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The Boyne Valley and its Megalithic Monuments July 15-16, 1999:
Dowth is closed to the public because of the excavations going on there, and Knowth is only open on the outside because the passageways have collapsed due to the millennia of construction on the hill by by Bronze Age Kings, Saxons, Normans, and Monks.
Is this squiggle a snake (there are none in Ireland, but the ancient Irish may well have known of them) or a river? Or something else? If you've got an idea you can e-mail us, we'd love to hear.
Some think these Horseshoe shapes are symbols for the sun. We wondered if it was maybe the eclipse. What about the moon? One reader in 2003 e-mailed to suggest they are cross-sections of boats for the journey onward.
They risked their lives to bring these stones from sources many weeks away by dugout canoe.
The second example is in the passageway that leads up into the darkness under the mound. It's on the left hand side.
And the third example is in the small chamber at the end of the passage, facing back towards the door. Though the main chamber can hold two dozen, this last chamber could only fit one or two people. Long ago, perhaps, the high priestess would stand here and pour sacred water on the tri-spiral as she waited in absolute darkness on Winter Solstice Morning.
Then, when the sun rises, a ray of sunlight shaped like a dagger slowly creeps up the chamber and strikes the panel in the back. It only happens on the five days surrounding and including winter solstice (and then only if the sun is shining). If you want to see it, you're out of luck. The waiting list is already full till the year 2006 when they're going to do something else, perhaps a lottery. (But if you want to see it, you should become a guide. Most of them won't tell you this, but one of the five days each year is reserved for the Newgrange guide staff. They deserve it after dealing with so many tourists day in and day out. )
We learned at Newgrange that the right-hand chamber is always bigger and more ornate. Here you see it also has a basin stone.
These double spirals are everywhere. They have that same sort of non-linear placement that seems to be trying to say something, but not loud enough for our modern ears.
At Loughcrewthere's also a unique tomb that has seven chambers. It was once as big as Queen Maeve's, but now most of the covering stones are gone. This site was used in the Bronze age as well and contains an altar stone that was a bronze age addition.
There's a great site showing some equinox pictures from Loughcrew.
Next to the Fair city of Dublin
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The
'Big Mamas' of Megalithic Tombs are in the Boyne Valley.
About an hour north of Dublin, the trinity of Dowth,
Knowth and Newgrange contain 80% of the megalithic art in
Ireland and are by far the largest passage tombs known.
The complex at Knowth is a
series of passage graves. The giant one in the center is
unique in that it contains two passages, each over a
hundred feet long.
The kerb stones which the
builders put in place to hold the mound up were decorated
(sometimes on both sides) with these non-linear designs.
And
spirals, spirals everywhere. Maybe this was like the
generic people signs we see today and had a universal
meaning for stone age humans.
Next stop on the tour bus
was
Newgrange. Unlike Knowth and Dowth, this tomb's been left
almost untouched inside. The white stone facing is made
of quartz and was reconstructed from the fallen stones
found on site. In the sun it glistens like studded glass
and to the ancients it must have looked like magic.
Nobody
else was there. We left a deposit for the key and walked
through fields past standing stones and ring forts
We
were rewarded by time alone with some amazing cairns and
rock art.
More swirls and spirals.
Could be the sun and moon, but we'll never know for sure.
