Newgrange is one of the finest examples anywhere in Western Europe of a Neolithic or 'New Stone Age' passage tomb. It dominates the Boyne Valley landscape 14km East of Drogheda in Co. Meath, Ireland, and is famous for the fact that on the five shortest days of the year, i.e. the during the Winter Solstice, the sun enters the passage and illuminates the burial chamber within.

Three hundred years ago the man who owned the land around Newgrange, a Scotsman by the name of Charles Campbell, decided to build a road on his estate. So he sent his workmen up to an overgrown mound which was covered in long grass and trees to collect stones from what he believed was a natural stone quarry. One of the first things they discovered was the magnificent entrance stone pictured below. Immediately they realised that they had found something of major historical significance. What they had believed to be a natural formation in the landscape turned out to be one of the most elaborate and fascinating tombs built in Neolithic Europe.

There are around forty passage tombs in what we call 'The Boyne Cemetery'. Most of these are very small, but there are two others of equal size and importance to Newgrange. They are Knowth which is situated about 1km upstream to the Northwest, and Dowth which can be seen 1km downstream to the Northeast. Dowth has not yet been opened to the public.

So what is a passage grave? Well, as the name suggests it is a long narrow stone passage which leads to a burial chamber. This is then covered over by a mound or 'cairn' of small stones. The passage and chamber at Newgrange form a cross or 'cruciform' shape, as can be seen from the drawing below. Of course, this has nothing whatsoever to do with Christianity because Newgrange is 5,000 years old. It was built about 3,200 BC which makes it 1000 years older than Stonehenge in England, and around 500 years older than the great pyramids at Giza in Egypt!

Cross Section of The Cairn
And Plan of the Passage

Newgrange was built by what we refer to as 'Neolithic' or New Stone Age people. They were farmers who worked the rich land of the Boyne Valley, grew crops such as wheat and barley, kept animals such as cattle, pigs, goats and sheep, and of course they fished the Boyne as well. Now we don't usually consider stone age people to be very advanced or sophisticated. We normally think of hairy fellas with big clubs going "Ug" every ten seconds. But the Neolithic people were incredibly skilled and clever, and Newgrange is the evidence for this. They must also have been highly organised socially as well. It is estimated that it would have taken 400 men about 30 years to build it. We think it could have taken about 40 years to complete. When you consider that the average life expectancy of Neolithic man was about 35 years, it means that the people who planned the tomb, and laid the first stones, never expected to see it finished. That privilege would be enjoyed by their children and grandchildren.

Five hundred years after it was finished, the pressure of the stones which form the cairn became too much for the front of the tomb, and the white quartz facade collapsed forwards. This was rebuilt during excavations between 1962 and 1975, using the original stones themselves. The only stone which is not original at the front of the tomb is the dark grey cut limestone either side of the entrance. This is modern and was put in place to highlight the 'bites' which had to be made into the mound to allow visitors access. Without these bites the only way to get into the passage would be to climb over the entrance stone, and this is simply not feasible.

The white quartz at the front of the monument is not found locally. The only place the builders could have got it is 80km south of Newgrange in the Wicklow mountains. At that time there were no roads and Ireland was heavily forested. This means that the only way that Neolithic people could have found their way to Wicklow was in small bowl-shaped boats called 'coracles'. These were made of animal skin and wood. They would have sailed down the Boyne, 14km to Drogheda, made a life-threatening voyage 80km down the Irish Sea to the Wicklow mountains, and then undertook the journey back with a few of the white quartz stones. It must have taken at least two days to make one collection, and hundreds of trips must have been made.

The smaller grey egg-shaped stones which dot the white facade are water-rolled granite and that is found 50km to the north in Dundalk Bay.

The larger kerbstones which surround the base of the cairn came from a place called Tullyallen, 15km east of Newgrange. These weigh anything up to 10 tonnes each, and were brought up to the site using a method known as 'log-rolling'. A path was cleared from the quarry to the construction site, and trees were cut into rollers which were placed on the track. The boulders were placed in wooden sledges and then hoisted up onto the rollers. It was then a matter of pushing and pulling them the entire 15km distance. There are 97 kerbstones and a further 400 boulders of similar size inside the tomb itself.

So the effort and time which these people devoted to the project stands as a striking reminder of their commitment to their spiritual beliefs and to the memory of their dead. If the monument was designed to stop the sun god from abandoning them, it is a poignant indication of the fear they had in winter time. If the sun did not return, if the days got any shorter and colder, this farming community of only 1500 people would be wiped out. So perhaps their commitment is a sign of their anxiety.

The Entrance Stone, the Passage Entrance and the Roofbox

The entrance stone pictured above is considered to be one of the finest examples in Western Europe of Neolithic art. The stone was carved after it was put in place. We know this because the decoration ends about 10cm off the ground, which is where the original ground level would have reached. It was carved using sharp pieces of flint, and then smoothed over using a mixture of sand and water.

There are many theories as to what the designs mean, if indeed they mean anything at all. One is that the stone is a map of the Boyne Cemetery. The three large spirals on the right would then represent the three main tombs in the area: Knowth, Dowth and Newgrange itself. In that case, the smaller spirals to the right of the tri-spiral would be the 37 smaller tombs; the diamond or lozenge shapes would represent the surrounding fields, and the wavy pattern at the bottom of the stone would be the Boyne river.

