This past week I was lucky enough to be able to go on a class trip to an archaeological sites called Newgrange. This site is located in the Boyne Valley and provides a wealth of archaeological evidence for burial practices during the Neolithic Period in Ireland. We are talking around 3,000 B.C.!! The tombs at Newgrange are older than the pyramids of Giza in Egypt! The site at Newgrange was simply breathtaking. It is located on a hill surrounded by green fields and wandering sheep. The tomb is located underneath the earthen mound and centered beneath thousands of tons of rock and earth. In order to get into the tomb we had to travel single file in a hunched position through a narrow passage way. This narrow passageway eventually opened up into a larger chamber surrounded by three alcoves where there would have deposited the cremated remains. The chamber itself was 6m high due to a corbel-vaulted roof (large stones built at an angle to form a roof). Neolithic elders would have gathered in the tomb to communicate with the ancestors during significant solar events such as the winter equinox.
Due to the architectural power of the structure, Newgrange has stood for over 5,000 years; it is exciting to know that it could stand for 5,000 more.
