Newgrange, or, Fun in a Field

Since sleep is an imperfect remedy for jet lag, today I decided to jolt myself into the Irish life by going to visit one of (if not THE) oldest cultural landmark in this country. That, of course, is Newgrange, or Brú na Bóinne in Irish. Actually, I think Brú na Bóinne just refers to the area in which it is located, because it is near the River Boyne in County Meath. This is about an hour's drive from Dublin. And what a gorgeous drive it was, especially since the sun was out all day.

Newgrange is a passage tomb and one of the Brú na Bóinne tumuli, a structure that my Roman compatriots will recognise from our trip to Cerveteri in Italy. A tumulus is a circular tomb with a semi-conical top, and was common in the ancient world. What is special about Newgrange, aside from its size and exciting neolithic decoration, is that it is aligned with the Winter Solstice. For this reason, some call it 'the Irish Stonehenge,' but I have seen pictures of Stonehenge, and the two structures don't look very similar. However, the astronomical alignment of the two monuments are the same, and point to the advanced mathematic and architectural skills of the culture(s) which built them.

It is huge from the outside, as you can see in this picture:

But the inside is rather small. I wasn't allowed to take pictures of the inside of the tomb, but the tour group passed through an absolutely tiny passageway into the central room of the tomb, which is circular with three small side chambers, and has a conical dome, made of stones laid on top of each other with such precision that the roof has remained waterproof for the entirety of the structure's nearly 5,000 year existance. While they found human remains (badly cremated, from what the tour guide said) inside the tomb, most scholars think that it was more ceremonial than funerary, given the sheer impressiveness of the Winter Solstice sun coming in through the hole above the door and illuminating the inner chamber. This is such a beautiful sight that there is a lottery for places in the tomb to see it over the 5 days of the Solstice. Last year, there were 34,000 submissions. They can only take 100.

It was a really cool trip, as much for the drive through the country as for the visit itself. Newgrange is old in a way that a Yank like myself can only imagine. Even in the period of the Celts, this structure was ancient. It predates any of the buildings in my beloved Rome, and even the pyramids in Egypt, which impressed me so much two years ago. It may not be as impressive as any of these later monuments, but it was worth seeing, and even though it didn't quite cure my jet lag, it was a perfect welcome back to Eire.