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Newgrange
by Mike
McCormack
Newgrange
On a hill in County Meath stands a monument to the early settlers of
Ireland, and their civilization. It is a remarkable structure built more
than 5000 years ago. At first it appears to be just a huge mound on a
hilltop in the Boyne Valley, but closer investigation reveals a man-made
structure surrounded by enormous standing boulders. A magnificently
carved kerbstone lies before the entrance to a 65-foot passage which
runs to the center of the mound and three chambers formed of interlacing
stones. The passage is the most interesting part of the structure for it
is inclined at precisely the proper angle to align astronomically with
the rays of the rising sun at one specific time of the year – the winter
solstice. At dawn on December 21, the shortest day of the year and the
point at which the power of the sun begins its annual return, the rising
sun’s rays shine through a portal above the entrance, travel along the
inclined passage and illuminate the central chambers. This only happens
on December 21, and partially on the two days before and after. The
mound was called Bru Na Boinne by the ancient Irish; today it is called
Newgrange.
According to carbon dating, the structure was built between 3700 and
3200 BC making it the oldest, still-standing, man-made building on the
planet. Ancient Irish manuscripts say it was built by the Tuatha De
Danann, early inhabitants of Ireland who were such an advanced
civilization that the Celtic settlers who came after them considered
them possessed of magical powers and guided by the heavens. Today, it is
obvious that their “guidance” came in the form of their advanced
knowledge of astronomy – knowledge unmatched in the known world at that
time. To the Celts, Bru Na Boinne was a domain of the gods, a palace of
the otherworld, and a place of festivals. Reinforcing this belief was
the fact that approximately 1 kilometer on either side are two slightly
smaller mounds, Knowth and Dowth, which are also astronomically aligned
with celestial events. Knowth, the oldest mound of the three was built
some 500 years before Newgrange and is aligned with the setting sun on
the solstice.
With the coming of Christianity, many pagan forts and monuments were
ignored and fell into disrepair. They were eventually overgrown, or
eroded by time and weather. In 1142, the land on which Bru Na Boinne
stood became part of the farmland of the Cistercian Abbey at Mellifont.
Farm fields were called granges and Bru Na Boinne lost its former
identity and simply became the new grange. During the Williamite
confiscation of church property, the land - now overgrown - was given to
a Charles Campbell who used the mound as a source of stones for roads
and fences. During the summer of 1699, as workers were carting stones
from the base of the mound, they discovered the magnificent entrance
stone with its carved spiral designs. Further digging revealed the
opening to a long narrow passage which led to the center of the mound
and its three chambers. Authorities were notified and Welsh Naturalist
Edward Lhuyd came to investigate. It is he who is credited with the
discovery of Newgrange. Despite the fact that the Irish had been telling
of Bru Na Boinne for centuries, the locals were ignored, and Mr. Lhuyd
and several of his colleagues concluded that the great monument was the
work of visiting Danes since nothing requiring such skill and
intelligence could ever be attributed to the Irish.
In 1750, General Charles Vallencey, a British Army Engineer and
professional surveyor, came to Newgrange and discovered its astronomical
alignment with the sun, moon, and planets, and first advanced the theory
that Newgrange was an astronomical observatory. He explained the
standing stones in front of the entrance as sun stones positioned to
cast shadows on the carved entrance stone to indicate the seasons. He
ascribed considerable astronomical skill to its early Irish architects,
but was ridiculed by his colleagues who had never even seen the mound.
In spite of local tales which verified this phenomenon, references to
the solstice lighting of Newgrange in the writings of George (AE)
Russell, the writings of astronomer Norman Lockyer and anthropologist
Evans Wentz, no archaeologist took the time to investigate it until
1969, when Michael O’Kelly entered the chamber before sunrise on the
winter solstice and became the first modern archaeologist to witness
that exciting event.
In spite of the amount of verifiable information available on this
historic site, some still stand with their backs to Newgrange, and stare
in mock awe at Stonehenge, marveling at the antiquity of a site
constructed 1,000 years later. Or they wonder at the pyramids which were
only started hundreds of years after Newgrange was completed. Finally,
in 1989, the New York Times, which is ever slow to credit Irish
accomplishments, noted that a British journal had announced that the
astrological alignment of Newgrange appeared to be “by design rather
than by accident.” Welcome aboard! It’s now December, and on the 21st,
the mound at Bru Na Boinne will again receive its annual message from
the sun telling man that the days will now get longer and the long night
of winter is coming to an end. Hopefully the long night of ignorance
about Irish accomplishments is ending as well.
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