Another suggestion is that the tri-spiral is a symbol of everlasting life. The three spirals are formed by a single line with no beginning and no end. So perhaps this represents Life, Death and Rebirth.

A third theory says that the five spirals represent the sun on the five shortest days of the year, which is when the sun shines through the roof box, makes its way up the passage and illuminates the burial chamber. Or the stone could be a message to the sun deity, welcoming it into the tomb. It could simply be a sign advertising the monument's association with the sun. Alternatively, it is a welcoming to visitors; or perhaps, a warning. The truth is, we don't have any idea what the decoration really means.

Personally, I think that the spirals do signify the sun, because of the monument's dramatic association with it. The white quartz is like a spiritual solar panel absorbing the life-giving rays of the sun ( in Irish, quartz is 'clocha gréinne' ). And of course, we have the alignment to the Winter Solstice which is an incredible piece of engineering. The sun is even given its own VIP entrance above the passage entrance, through the roof box. This narrow slit is at the same level as the burial chamber floor ( the passage has to rise by 2m ) and the horizon across the valley, and is a feature completely unique to Newgrange. Knowth and Dowth are also aligned to the sun on different important occasions, but the sun has to enter by the same entrance as people.

Plan of the Cairn

The passage itself is about 19m long, which is about one third the way into the mound itself, as can be seen from the diagram above. This may seem to be a waste of space, but I think it shows the importance of the tomb to the people who built it. Obviously, they intended that it be seen for miles around.

There are three recesses inside the chamber: one to the North, one to the East and one to the West. This is what give the chamber its 'cruciform' or cross shape. It is in these recesses that the 'basin stones' were placed. These are made from sandstone, but the smaller one in the East recess is made from beautifully-carved granite. The size of the basin stones show that they would have had to have been put in place first, and the tomb was then built up around them.

The cremated remains of the dead would have been brought in from outside and placed on these basin stones along with grave goods such as stone balls, beads and pendants ( i.e. jewellery ), tools such as flint arrowheads and chisels, and bone pins for their clothes, as well as pottery.

The decoration inside the chamber is truly astounding. We have spirals, concentric circles, chevrons, lozenges as well as the unique tri-spiral which is not found anywhere else in the world. Again, we don't know what they signify.

The Eastern recess is by far the largest and most ornamented of the three recesses. It is also the only one to contain two basin stones instead of one. Perhaps this is because this recess faces the rising sun; a daily symbol of rebirth.

The most impressive feature of the chamber is the corbelled vaulted roof. This means that giant slabs were placed one on top of the other in circular layers, with every layer slightly narrower than the one beneath it. Eventually the chamber is sealed by a single capstone, weighing several tonnes. This sounds impressive . . . until you realise that the chamber is surrounded by about 200,000 tonnes of stone in total!

The chamber has remained perfectly intact for five thousand years without the aid of mortar, and it has not been altered in any way in all that time. Even more amazing is the fact that for 5,000 years, not a single drop of rain has entered the chamber. No matter how wet the Irish weather gets, the chamber remains bone dry ( no pun intended ). This is because the massive roof slabs are titled at a downward angle, which allows the water seeping down through the cairn to be directed away from the chamber. In addition, the builders cut narrow channels into the backs of the slabs; so a Neolithic gutter system was employed.

The most famous feature of Newgrange is its alignment to the morning sun during the Winter Solstice ( 19th - 23rd of December ). For about 5000 years, for 360 days of the year, the chamber remained in complete darkness. At 8.58 on the mornings of the solstice, the sun rises over the horizon to the South and shines up the passage until the chamber becomes flooded with light. Again, there are a number of theories as to why Newgrange is aligned in this way. One is that the shortest days of the year represent the height of winter. Soon the spring sun would return to breathe life back into the land. So perhaps it's a calendar of some sort.

The Sunlight Illuminating the Burial Chamber

Or maybe the monument is designed to stop the winter sun from disappearing forever below the horizon. If it continued to get any colder, and if the sun did not return, this farming community would lose its battle for survival.

Another theory is that the sun is entering to seek out the spirits of the dead in order to lead them back out into the light. The remains of five people were found in the chamber by archaeologists. We can't be sure who these people were. Some say that they were the Neolithic equivalent of kings and queens; others believe that they were the spiritual leaders, or 'shamens'. The theory I prefer is the one which suggests that everybody who died in this small community had their remains placed in here for a period, until the sun came during the solstice to breathe new life into their ashes and lead them back into the light. Then their remains would have been buried elsewhere, perhaps in the smaller tombs in the cemetery. This would mean that the remains found in the tomb were not those of the only people to be left in here; they were simply the last. The truth is, we don't know. These people did not leave us any written records, so we will more than likely never know.

The chamber remains lit for about 17 minutes. And then it is plunged into darkness until the same time next year. Pretty amazing stuff! If you want to see it for yourself, I'm afraid the waiting list stretches to 2007, and names are no longer being taken until the backlog clears. So you'll have to make do with a simulation!

Newgrange is open all year round.
Access through the "Brú na Bóinne" Visitor Centre only.

Picture Credits:http://bolder.grainger.uiuc.edu