Newgrange at Solstice

[beloitpiper]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081220.html

Absolutely amazing. Newgrange is a passage tomb over 5000 years old (for comparason, Stonehenge wasn't built for another 1000 years after this) in Co. Meath, Ireland. On the winter solstice, the sun lines up perfectly, shining light directly down the passage, illuminating the central chamber. God, I love archaeology.

[Bugbear]

I've read about that... Very interesting.

[McMurdo]

Nice photo, I saw something on it a few weeks ago on the History Channel it was very interesting.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

It is indeed impressive-- when the sun is shining! We were invited to New Grange about 14 years ago and on the day we were there it was horribly overcast and positively pissing with rain. The effect was that of sitting in a damp, dark cave, shivering with the cold, and wondering why we had gotten up at O-Dark Hundred Hours to drive for two and a half hours to huddle in a megalithic tomb... BUT... had the sun been out, it would have been an absolutely incredible experience.

[thescot]

. . .
On the winter solstice, the sun lines up perfectly, shining light directly down the passage, illuminating the central chamber. God, I love archaeology.

That's really amazing. Reckon they planned it that way?ith:

[Bugbear]

I guess we don't know for sure why they set it up to do that... We could come up with a myth to explain it, though.

[S.S.Muldoon]

TheScot:
Reckon they planned it that way?

Almost without question...the light aperature and entranceway meander a bit to keep the center in darkness with the exception of the first rays of the sun on the solstice... The amount of work that went into Newgrange's building boggles the mind. What I wouldn't give to be able to talk to these megalithic people about their culture and philosophy... Perhaps they are the people of the Sidhe who were ancient when the Formorians, the Fir Bolg and the Gaels invaded. As Graham Hancock said, the human race is a family with amnesia (don't agree with everything he says, but this one for sure)

[Jack Daw]

Musta been a booger to build. Very impressive.

[Eric Peterson]

That is great! Thanks for the post...most modern Christmas traditions are handed down from Pagan traditions about the Winter Solstice.

[beloitpiper]

Newgrange is quite the structure. 500 years older than the pyramids of Giza, 1000 years older than Stonehenge! The roof and walls have been not only intact, but waterproof, for the past 5000 years, and the artwork on the walls are absolutely astounding. Did you know that there is a sundial at Knowth, another passage tomb at the Boyne?