Newgrange megalith

Newgrange is a megalith on a high ridge near Dublin and the River Boyne.

Ancient sites
The megalithic monument is a kidney shaped mound that covers about an acre of land. Newgrange is circled by 97 curbstones. Some of them are decorated with magalithic art such as circles, triangles, zigzags and spirals. It is thought to have been built around 3200 B.C. by neolithic farmers. It would have probably taken a work force of 300 people 20 years to build. Newgrange is about 1000 years older than Stonehenge and about 500 years older than the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. Newgrange's 19 meter long passage was built without any mortar, so was the chamber.

Newgrange was re-discovered in 1699 by people removing metirial for a road. It was excavated in 1962. Some of the finds include 7 'marbles', 4 pendants, 2 beads, a utilized flint flake, a bone chisel, roman coins, several bone fragments and the cremated remains of at least two people. In Irish mythology Newgrange was known as a sadhe' or fairy mound and was thought to be the home of Oenhus, the Irish god of love.

On the winter solctice, December 21st, the sun shines through the window box and into the passage and chamber of Newgrange. This only lasts for 17 minutes at dawn, it is a breathtaking sight. Newgrange is a designated World Heritage sight that atracts about 200,000 people a year. There are many other megalithic monuments in Ireland. THese include Knowth, Dowth, Fourknocks, Ardcath and many others.