Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2018 17:01:56 GMT
As the winter solstice is coming up I thought it would be nice to share a post on Newgrange. It's a pre-historic monument, which outdates the pyramids and stonehedge and was of religious, spiritual, astrological importance. To visit this site at the time of the solstice there is a lottery...maybe in this life time
I am not a fantastic writer(maybe one day ), but i like to read alot, so i'm sharing some articles(I havent written the below):
"Newgrange is best known for the illumination of its passage and chamber by the Winter solstice sun....
At dawn, from December 19th to 23rd, a narrow beam of light penetrates the roof-box and reaches the floor of the chamber, gradually extending to the rear of the chamber. As the sun rises higher, the beam widens within the chamber so that the whole room becomes dramatically illuminated. This event lasts for 17 minutes, beginning around 9am."
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From www.independent.ie/life/family/learning/whats-so-special-about-newgrange-29827066.html :
"Very close to Christmas we experience the winter solstice -- which gives us the shortest day of the year and the longest night. Deep inside the Arctic Circle (as Santa prepares for Christmas Eve) the day is so short that it may only last minutes before plunging back into darkness. But, since Ireland lies at a latitude of 53° north, our shortest day takes place on December 21 and lasts 7 hours, 29 minutes and 55 seconds. Sunrise will be at exactly 8.38 and sunset at 16.08.
With atomic clocks and modern technology it is easy to measure time today, but the Neolithic people living at Newgrange 5,000 years ago proved their own scientific skills and built a tomb that tells the time precisely on this shortest day.
Over the entrance to the tomb at Newgrange is a roofbox with an aperture (a gap in the stones) built in such a way that the rising sun at midwinter strikes the floor of the chamber more than 20 metres further down a long tunnel. From December 19 to 23, the light appears suddenly like a golden thread before broadening and withdrawing over a period of 17 minutes. On the middle day -- December 21 -- it hits the back of the chamber with an amazing display of winter sunshine.
The tomb at Newgrange predates the Great Pyramid of Giza by 500 years. The mere idea that Neolithic people would have the ability to construct a monument that captures the winter solstice is mind-blowing.
So why did these stone-age people build this 'time tomb'? Well, it may have represented the beginning of a new year, or it may have had a religious significance that shows the sophistication of their culture. Several other passage tombs in Ireland feature solar alignments at midwinter, midsummer or the equinoxes. At Knockroe, Co Kilkenny, there are two tombs within one cairn, one of which appears to be aligned with the rising sun in midwinter and the other to the setting sun on the same day. Although the engineering skill of these Neolithic people was phenomenal, archaeologists and scientists can't say for certain how or why they went to the trouble of constructing these astrological structures.
Certainly, the astrological power of Newgrange was so significant that later peoples, such as the Celts adopted the site as a sacred place. In Celtic mythology, Newgrange was the home of Aongus, the son of Dagda Mor, the greatest of the Celtic gods and the goddess, Boinn, after whom the river Boyne is named.
Today, the tomb still holds a mystique and lucky winners of a lottery draw get the chance to visit Newgrange at sunrise on the days around the winter solstice so that they can get to measure time as it has happened for 5,000 years."
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From www.newgrange.com/mysteries.htm
"About a 30-minute drive from Dublin, there’s a fertile valley nestled in a meandering loop of the Boyne River.
In the Stone Age, an advanced civilization made this tranquil spot home. Settlers raised livestock and tended their crops. As accomplished artists and engineers, they also built sacred enclosures.
Today, many ancient mounds are scattered across the island of Ireland. The most intriguing are called passage tombs, owing to a long corridor leading to a central cross-shaped chamber. Archaeologists long believed the dead were left in these chambers to begin their journey to the Other World.
That association with burial rites overshadowed another aspect of these enigmatic cairns. Rife with symbols and astrological properties, today they are recognized as temples with great ritual significance.
Construction, done without benefit of the wheel or metal tools, took more than 20 years, according to experts. Workers dragged 200,000 tons of loose stones to the mound, digging them from the earth by hand and hauling them 30 miles to the hilltop.
Artisans carved elaborate swirls, zigzags, diamonds, spirals and other geometric designs into the stones. Workers are said to have cut their hands, smashed fingers and feet, fell to disease and drowned in the river while creating these monuments.
The most important is Newgrange. Carbon dating shows it to be one of the oldest man-made constructions on Earth, older than Egypt’s ancient pyramids by some 700 years and Stonehenge by 1,000.
Built around 3200 B.C., the heart-shaped hill occupies more than an acre and is surrounded by 97 massive curbstones, some richly decorated with geometric carvings. The tomb is 36 feet high and has a diameter of 280 feet.
The heart is the inner chamber where three recesses — small rooms — form a cross. The intricate corbeled ceiling reaches a height of 20 feet, although the narrow entry passage is much lower. Overlapping stones form a conical dome, topped by a single capstone. This ceiling has been intact more than 5,000 years and still keeps the inner chambers dry.
One of the most impressive features of Newgrange can be seen during the winter solstice. At this time, the sun’s rays penetrate a unique roof box, crawl slowly up the tight 62-foot-long pathway and light up the central burial chamber.
Much about passage tombs remains a mystery. No written language existed at the time of their construction. Sophisticated measuring devices had not yet been imagined.
How could they have designed so precise a structure? Whose remains were left inside? What form of ceremony accompanied interment? What was the significance of the winter solstice?
