mirrored file at http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ For complete access to all the files of this collection see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php ========================================================== Home Up Search Mail /NEW / ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Newgrange Newgrange is a beautiful building standing in Ireland (53^o 42' latitude North and 6^o 29' longitude West). It is more than 5000 years old (build around 3060 CalBC or 2500 bc), and thus older than the pyramids in Egypt! This building, which is a big mound of some 80 meters in diameter, stands in the Boyne Valley, some 40 km north of Dublin. In this region two more big mounds are located: Dowth and Knowth . The mound of Newgrange has been reconstructed by 'modern' people, with the materials that were present on site. Newgrange now looks very nice (if it really looks the same as 5000 years ago, remains a question). Cross sections of Newgrange The close environment around Newgrange is scattered with other megalithic constructs. Close to the mound the following items, approximately build around the same time, are important (© M.J. O'Kelly): * the mound consisting of: o the great circle stones (diameter of some 105 meters) o the kerb stones (97 stones at the perimeter of the cairn) o the cairn (diameter varying between 78 and 85 meters) Cut through at K95 (close to entrance) o Cut through at K53 (opposite the entrance) the passage (cross like, 24 meters long and an orientation of some 135 degrees) East side of passage Cross cut at RS3 an oval setting (7 m from the entrance of the passage, at K97) * * a hut (10 m from the entrance of the passage, at K3) * a bank of yellow boulder clay (on the south-west side between the perimeter of the cairn and the great circle stones), Now it is some 5.5 meter in width and about 600 mm in height. The environment around the entrance of the passage looks like this . Winter solstice sunrise On December 22, around winter solstice, in 1996 some pictures were taken from the outside. The sun was there at the right moment after four years of outage;-) I did not make photo's from the inside, because it is not allowed and because there is a (closed) waiting list until 2005. The following photographs are taken: * 9:03: * Sunrise (taken just in front of stone GC 1). 9:11: The sun shining into the passage. One sees the shadow of the main entrance and above that one sees the shadow of the roofbox (in some instances one also sees the shadow of the iron bar in the middle of the roof box). The shadow of the roof * box extents until R21 (see next bullet for a close-up). 9:10: The sun passing through the roofbox shines on R21, part of it goes towards the middle of the chamber. Questions There will be many questions around Newgrange, but I am interested in the following: * What were the building steps of the mound? <#age> * What is the relation with other buildings in the neighborhood? * What is the astronomical meaning of the mound? * Has the chamber top hole an astronomical meaning? * What is the meaning of the megalithic art? . * Is there perhaps a difference between Art (like K1) and recording graphs (like the back of K13)? * Was the yellow bolder clay a kind of elevated horizon like in Avebury? Or has it been used for making the very steep quartz wall at * Newgrange? Why was Newgrange much less disturbed than the Knowth by the Baker people? * What kind of function had the stones at ground level under the passage ? Age of Newgrange The age of Newgrange is of course not easy and accurately known. But there is some information about a few parts of it (© M.J. O'Kelly): * turves on the north side (K53) are: 4480 ± 60 bp * turves near the entrance (K95) are: 4535 ± 105 bp * charcoal under RS3 is: 4425 ± 45 bp * charcoal close to RS15 is: 4415 ± 40 bp * it is a real pity there are /no more/ dates about the other turf layers in the mound! * the partial decay of the mound was already a fact around 3950 ± 150 bp * Dowth seems from the same period as Newgrange. Remember: There is a difference of some 500 years between /bc/ en /CalBC/ (3060 CalBC is almost the same as 4450 bp )! The turves from the north side were already present before the kerb stones were putten down (see cut through at K53 ). The passage was made as the latest step, because of the turves which are positioned as a kind of basket around the passage and chamber. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ /Disclaimer and Copyright / Home Up Search Mail ------------------------------------------------------------------------ /Major content related changes: January 17, 1997/