28 November 2009

Ireland - Newgrange

Newgrange is a passage tomb, possibly even a temple, constructed over 5,000 years ago (about 3,200 B.C.), making it older than Stonehenge in England and the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. It was built by an ancient celtic farming community.

Wikipedia describes Newgrange as
One of the most famous prehistoric sites in the world, and indeed the most famous of all Irish prehistoric sites. Newgrange was built in such a way that at dawn on the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice, a narrow beam of sunlight for a very short time illuminates the floor of the chamber at the end of the long passageway.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

After visiting Newgrange, Chris got a tattoo of the pattern on the stone in front :)

Hoxworths said...

Cool. We were really amazed with Newgrange. It is interesting how little these Irish tombs are talked about when it is older than Stonehenge and the pyramids. I had never heard of it before going to Ireland.