Newgrange - Summary

Newgrange in summary

What?

Newgrange is a passage tomb

Brú na Bóinne is the original Irish name, meaning 'mansion by the Boyne'.

Two other mounds of similar size were built in the Boyne Valley - Knowth and Dowth.

Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth have been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Over 200,000 people visit the Newgrange Visitor Centre every year.

Considerable damage was caused to the stones in the chamber of Newgrange in times past due to "evily-disposed visitors" who carved their names onto the stones. This graffiti can still be seen to this day. More damage was done during the construction of nearby roads. It is said that large quantities of stones had been removed and the roads paved with them, and archaeologists found that the flat-topped mound had a number of hollows and craters as a result of the removal of stones.

Newgrange remained an important religious centre until the early Bronze Age. Unfortunately, the tomb has been empty of its original contents since 861 AD, when it was plundered by Viking raiders. More recently, there was a period of over 100 years during which the tomb was discovered but unprotected; it thus suffered further damage from treasure hunters and looters.

Where?

Located in the Boyne Valley Co. Meath

When?

Newgrange was built over 5000 years ago, approximately 3200BC, 3300 – 2900 B.C (before the Pyramids at Giza) more than three thousand years before the birth of Christ. 

Who?

Neolithic (Stone Age) farming community - The Neolithic people who built the monument were native agriculturalists, growing crops and raising animals such as cattle in the area where their settlements were located; they had not yet developed metal, so all their tools would have been made out of stone, wood, antler or bone. The Celts didn't build Newgrange; it was built about 2500 years before the first Celt set foot in Ireland.

How?

The man made mound is 85 metres in diameter and 6 metres high, an area of about 1 acre.

Much of building materials used to construct Newgrange were orthostats, megaliths, quartz and granite collected from the rocky beaches at Co Louth and Co. Wicklow. The blocks were possibly transported to the Newgrange site by sea and up the River Boyne by securing them to the underside of boats at low tide 

The facade around the perimeter is made of sparkling white quartz brought from 50 miles away, punctuated by egg-shaped granite stones.

Newgrange sits atop a ridge, many of the large slabs would have needed to be brought uphill, and again suggesting a highly organised community was behind its construction.

The mound itself is made of 200,000 tons of stone brought from 75 miles away, which were then covered with several yards of soil. The boulders were placed with amazing precision that makes the structure watertight; just how this was done remains a mystery.

The roof of the inner chamber is of corbelled construction, it hasn't leaked in 5000 years.

The main feature of Newgrange is a 19 metre passage which leads to a chamber with 3 alcoves the passage and chamber form a cruciform shape.

Newgrange contains various examples of abstract Neolithic rock art carved onto it which provide decoration. These carvings fit into ten categories, five of which are curvilinear (circles, spirals, arcs, serpentiniforms and dot-in-circles) and the other five of which are rectilinear (chevrons, lozenges, radials, parallel lines and offsets)

Techniques:

• Plain Picking
• False Relief
• Pick Dressing

Archaeologists believe that most of the carvings were produced prior to the stones being erected in place, although the entrance stone was instead carved in situ before the kerbstones were placed alongside it

The 12" Triple Spiral Triskele engraving in the chamber is the most recognizable symbol of Ancient Ireland.

The base of the mound is surrounded by 97 large stone called kerbstones.

Some of the kerbstones are engraved with megalithic art; the most striking is the entrance stone K1.

12 standing stones from the remains of a circle that may have had 37 stones are still in existence.

The Lintel Stone over the door is also decorated with more geometrical deigns. 

Large chiselled stones to which the name basin stone is given occupy the floors of the recesses. The basin stones would have contained the bones - either unburnt or burnt, or both - of those for whom the tomb was built. With them would have been placed funeral offerings of pottery, bone pins, stone balls and pendants, stone and bone beads, and perhaps flint arrowheads.

Why?

The Winter Solstice Phenomenon was re-discovered by Professor Michael J. O’Kelly in 1967.

The most striking aspect of the Newgrange tomb is its precise astronomical alignment, which allows for a truly spectacular phenomenon at sunrise on the winter solstice (December 19-23, especially the 21st). On this day, the shortest of the year, a shaft of sunlight enters through a large opening above the entrance (called the roof box) and pierces the inner passageway. The sunbeam touches a stone basin at the end of the passageway and lights up a series of spiral carvings inside the chamber, whose meaning is unknown. The event lasts about 17 minutes.

Judging from the splendour and magnificence of the Newgrange monument it was most likely a place of astrological, spiritual, religious and ceremonial importance, much as present day cathedrals are places of worship where dignitaries may be laid to rest.

There is little evidence that Newgrange was used as a burial tomb.

The spirals are interpreted as symbols of the journey to the next world, and the tomb is thought to be a solar temple of a prehistoric race of supernatural people. Based on its shape, it has also been suggested that Newgrange is a model of a flying saucer.

Legend says the mound was dedicated to Dagha, the sun god of pre-Christian Ireland, and later became the burial places of the pagan kings of Tara. Worship of the sun or moon is certainly suggested by the many carvings of symbols on stones and the magnificent spectacle of sunrise on the winter solstice

Newgrange entered Celtic Mythology as a fairy mound and was the home of the god Dagda, his wife Boann and their son Aonghus the god of love.