic civilisation.
Springs and wells were held to be sacred, and striking temple structures were built around them. The monument we are about to visit is one of these. This is a temple created to receive and protect the waters which spout from a spring. Its documentary value is truly exceptional: it is the only monument of this kind in which the above-ground portion has been preserved. The building rests directly on the steep rocky wall. It is constructed in rough-hewn basalt and trachyte blocks.
To strengthen the junction between the blocks, lead joints were used, a practice also found in other sacred nuraghic buildings.
The building comprises a vestibule, a staircase and the chamber housing the water spring.
The roof is double-pitched, with a well-designed gutter.
The roof was once topped by a block shaped as a truncated pyramid, in which twenty votive bronze swords were set, held firm in the holes in the stone by small amounts of poured lead. A second, smaller spring received the water which overflowed from the main spring in the rainy season. This was done to ensure that the sacred water did not go wasted. The life of this water temple covers the period from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age (1200 – 800 BC), when a structural collapse led to its abandonment.