Newgrange, Co. Meath, Ireland

For the Clannad song, see Newgrange (song)

Newgrange (Irish: Dún Fhearghusa) is one of the passage tombs of the Brú na Bóinne complex in County Meath, one of the most famous prehistoric sites in the world and the most famous of all Irish prehistoric sites. "Newgrange" is a song by Irish group Clannad, released in 1982 on the album Magical Ring, and in 1983 as a single Irish (ga ''Gaeilge'' is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish. passage grave (sometimes hyphenated or passage tomb is a tomb usually dating to the Neolithic, where the burial chamber is reached along a distinct passage County Meath (Contae na Mí is a county in Ireland, often informally called The Royal County Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world Stone Age Paleolithic See also Paleolithic, Recent African Origin, Early Homo sapiens, Early human migrations "Paleolithic" Newgrange was built in such a way that at dawn on the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice, a narrow beam of sunlight for a very short time illuminates the floor of the chamber at the end of the long passageway. The winter solstice occurs at the instant when the Sun 's position in the sky is at its greatest angular distance on the other side of the equatorial plane from the ^[1]

History

Newgrange was originally built between c. 3300-2900 BC, which means that it is over 5,000 years old. According to Carbon-14 dates,^[2] it is more than 500 years older than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, and predates Stonehenge trilithons by about 1,000 years (although the earliest stages of Stonehenge are roughly contemporary with Newgrange). Radiocarbon dating is a Radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring Radioisotope Carbon-14 (14C to determine the age of The Great Pyramid of Giza, also called Khufu's Pyramid or the Pyramid of Khufu, and Pyramid of Cheops, is the oldest and largest of the three This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. Stonehenge is a Prehistoric Monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury A trilithon (or trilith) is a structure consisting of two large vertical stones (posts supporting a third stone set horizontally across the top (lintel

In the Neolithic period, Newgrange continued as a focus of some ceremonial activity. The Neolithic (from Greek νεολιθικός — neolithikos from νέος neos, "new" + λίθος lithos New monuments added to the site included a timber circle to the south-east of the main mound and a smaller timber circle to the west. In Archaeology, timber circles are circular arrangements of wooden posts interpreted as being either complexes of freestanding Totem poles or as the supports for large The eastern timber circle consisted of five concentric rows of pits. The outer row contained wooden posts. The next row of pits had clay linings and was used to burn animal remains. The three inner rows of pits were dug to accept the animal remains. Within the circle were post and stake holes associated with Beaker pottery and flint flakes. Flint (or flintstone) is a hard sedimentary Cryptocrystalline form of the Mineral Quartz, categorized as a variety of Chert The western timber circle consisted of two concentric rows of parallel postholes and pits defining a circle 20 m in diameter. In Archaeology a posthole is a cut feature used to hold a surface timber or stone

A concentric mound of clay was constructed around the southern and western sides of the mound and covered a structure consisting of two parallel lines of post and ditches that had been partly burnt. Clay is a naturally occurring material composed primarily of fine-grained Minerals which show plasticity through a variable range of Water content, and A free-standing circle of large stones was constructed encircling the mound. Near the entrance, 17 hearths were used to set fires. In common historic and modern usage a hearth (Har-th is a Brick - or stone -lined Fireplace or Oven used for Cooking and/or Heating These structures at Newgrange are generally contemporary with a number of Henges known from the Boyne Valley, at Newgrange Site A, Newgrange Site O, Dowth Henge and Monknewtown Henge. henge is a prehistoric Architectural structure. In form it is a nearly circular or oval-shaped flat area over 20 Metres (65 feet) in diameter Dowth ( Dubhadh) is a Neolithic Passage tomb which stands in the Boyne Valley County Meath, Ireland.

Excavation and restoration

Newgrange lay hidden for over 4,000 years due to mound slippage, until the late 17th century, when men looking for building stone uncovered it, and described it as a cave. Newgrange was excavated and much restored between 1962 and 1975, under the supervision of Prof. Michael J. O'Kelly, Department of Archaeology, University College, Cork. University College Cork ( UCC) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, the university is located in Cork. ^[3] It consists of a vast man-made stone and turf mound retained within a circle of 97 large kerbstones topped by a high inward-leaning wall of white quartz and granite. Quartz (from German) is the most abundant Mineral in the Earth 's Continental crust (although Feldspar is more common in Granite (ˈɡrænɪt is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, Felsic, igneous rock. Most of the stones were sourced locally (within a radius of 20km or so) but the quartz and granite stones of the facade must have been sourced further afield, most probably in Wicklow and Dundalk bay respectively. Wicklow ( is the County seat of County Wicklow in Ireland. Located south of the capital Dublin on the east coast of the island it has a population Dundalk (Dún Dealgan is the County town of County Louth in Ireland, situated close to the border with Northern Ireland.

