After a super rushed morning of just catching the train in time to run to the bus heading to Drogheda, we arrived at New Grange. It is a UNESCO heritage site, with various monuments scattered around the large area.
Imagine the recent farmers surprise when he dug up a mound that he wanted to use for a quarry, only to find all these decorated stones that date back to 3200-2000 BC.
The sites we visited were Knowth and New Grange. They are 2 distinct mounds, both about 80m (approx 250 ft) in diameter and 13m (45 ft) high. They just look like large mounds covered by grass, but there is great historical significance. They are some of the oldest structures in the world and predate the Egyptian Pyramids by at least 500 years.
There are a couple of tunnels into the tombs and you are able to enter into the one at Newgrange. It really makes you think when you are inside. The structure was amazing inside and these ancient people were incredible builders. The tunnel was actually engineered so that on the Winter Solstice, the sunlight is able to penetrate right down the 30m tunnel and into the centre of the tomb for only 15 minutes. They actually turn out the lights and give you a surreal demonstration.
2 comments:
Imagine my surprise when I found an even older mound right in our back yard!
A quick kitchen carbon dating showed my decorative stones (assorted flecks of granite and sandstone)to be of the most impressive era, the Silty Age (3201-2001 BC) and a closer look proved interesting indeed. On a sunny day the entire top of the mound was illuminated; truley a sight to behold.....it wasn't even Solstice time....
I like to call my mound the 'Old Grange'.
On further experimenting, I noticed that when the soil of this peculiar mound is firmly packed in the inner ear, a silence settles upon the subject not unlike the peace of death. Eerie indeed! I hope my mound is not cursed.
I hope your journey provides more astonishment than North Glenmore.
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