The last question in particular draws a lot of interest. There is a high demand from visitors who want to see what the interior looks like at this time. A lottery is held to determine who will be admitted: In 2005, nearly 27,000 applications were submitted."
I am not a fantastic writer(maybe one day ), but i like to read alot, so i'm sharing some articles(I havent written the below):
"Newgrange is best known for the illumination of its passage and chamber by the Winter solstice sun....
At dawn, from December 19th to 23rd, a narrow beam of light penetrates the roof-box and reaches the floor of the chamber, gradually extending to the rear of the chamber. As the sun rises higher, the beam widens within the chamber so that the whole room becomes dramatically illuminated. This event lasts for 17 minutes, beginning around 9am."
-----------------------------------------------
From www.independent.ie/life/family/learning/whats-so-special-about-newgrange-29827066.html :
"Very close to Christmas we experience the winter solstice -- which gives us the shortest day of the year and the longest night. Deep inside the Arctic Circle (as Santa prepares for Christmas Eve) the day is so short that it may only last minutes before plunging back into darkness. But, since Ireland lies at a latitude of 53° north, our shortest day takes place on December 21 and lasts 7 hours, 29 minutes and 55 seconds. Sunrise will be at exactly 8.38 and sunset at 16.08.
With atomic clocks and modern technology it is easy to measure time today, but the Neolithic people living at Newgrange 5,000 years ago proved their own scientific skills and built a tomb that tells the time precisely on this shortest day.
Over the entrance to the tomb at Newgrange is a roofbox with an aperture (a gap in the stones) built in such a way that the rising sun at midwinter strikes the floor of the chamber more than 20 metres further down a long tunnel. From December 19 to 23, the light appears suddenly like a golden thread before broadening and withdrawing over a period of 17 minutes. On the middle day -- December 21 -- it hits the back of the chamber with an amazing display of winter sunshine.
The tomb at Newgrange predates the Great Pyramid of Giza by 500 years. The mere idea that Neolithic people would have the ability to construct a monument that captures the winter solstice is mind-blowing.
So why did these stone-age people build this 'time tomb'? Well, it may have represented the beginning of a new year, or it may have had a religious significance that shows the sophistication of their culture. Several other passage tombs in Ireland feature solar alignments at midwinter, midsummer or the equinoxes. At Knockroe, Co Kilkenny, there are two tombs within one cairn, one of which appears to be aligned with the rising sun in midwinter and the other to the setting sun on the same day. Although the engineering skill of these Neolithic people was phenomenal, archaeologists and scientists can't say for certain how or why they went to the trouble of constructing these astrological structures.
Certainly, the astrological power of Newgrange was so significant that later peoples, such as the Celts adopted the site as a sacred place. In Celtic mythology, Newgrange was the home of Aongus, the son of Dagda Mor, the greatest of the Celtic gods and the goddess, Boinn, after whom the river Boyne is named.
Today, the tomb still holds a mystique and lucky winners of a lottery draw get the chance to visit Newgrange at sunrise on the days around the winter solstice so that they can get to measure time as it has happened for 5,000 years."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From www.newgrange.com/mysteries.htm
"About a 30-minute drive from Dublin, there’s a fertile valley nestled in a meandering loop of the Boyne River.
In the Stone Age, an advanced civilization made this tranquil spot home. Settlers raised livestock and tended their crops. As accomplished artists and engineers, they also built sacred enclosures.
Today, many ancient mounds are scattered across the island of Ireland. The most intriguing are called passage tombs, owing to a long corridor leading to a central cross-shaped chamber. Archaeologists long believed the dead were left in these chambers to begin their journey to the Other World.
That association with burial rites overshadowed another aspect of these enigmatic cairns. Rife with symbols and astrological properties, today they are recognized as temples with great ritual significance.
Construction, done without benefit of the wheel or metal tools, took more than 20 years, according to experts. Workers dragged 200,000 tons of loose stones to the mound, digging them from the earth by hand and hauling them 30 miles to the hilltop.
Artisans carved elaborate swirls, zigzags, diamonds, spirals and other geometric designs into the stones. Workers are said to have cut their hands, smashed fingers and feet, fell to disease and drowned in the river while creating these monuments.
The most important is Newgrange. Carbon dating shows it to be one of the oldest man-made constructions on Earth, older than Egypt’s ancient pyramids by some 700 years and Stonehenge by 1,000.
Built around 3200 B.C., the heart-shaped hill occupies more than an acre and is surrounded by 97 massive curbstones, some richly decorated with geometric carvings. The tomb is 36 feet high and has a diameter of 280 feet.
The heart is the inner chamber where three recesses — small rooms — form a cross. The intricate corbeled ceiling reaches a height of 20 feet, although the narrow entry passage is much lower. Overlapping stones form a conical dome, topped by a single capstone. This ceiling has been intact more than 5,000 years and still keeps the inner chambers dry.
One of the most impressive features of Newgrange can be seen during the winter solstice. At this time, the sun’s rays penetrate a unique roof box, crawl slowly up the tight 62-foot-long pathway and light up the central burial chamber.
Much about passage tombs remains a mystery. No written language existed at the time of their construction. Sophisticated measuring devices had not yet been imagined.
How could they have designed so precise a structure? Whose remains were left inside? What form of ceremony accompanied interment? What was the significance of the winter solstice?
The last question in particular draws a lot of interest. There is a high demand from visitors who want to see what the interior looks like at this time. A lottery is held to determine who will be admitted: In 2005, nearly 27,000 applications were submitted."