As part of the restoration process the white quartzite stones and cobbles were fixed into a near vertical steel reinforced concrete wall surrounding the entrance of the mound. This restoration is controversial among the archaeological community. Critics of the wall point out that the technology did not exist when the mound was created to fix a retaining wall at this angle. Another theory is that the white quartzite stones formed a plaza on the ground at the entrance. This theory won out at nearby Knowth, where the restorers have laid the quartz stones out as an "apron" in front of the entrance to the great mound. Knowth (Cnobha is the site of a Neolithic Passage grave, one of the ancient monuments of the Brú na Bóinne complex in the valley

Features

The Newgrange mound is 76m (250ft) across and 12m (40ft) high, and covers an entire acre. Within the mound, a long passage, stretching approximately one third of the length of the mound, leads to a cruciform (cross-shaped) chamber. The passage itself is over 18m (60ft) long. The burial chamber has a corbelled roof which rises steeply upwards to a height of nearly 6m (20 ft). Use in historical cultures Maya civilization MykeneTreasureof A tribute to its builders, the roof has remained essentially intact and waterproof for over 5,000 years.

View from front

Near Newgrange are many other passage tombs, the largest being Knowth, and another significant tomb, Dowth. These tombs are all contemporary with Newgrange and together they and their 37 smaller satellite tombs form the Brú na Bóinne complex.

Art

Entrance stone with megalithic art

Spiral and lozenge motifs engraved on the magnificent entrance slab, "one of the most famous stones in the entire repertory of megalithic art",^[4] include a triple spiral motif, found only at Newgrange and repeated along the passage and again inside the chamber, which is 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. Applications Modal logic In Modal logic, the lozenge expresses the possibility of the following expression Megalithic art refers to the use of large stones as an artistic medium The triple spiral or triskele is a Celtic and pre-Celtic symbol found on a number of Irish Megalithic and A triskelion or triskele (both from the Greek gr ''τρισκέλιον'' or grc ''τρισκελής'' for "three-legged" is a Symbol The Isle of Man (Ellan Vannin ˈɛlʲən ˈvanɪn or Mann (Mannin) is a self-governing Crown dependency, located in the Irish Sea at the geographical Sicily ( Italian and Sicilian: Sicilia) is an autonomous region of Italy. History There are numerous Megalithic monuments and Menhirs present on Anglesey testifying to the presence of mankind in prehistory North Wales (Gogledd Cymru is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales, bordered to the south by Mid Wales and to the east by England. There are further examples of megalithic art on many other kerbstones at Newgrange (notably Kerbstone 52 and 67). However, the majority of the megalithic art in the Brú na Bóinne complex is located at Newgrange's sister tomb, Knowth. Knowth (Cnobha is the site of a Neolithic Passage grave, one of the ancient monuments of the Brú na Bóinne complex in the valley

Solstice event

See also: Technical Facts Concerning The Observation of The Winter Solstice At Newgrange

Once a year, at the time of the winter solstice, the sun shines directly along the long passage into the chamber for about 17 minutes as it rises and illuminates the chamber floor. The winter solstice occurs at the instant when the Sun 's position in the sky is at its greatest angular distance on the other side of the equatorial plane from the ^[1] The alignment with the sun is too precise to have occurred by chance. Professor M. J. O'Kelly was the first person in modern times to observe this event on December 21, 1967. Events 69 - The end of the Year of the four emperors: Following Galba, Otho and Vitellius, Vespasian Year 1967 ( MCMLXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. ^[5]

The sun however, does not enter the passage at Newgrange through the main entrance, but rather through a specially contrived opening, known as a roofbox, which is directly above the entrance. A roofbox is a specially contrived opening above a doorway usually built for some astronomical significant event Although solar alignments are not uncommon among passage graves, Newgrange is the only one known to contain the additional roofbox feature. The solar alignment at Newgrange is also still very precise compared to similar phenomena at other passage graves such as Dowth or Maes Howe in the Orkney islands, off the coast of Scotland. Dowth ( Dubhadh) is a Neolithic Passage tomb which stands in the Boyne Valley County Meath, Ireland. Maeshowe (or Maes Howe) is a Neolithic Chambered cairn and Passage grave situated on mainland Orkney, Scotland. Orkney (also known as the Orkney Islands or incorrectly the Orkneys) is an Archipelago in northern Scotland, situated 10 miles (16 km north Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain.

