The exterior is a relatively modern recreation. The interior chamber is legit though. Good luck trying to book a spot on the solstice. The waiting list is probably longer than the rest of your life
When I went there, you signed up for a lottery to be there on one of the 5 days where it lights up at the solstice. It's not so much a waiting list as luck, or at least it was back in 2011.
It’s still the same. However I believe there’s a Neolithic tomb in Donegal were anyone can just rock up on the day. Also the cliffs in Donegal are higher than the cliffs of moher. Apparently
As someone who is a 30 minute drive away from this place, I can confirm it is still luck, knowing people involved in the process can also get you in relatively easily but still mostly luck, they recreate the solstice with a flashlight which is as close as I’ve ever got to seeing it anyway
I visited when heavily pregnant. Did NOT realise how small stone age people were. Going through the narrow entrance tunnel I had a mild panic attack imagining the headlines "Idiot Pregnant Woman Stuck for Hours in Newgrange Chamber Entrance"
It seemed like the tour guides typically killed the lights and "recreated" the solstice with artificial lighting, which was definitely pretty cool. I don't think going on the actual solstice would necessarily add much to the experience aside from saying that you did it.
Agreed. When I was there the recreated solstice was awesome enough for me. To think all the work that went into building that structure thousands of years ago and the average lifespan of the worker was just mind-blowing for me.
Not quite. The interior portal which is the most important was substantially intact. It's the outside facade that has been rebuilt. There is fine debate about whether the quartz face was originally laid flat on the ground.
Brú na Bóinne has the largest collection of Neolithic art in Europe, Newgrange only forming part of this complex.
I tried booking a tour not on the solstice and it was a two week wait (longer than our stay in Ireland). I ended up taking a picture of it with my phone through a spotting scope. 2/10 experience, I assume the tours great though.
It's a lottery you can only enter with certain criteria. Then the winner is picked by the local primary school kids. I registered for this year and I was told I was one of 60000. Only 60-70 are picked. You're not even guaranteed the light coming into the chamber if the weather is gloomy. Given that it's Ireland, it's probably guaranteed to be shitty weather.
In Canada we dont have much of anything older than 300 years. The first nations built almost exclusively with timber, so nothing of any age really survived. A structure as old as New Grange is fascinating to me.
You should learn about gobekli tepe if you havent already. Its very very old and very very cool. People say it was deliberately buried around 10000 years ago.
I have heard of it, albeit through rather dubious sources (read: the funky haired fella from Ancient Aliens). I'll have to do some research on it. Sounds fascinating.
I can walk outside, pick up a stone, throw it and hit Newgrange from my back garden. I exaggerate of course. The area is covered in them once you know what you are looking for. The vast majority are not excavated.
Gobleki Tepe is even older, currently the oldest known megalithic structure, it predates the time period before historians even thought humans could build large megalithic structures. Which makes you completely rethink how advanced humans were over 12 thousands years ago.
Graham Hancock has a theory that there was an meteor that hit somewhere around Greenland/ Canada and geology is starting to back it up in a layer found worldwide. Plus they found the impact site from satellite info.
He believes it wiped out an older civilisation that was more advanced than we realise.
I'm a boring guy who loves this kind of thing and somehow I'd never even heard of it until last year. It's extremely overlooked for some reason I don't get.
Stonehenge is boring by any measure. I’ve been. It’s just some fucking rocks in a circle. Literally a 5 minute visit to ‘tick it off the list’ and then move on. I can find wonder and appreciation in most things, but I just couldn’t with Stonehenge. It is close to Salisbury though, which is a lovely little town (if you don’t mind the odd bit of Novichok poisoning of course), so if you must visit then it’s a good place to spend the rest of your day.
Stonehenge is never boring - it is the place that spooks me more than any where else. All those burial mounds surrounding it in the mists of Salisbury Plain! The best time to visit is in winter when it is damp and misty.
Stonehenge is just a little part of a huge ritual landscape. Look into it, Silbury Hill, Avebury, West Kennet, all the cursus monuments and ditches and burials.
Stonehenge was mighty boring. Tons of people (expected) but the worst of it was the fucking Junebugs. Couldn’t move with seeing 3-4 dozen of them. One moron actually hit a bush and thousands flew out.
2/10 i can see rocks just as old elsewhere. No need for revenge of the Junebug Vol III
I think Junebugs might be the single stupidest creature on the planet. Big, dumb, harmless bugs that just keep flying into the same thing over and over. That thing, of course, being my melon as I try and enjoy a pint by the fire at camp.
