The Hill of Tara and Newgrange (Bru na' Boinne)

 Today we had a long day of touring. We left the house at 8:30 am, walked to the bus stop, took a 45 minute bus ride to get to our 1 1/2 hour tour bus ride - then walked for 3 hours and then took a 45-minute bus ride back to Dublin before walking 20 minutes to the next bus stop, to take a 30 minute bus ride home.  Sheeesh! Norah only started to cry once in all of that travel so we were very impressed with our little munchkin today. We took a guided tour of these ancient sites and it was incredible but, we are spent.   

 

The Hill of Tara - the ancient capitol of all of Ireland (45 minutes North of Dublin)

"The Hill of Tara, known as Temair in gaeilge, was once the ancient seat of power in Ireland – 142 kings are said to have reigned there in prehistoric and historic times. In ancient Irish religion and mythology Temair was the sacred place of dwelling for the gods, and was the entrance to the otherworld. Saint Patrick is said to have come to Tara to confront the ancient religion of the pagans at its most powerful site.

The earliest settlement at the site was in the Neolithic, and the Mound of the Hostages was constructed in or around 2500BC. There are over thirty monuments which are visible, and probably as many again which have no visible remains on the surface but which have been detected using special non-intrusive archaeological techniques and aerial photography. " http://www.mythicalireland.com/ancientsites/tara/ The hills, (pictured above and below), are what we walked on. Of course, when you're walking, you have no idea how massive it is or what this aerial view looks like. You just think you're walking up and down little hills. mythicalireland.com

(Catholic Church, on the site. Ironic, and purposeful, given that Saint Patrick, in the name of the church, came to banish the Pagans who called this their most important spiritual and ritualistic location.)

And a statue of the Saint, for good measure.

Wayne and Norah walking up the main mound in the Hill of Tara.

So here we're standing on the innermost ring, before the center mound, of the largest hill (if you compare this with the earlier aerial view)

This tree was just incredible. People have tied various ribbons and pieces of cloth onto its lower branches and it couldn't be more mystical given its surroundings. I forgot to ask our tour guide what its significance is so I'm regretting that now...

And second part of tour: Newgrange

Built starting in 3,200 B.C. - over 5,000 years old.
If you're interested in more background on this site, please look here:
http://www.newgrange.com/index.htm
They have explained it better than I can. 

Nerd Alert: I warn you, I explain far more than I should but I couldn't help it. Please feel free to skip over my descriptions if you're not inerested. =) Needless to say I really loved it and completely nerded-out doing research on the background.

One incredible fact was that all of this granite (white stones), the 1,000 pound curb stones and some other materials, were brought from areas 50-70 kilometers (around 40 miles) from this site. So, keep in mind, this is before the wheel, so they were obviously incredibly intelligent and agile to not only get these materials here, but to then build this truly massive structure. They say there are over 200,000 pounds of material (alternating layers of earth and rock) on top of the inner chamber and it has remained perfectly intact for over 5,000 years. Here is an example in the visitor centre of a way they could have transported these stones:

(so the logs on the bottom would roll and they would keep taking them out the back and bringing them toward the front, to keep rolling)

Here's a link to some images from within the tomb/chamber:

http://www.knowth.eu/newgrange-chamber.htm

We were not allowed to take any pictures inside but it was incredible. They constructed this, over 5,000 years ago! Before tools (as we know them), and the roof here has not leaked a single drop in any of those 5,000 years! It was really amazing to be inside the chamber. They say this may be the oldest (completely intact) man-made structure, on earth. It's pretty humbling.

(especially given that every man-made structure I've ever been in is seriously flawed. As our tour guide joked, "The visitor centre was built ten years ago and they already have to replace the roof". Our many thousands of years since, have not made us much smarter have they?)

This entry Kerbstone is the most highly decorated (there are other decorated stones around the periphery as well as the entire inner chamber). Unfortunately though, they have no way of knowing what any of the artwork means. They have some 'educated guesses' but they say, they can have no answers. They said to us "your guess is as good as ours". For these "tri-spirals", the guide said some conjecture says they could symbolize 'Life, Death, and Rebirth', OR, they could sympbolize the sun, OR, they could be a map of the other mounds close by, OR (Wayne's guess) they could be swirls in the river surrounding this area. It's very sad to hear that the most educated archaelogists on earth will never know what these meant.

This is the roof box, above the front entrance. This is the most interesting aspect. They now know that this was built purposefully so that on the morning of the winter solstice (and a few days on either side of it) the sunrise will shine through this exact hole, and illuminate the entire cross shaped inner chamber. People enter a lottery each year to be present for this incredible sight. Lucky for us, they've recreated what it looks like with artificial light so when we were inside they turned out the lights, (as it would be in full darkness all year for the people who were here) and then they turn on the beam of light. It comes up the passage way, shining on the floor and then illuminates the back wall of the chamber. These people were no dummies.... =)

The roof box is above the front door, but as you walk through the passage way, you go up about 3 feet on an incline. So, when you're standing in the cross-shaped inner room, the roof box is now level with your feet, and hence the sunlight shining in and illuminating the whole room. It is mind-boggling - the amount of work that went into this.

Imagine, this is before they even knew that the seasons would keep changing each year. This is before they had clocks - before "minutes", before "months", before "calendars". This building was a sort of 'calendar' for them.

They would make sacrifices to the Gods because they often feared Winter would not end. They thought if they did not please the Gods, that the dark days would just continue getting longer until there was nothing but darkness. So, this is why the Roof Box and the sunlight coming through on December 21st was such a momentous occasion. This signalled the moment the sun would start to shine more until Spring and Summer came again.  So many things we take for granted. (The sun will rise, the sun will set, 60 minutes is an hour, 24 hours is one 'sun-cycle', 30 days are a month, 12 months make a year and then it starts again....They didn't know any of this)  

Here are some pictures from the Visitor Centre where they've recreated what they think it may have looked like:

 (An image of the cross-shaped inner chamber before they would have built the mound on top.)

 And here, with the mound completely finished.

Neolithic Sasquatch

No Neolithic Sasquatch.

(some lurker in my photo)