Newgrange

Newgrange, one of the passage tombs of the Brú na Bóinne complex in County Meath, is the most famous of all Irish prehistoric sites. Originally built c. 3200 BC according to the most reliable Carbon 14 dates available, this makes it more than 600 years older than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, and 1,000 years more ancient than the Stonehenge trilithons, (the earliest stages of Stonehenge are roughly contemporary with Newgrange). Although it was built thousands of years ago, it lay lost for centuries until the late 17th century, when men looking for building stone uncovered it, and described it as a cave. It was much restored between 1962 and 1975, under the supervision of Prof Brian O'Kelly, Dept. of Archaeology, University College, Cork (now the National University of Ireland, Cork). It consists of a vast man-made stone and turf mound retained within a circle of huge kerbstones topped by a high inward-leaning wall of white quartz. A long passage, only going in one third of the length of the mound, leads to a cruciform (cross-shaped) chamber. Every year, at the time of the winter solstice approx 9.17am December 21, the sun shines directly along this passage into the chamber for about 15 minutes as it rises.

Related Topics:
Passage tomb - Brú na Bóinne - County Meath - Irish - Great Pyramid of Giza - Egypt - Stonehenge - Trilithon - Cave - University College, Cork - Winter solstice - December 21

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Spiral and lozenge motifs engraved on the magnificent entrance slab, "one of the most famous stones in the entire repertory of megalithic art" include a triple spiral motif, found only at Newgrange and repeated inside the chamber, are reminiscent of the triskelion motif of the Isle of Man, of ancient Sicily and of several passage tombs on the island of Anglesey in North Wales. The passage is long, over 60 feet (18m), and leads to a cruciform burial chamber with a corbelled roof which rises steeply upwards to a height of nearly 20 feet (6m).

Related Topics:
Triskelion - Isle of Man - Sicily - Anglesey - North Wales

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Newgrange appears to have been built as a tomb. The alcoves in the cruciform chamber hold large stone basins into which were placed the bodies of those being laid to rest. The alignment with the sun is too precise to have occurred by chance. It is speculated that the sun formed an important part of the religious beliefs of the New Stone Age people who built it. The kerbstones around the outside of the passage tomb and some of the stones inside are engraved with patterns of spirals and zigzags. Formerly the mound was encircled by an outer ring of immense standing stones, of which there are twelve remaining.

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Near Newgrange are many other passage tombs, the largest being Knowth and Dowth. These were all built around the same time as Newgrange.

Related Topics:
Knowth - Dowth

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