The site, known as the Nuraghe di Punta Nuraghe, is situated on top of a small promontory overlooking the Gulf of Cugnana, at the edge of the village of Porto Rotondo.

Excavations took place between the 18th October and 15th November 2011 with the aim of defining the extent of the archaeological area and assessing the costs and logistics of undertaking an overall investigation of the monument.

A perfectly round tower, about 4 m in diameter, stands on the site but was almost completely hidden by a mass of stones that had been accumulated by farmers clearing them from their land. Sections of a wall surrounding the tower were also visible, built of carefully worked large granite blocks, using an advanced construction technique that is rare in Gallura. The structure’s position suggests it played an important role with regard to sea trade, for the surrounding territory in the nuragic period, and probably until the historical period.

In this first phase, a number of trial trenches were dug in the area to look for evidence of a hut village and to define the excavation area. No traces were found of other structures connected with the central one, which among other things, stands several kilometers away from the nearest nuragic contexts. Furthermore, external wall that projected acutely towards the small tower appeared badly made in comparison with the carefully worked stone blocks used in the tower itself. Only a complete excavation will provide a precise definition of the monuments architectural and chronological attribution. In the meantime, the available data suggests its function differed from that of coastal nuraghe (although this cannot be excluded at this point).