Newgrange, Co.Meath, Ireland
Newgrange is a prehistoric monument in the Brú na Bóinne area of Co. Meath located about 5 miles west of Drogheda on the north side of the River Boyne. It is an exceptionally grand passage tomb built during the Neolithic period around 3200 BC, making it older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids.
Newgrange is the most famous monument within the Neolithic Brú na Bóinne area along with the similar passage tomb mounds of Knowth and Dowth and as such is a part of the Brú na Bóinne UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The site consists of a large circular mound with an inner stone passageway and chambers. Human bones and possible grave goods or votive offerings were found in these chambers. The mound has a retaining wall at the front made mostly of white quartz cobblestones and it is ringed by engraved kerbstones. Many of the larger stones of Newgrange are covered in megalithic art. The mound is also ringed by a stone circle. Some of the material that makes up the monument came from as far away as the Mourne Mountains in Co. Down in the south east of Northern Ireland and the Wicklow Mountains principally in Co. Wicklow in the east of Ireland.
There is not complete agreement about what the site was used for but it is believed that it had religious significance. Its entrance is aligned with the rising sun on the winter solstice when sunlight shines through a “roofbox” and floods the inner chamber for a few minutes. In this respect, Newgrange also shares many similarities with other Neolithic constructions in Europe, especially Gavrinis in Brittany, Maeshowe in Orkney in Scotland and Bryn Celli Ddu in Wales.
After its initial use, Newgrange was sealed for several millennia. It continued to feature in Irish mythology and folklore in which it is said to be a dwelling of the deities, particularly The Dagda and his son Aengus.
Antiquarians first began studying the site in the 17th century and archaeological excavations took place in the years that followed. Archaeologist Michael J. O'Kelly led the most extensive of these and also reconstructed the frontage of the site in the 1970s.
Newgrange is a popular tourist site and is regarded as one of the most important megalithic structures in Europe. According to the archaeologist Colin Renfrew, it is "unhesitatingly regarded by the prehistorian as the great national monument of Ireland".
Date: 3rd February 2020
Location: Newgrange, Brú na Bóinne, Co.Meath, Ireland
Newgrange is the most famous monument within the Neolithic Brú na Bóinne area along with the similar passage tomb mounds of Knowth and Dowth and as such is a part of the Brú na Bóinne UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The site consists of a large circular mound with an inner stone passageway and chambers. Human bones and possible grave goods or votive offerings were found in these chambers. The mound has a retaining wall at the front made mostly of white quartz cobblestones and it is ringed by engraved kerbstones. Many of the larger stones of Newgrange are covered in megalithic art. The mound is also ringed by a stone circle. Some of the material that makes up the monument came from as far away as the Mourne Mountains in Co. Down in the south east of Northern Ireland and the Wicklow Mountains principally in Co. Wicklow in the east of Ireland.
There is not complete agreement about what the site was used for but it is believed that it had religious significance. Its entrance is aligned with the rising sun on the winter solstice when sunlight shines through a “roofbox” and floods the inner chamber for a few minutes. In this respect, Newgrange also shares many similarities with other Neolithic constructions in Europe, especially Gavrinis in Brittany, Maeshowe in Orkney in Scotland and Bryn Celli Ddu in Wales.
After its initial use, Newgrange was sealed for several millennia. It continued to feature in Irish mythology and folklore in which it is said to be a dwelling of the deities, particularly The Dagda and his son Aengus.
Antiquarians first began studying the site in the 17th century and archaeological excavations took place in the years that followed. Archaeologist Michael J. O'Kelly led the most extensive of these and also reconstructed the frontage of the site in the 1970s.
Newgrange is a popular tourist site and is regarded as one of the most important megalithic structures in Europe. According to the archaeologist Colin Renfrew, it is "unhesitatingly regarded by the prehistorian as the great national monument of Ireland".
Date: 3rd February 2020
Location: Newgrange, Brú na Bóinne, Co.Meath, Ireland
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Also in: Ireland - January and February 2020
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