Bonorva Chequered Tomb (Sa Pala Larga Tomb no.7)
Photos ゥ Antonello Porcu - Image processing: Diego Meozzi / Stone Pages
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The spirals on the right/front wall of the side cell
Full view of the spirals and the ceiling of the tomb
Double spirals and a hint of bulls' horns carved on the main panel
The chequered motif painted on a side vault
The main panel, with its bright red frame, contains a carved pair of wide bull horns
The roof has been carved as it was made of wood planks, painted in dark blue and white
Since we published these photos on the Web, many people asked if we artificially enhanced colours, as it's almost unbelievable that the red ochre paintings remained so bright after almost 5,000 years.
Actually, the only enhancements we made are related to the darkest part of the pictures (lightening shadows) and adapting white balance - so to make colours look as uniform as possible between different shots.
Here is an original image, alongside with an "enhanced" version. As you can see, the reds do have the same tint and saturation, while the darkest parts appear much lighter.