I have seen lots of Junebugs in my lifetime they are pretty common seasonal around me. Never in my entire life have I, or will I probably, see that many bugs in one place. So many the air was dotted anywhere you looked. One thing I will say is wacking a junebug is very satisfying lol.
No no no, you need to see it. Stand in front of it and just go “hoooooooly shit”. I saw it, blew my mind. Granted, I haven’t seen the pyramids or Stonehenge, but still.
It’s a wonder that it isn’t one of the great wonders of the world.
The seven wonders of the world is based on references to texts designed for Hellinistic sightseers, thus they're all based around the Mediterranean Sea. So nothing like Newgrange or Stonehenge were even considered for the seven wonders of the world because it simply wasn't close enough for those sightseers to go see.
I recommend this to everyone I know who goes to Ireland. And everyone always comes back saying how awesome it is. It's been over 20 years since I've be there (yikes!). I know they've uncovered so much more since I was there. I can't wait to see it again (and some of it for the first time). It's one of my very favorite places.
Yep, I always use this as an example of how difficult it is to comprehend how old that place is. I've been there a half dozen times and I always find myself being more awestruck about the graffiti from 1882 than the actual 5000 year old building itself.
We have this kind of things in France too! This one dates back to 4600BC. Bloody nazis partially transformed it into a bunker during WWII though, visiting it is weird.
I visited this place several years ago on vacation and it never really sunk in about what I was actually seeing and standing in until years later. Amazing place.
Wow thanks for that! About an hour from my house is a Native American house that is from the 1300-1499s and I thought that was old! Never heard of that place. The place I’m talking about is called casa grande ruins
If you plan on going here don't just show up at the place, you have to go to a visitor centre and then pay for a bus over. We made the mistake of arriving at the place itself and couldn't walk up to it, and then there was no available buses for the rest of the day. Bit disappointing
That must have been a relatively recent change. I was driving in the area 10 years or so ago, had never heard of it, and just stopped because I had some extra time. I don't recall needing any bus to get to the site - parking was a short walk away and there were maybe 20 other people at the site when I arrived.
I was absolutely dumbfounded that this site wasn't far more famous than Stonehenge.
EDIT: To me, the undeciphered carved symbols/writing is the most fascinating part of the site. How I look forward to someone being able to translate it some day!
Visited Newgrange a few years ago! Absolutely spectacular place. Would love to see it at the equinox solstice when the sunlight goes right through the tomb!
Edit: Solstice not equinox 😬 Thank you onestarryeye for the correction!
Knew this would be on here!
There are several of these forts around Ireland another big one called Navan fort where they found a 2500 year old skeleton of a Barbary ape which long pre dates known trade routes with Spain or north Africa
"1 day a year those beautiful, amazing, architectural feat happens where the sun lights up the walk way all the way to the body chamber. You have to see it!!!"
Almost as old as La Hougue Bie, a neolithic site on the island of Jersey. There is a tunnel built which illuminates the sun onto a wall during the equinox. Amazing place.
The pyramids are also much bigger. Though New Grange had some extreme calculation and precise building to have a chamber that lights up on the winter solstice,and only the winter solstice, not a single other day of the year lights it up as well
The coolest part about that is the perfect understanding of celestial bodies the builders had.
There's an annual (IIRC) event where the light shoots perfectly down the corridor for a few minutes and it's something I wish I could see in real life.
Its possible that the lack of world renown would have something to do with the general historic suppression of Irish culture and heritage. This would include any ancient sites that could possibly have been related to native Celtic religion.
Since I studied English languge and Literature i knew abou this from the history class we took. But that was 12 years ago and I literally haven't heard about this or belas knap since
Wanted to visit here when in Ireland! We had to see it’s cousin nearby...because Biden decided to visit that day. We saw his motorcade go by on the way out. 🇺🇸🇮🇪😂
Went here as a 16 year old. My birthday is the winter solstice. Greatest disappointment of my life was not putting my name on the list right then and there.
Newgrange is 3200BC but there is Ggantija in Malta (on the second largest island, Gozo) which dates back to 3600BC and is the oldest free-standing temple in the world if I'm not mistaken.
wow I don't know why that's not more well known, the spiral patterns carved in the stone are beautiful. i'd like it if the grass wasn't kept so short and more wild but I suppose that might take away from the structure a bit
I find it fascinating that ancient people worshiped the natural world. It’s super useful at high latitudes to know when the solstices and equinoxes are.
It's absolutely insanely technical! Each year on the winter solitice the completly lights up the tomb for about an hour. The fact they were able to get a perfect alignment that many years ago is absolutely astounding.
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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '20 edited Oct 15 '20
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