A series of graves belonging to the Phoenician period were investigated after the campaign excavation of 2007 in the Phoenician‐Punic necropolis of Monte Sirai (Carbonia, Sardinia, Italy). One tomb in particular (labelled 252) is presented here because of its uniqueness. Tomb 252 contained the cremated remains of an individual, probably male, and comparison of the excavation records alongside reconstruction of the bone material itself makes clear that the individual was cremated in a prone position. It represents the first case of prone cremation reported in the literature. To investigate whether the temperature of the cremation was homogenous across the entire body, we have conducted a combined physical–chemical analysis using X‐ray diffraction spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.