We'll be driving to another site this morning that I can't pronounce, Bru na Boinne, but Rick Steves has given it three triangles (high praise) and it's on our way to the Dublin airport--more or less. We followed a winding route to get to the site and, only after a little coaxing and reassurance from a helpful shopkeeper explaining that Bru na Boinne might be called Newgrange on selected road signs, we discovered we weren't nearly as lost as we had feared. Indeed--we had actually passed the Visitor's Center and Museum two miles back. Perhaps it's just as well this is our last day.
Bru na Boinne is the name given to a large archeological site that contains two main areas of interest. One center is named Knowth and the other, Newgrange. The Visitor's Center schedules the tours and we were to visit Knowth first.
The area known as Knowth contains one extremely large burial mound surrounded by seventeen smaller mounds. The placement of the mounds feels haphazard but, from the air (we are told), follow a recognizable pattern. Knowth was a busy area from 3000 to 2000 BCE, then fell into disuse. Around 1000 CE, a fortress was built on the site and it became a political center. The photo above is just a portion of the large mound. Visitors aren't allowed inside this mound, but the OPW has cut out a chamber near an entry to show visitors how it might have been built. We were able to duck through a door into a small room that highlighted construction details and contained pictures and maps of Knowth's excavation.
This mound was built so that, at the spring and fall equinoxes, the rising sun would shine into a passage lighting a burial chamber. The mound has shifted over time (5000 years or so) and the earth itself has moved slightly on its axis, so the alignment isn't perfect as it would have been originally.
As we left the small chamber, we could peek down this closed passage in the mound.
Our guide led us around the outside of the large mound, adding historical details to her earlier talk, pointing out interesting artifacts and finally leading us to the top of the burial chamber. We enjoyed a full 360 degree view that, from our height, stretched miles into Ireland.
After our hike to the top, we wandered the site. The photo above is of one of the kerbstones--the huge stones that surrounded and supported the large mound. Most kerbstones had some type of carving on them.
This little mound is one of the smaller, probably less important mounds. I didn't hear speculation as to which class of people might have been buried here.
After returning to the Visitor's Center, we quickly boarded a second bus for the drive to Newgrange. Newgrange is reported to date from 3200 BCE, but because of its extensive restoration seems to resemble a modern sparkly basketball arena.
These glistening stones are quartz or quartz-like and were a complete surprise to me. I had never seen a mound that wasn't grass covered--which this one is, except for the huge curving side that first meets the sunrise every morning. (I've just picked up Edward Rutherford's 2004 novel, The Princes of Ireland, and within the first few pages he has described Newgrange beautifully.)
In contrast to Knowth, visitors do enter this chamber from the east (sparkly) side through a smallish passage that requires some bending, a bit of stooping and an occasional "sucking it in." The passage leads to the actual burial chamber, although that's a bit of a misnomer. The chamber isn't large...the twenty of us filled it. I understand that the persons "buried" here had actually been cremated earlier, with their bones and ashes deposited here in anticipation of the winter solstice. We stood, quietly awestruck, if not a bit nervously, under hundreds of thousands of tons of stone work from 5000 years ago. Our guide pointed out the intricacy of the work...again, dry laid stones transported from miles away, chiseled and placed with absolute precision. There was only one way in (and the same way out) to this chamber. On the morning of the shortest day of the year, as the sun rose, its light would slowly creep up the passageway we had just traversed, then spread through this chamber for a matter of minutes. Some historians believe that, at this magical moment, the souls of those whose remains lay here, would be taken into the afterlife.
The tour guides re-enact this winter solstice event and it is unforgettable. The guide has placed us on either side of the chamber, then turned out the light. Because the entry passage actually rises as it extends into the mound, no outside light enters the chamber. Talk about dark as the grave! Then oh, so slowly, a faint light begins to creep up the center of the passageway growing brighter as it grows closer. Finally, it penetrates our chamber and our relief--never expressed--is palpable.
I'm a simple person and I never cease to marvel at the world that existed before us. The sophistication, the astronomical and computational skills that were exhibited over this planet thousands of years ago and create such wonder in us...Well, it makes my worries about finding the motorway to Dublin Airport look pretty plebian.
