That Newgrange Issue

Wibbs wrote: »

I've zero issue with the roof box myself. While it's a feature unique to Newgrange astronomical alignments especially to the solstices are not unique in structures of the period, to the degree they're almost a given part of the plans. It also makes no sense as some kinda second entrance or any of that.

The only issue I'd have with the Newgrange construction is the vertical facade of quartz. It's seriously unlikely that's how the structure once looked when new. They were experts in drystone construction and would know such a structure wouldn't be self supporting. I'm not so sure about the reconstruction of Knowth(IIRC?) where the researchers laid out the white quartz around the entrance like some sort of Neolithic decking. 1) they'd become filthy in no time and the point of collecting them seems to be for their whiteness 2) try walking on them in moccasin type shoes. Do yer ankle in.

My personal flight of fancy would come from where the stones are found and old pics of Newgrange. You'll note animal and human tracks make their way up either side of the entrance as that's a natural route to take. What clicked for me was my garden of all things. There's a steep slope at one end of it and many years ago someone had hauled a load of decorative stones up it to make a big rockery type feature. Over the years - and we're talking of 40 odd, so not long - almost all of the stones have rolled down to the bottom and particularly either side of where there's a track where people and animals walked.

So my "reconstruction" would have the whole mound covered with a thin layer of these white stones. Taking the flight of fancy further, maybe representing the Moon on the ground. The Sunrise gets the attention, but the Moon is often left out of discussions of this period, but it features strongly in later cultures who wrote stuff down or were observed by folks who wrote stuff down. It's very much associated with female fertility(menses being of a similar length cycle as the Moon's waxing and waning) and it marks out lunar months. Once in a while on the regular (every 15 years or something like that?) before the sun rises in Newgrange at the solstice the full Moon precedes it. They would have well noticed that. Some have suggested some of the carvings particularly at Knowth may be representations of the Moon. I also seem to recall that either Knowth or Dowth may have more allignements with the Moon. Look at the later Nebra sky disk from the Bronze Age.



It's Moon focused.

So in my fevered imagination the tombs might be representations of the Moon on the ground. Domed circular structures covered in bright white like a full Moon, "penetrated" by the Sun once a year bringing fertility to the lands and people and marking time and once a generation both flood the inner sanctum with light. Now imagine coming down the Boyne on a boat or approaching from the land and seeing these white domed structures in the sunlight.

Sure I might be accused of smoking the oul Turkish woodbines, but it's as likely a theory as any.

slowburner wrote: »

In recent years, there has been intense debate over specific structural details in the reconstruction of the passage tomb of Newgrange.

One headline in the Irish Times (21 December 2016) sums up the claims:


For an excellent and detailed rebuttal of the campaign against O'Kelly's findings, read this article by Ken Williams:
http://boynevalleytombs.wordpress.com/2019/04/14/re-discovering-the-lost-records-of-the-newgrange-roof-box/?fbclid=IwAR0bkcc5IFg5DnW5tAfQ2OJDSRf9Cpfcjbmv3Rl_Fk66qEzzMI3U9PQBjDk