In our day, this phenomenon occurs only after a delay of four minutes from sunrise, but calculations of the precession of the Earth show that when it was built, the event would have occurred right at sunrise. In Astronomy, Precession refers to the movement of the rotational axis of a body such as a planet with respect to Inertial space. [2]

Current-day visitors to Newgrange are treated to a re-enactment of this event through the use of a light bulb situated within the tomb. The finale of a Newgrange tour results in every tour member standing inside the tomb where the tour guide then turns off the lights, and lights the light bulb simulating the sun as it would appear on the winter solstice. Anyone visiting the historic site can experience an approximation of the phenomenon any time of year, and is often the highlight of the tour. A lottery is held annually for "tickets" to be allowed into the tomb to view the actual event. The popularity of this event was the reason a lottery was introduced, and also why the bulb was installed.

Purpose and uses

Newgrange appears to have been used as a tomb. For the New York prison see The Tombs. A Tomb is a repository for the remains of the dead. The recesses in the cruciform chamber hold large stone basins into which were placed cremated human remains. Cremation is the act of reducing a Corpse by burning, generally in a crematorium furnace or crematory fire During excavation, the remains of five individuals were found. It is speculated that the sun formed an important part of the religious beliefs of the neolithic ("New" Stone Age) people who built it. The Neolithic (from Greek νεολιθικός — neolithikos from νέος neos, "new" + λίθος lithos Formerly the mound was encircled by an outer ring of immense standing stones, of which there are twelve of a possible thirty-seven remaining. However, it seems that the stone circle which encircled Newgrange is not contemporary with the monument itself but was placed there some 1,000 years later in the Bronze Age. The term Bronze Age refers to a period in human cultural development when the most advanced Metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use included techniques for

Newgrange in Irish mythology

According to Irish mythology, Newgrange was one of the sidhe, or fairy-mounds, where the Tuatha Dé Danann lived. The Mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved shorn of its religious meanings The Tuatha Dé Danann ("peoples of the Goddess Danu " Modern Irish pronunciation /t̪ˠuːəhə dʲeː d̪ˠan̪ˠən̪ˠ/ Old Irish /tuːaθa ðʲeː It was built by the god Dagda, but his son Oengus later tricked him out of it. For similar names see Angus (disambiguation. In Irish mythology, Aengus ( Áengus, Óengus, Aonghus It is named for the goddess Boann, the mother of Aengus, who is also credited with the creation of the River Boyne. A goddess is a Female Deity. Many Cultures have goddesses Often deities are part of a polytheistic system that includes several deities Boann (or Boand) is the Irish mythology goddess of the River Boyne, a river in Leinster, Ireland. The River Boyne ( Abhainn na Bóinne) is a river in Leinster, Ireland, the course of which is about 112 Kilometres (70 Miles long According to some versions of the story, the hero Cúchulainn was conceived there. Cúchulainn /kuːˈxʊlɪnʲ/ ( ( Irish for "Hound of Culann " also spelled Cú Chulainn, Cú Chulaind, Cúchulain, or However, most of the mythical cycles associated with Newgrange date from the Celtic era of Irish history and mythology. Celts (ˈkɛlts or /ˈsɛlts/, see Names of the Celts The history of Ireland begins with the first known settlement in Ireland around 8000 BC when Hunter-gatherers arrived from Great Britain and continental The monument was already in existence for well over 2,000 years before the Celtic era.

Access to Newgrange

Access to Newgrange is by guided tour only. Tours begin at the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre in Donore, Co. The Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre is the starting point for all visits to the Monuments of Newgrange and Knowth in Ireland. Meath, from which visitors are bussed to the site in groups. To experience the phenomenon on the morning of the Winter Solstice from inside Newgrange, one must enter a random drawing at the interpretive center. Roughly 100 people are chosen each year. They are split into groups of five and taken in on the five days around the Solstice in which light does (weather permitting) enter the chamber. In 2006, 27,000 people entered the lottery. The winter solstice of 2007 was watched live via webcast over the two mornings on December 21st and 22nd. A webcast is a media file distributed over the Internet using Streaming media technology

References

See also

• Archaeoastronomy

External links

• Information on Newgrange by Meath Tourism
• Newgrange info website
• Newgrange information and photos
• Irish passage tombs and other Neolithic monuments
• 101 Facts About Newgrange
• Boyne Valley Portal Website - Information on Newgrange
• Research on Newgrange's possible alignments
• Archaeogeodesy, a Key to Prehistory
• Windows Media recording of the 2007 Winter Solstice event
• Additional information and pictures from the 2007 Solstice illumination