Passage Tomb at Newgrange, Co. Meath

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This is a Passage Tomb at Newgrange in County Meath. It is called this because it has a long passage. It was built around 3000 B.C. and the passage is covered with a mound made from water rolled pebbles. It is shaped in a circle which is 80 metres in diameter. The height is 15 metres and the passage is 19 metres long. Many of the big stones have carvings on them.

Did you know...

  • This passage tomb was built 5,000 years ago
  • There are many tombs in France similar to Newgrange but not as good.
  • Archaeologists think that the people who built Newgrange Passage Tomb came from France

Point the mouse at the picture to see inside.
Can you see the spiral design.
  • The people who built this tomb were very clever at astronomy. They built it to face the sun on the shortest day of the year. That is the 21st of December. On that morning as the sun rises it shines along the passage to light up the Burial Chamber where people were cremated.
The stones on the front of Newgrange in the photo above are shown close up below. The archaeologists can tell where the stones come from. TO SEE point the mouse at the picture below.

  • The roof is made of dry stones which were placed tightly one on top of the other. This is called a corbelled roof.
This is called a tri-spiral, which means three spirals. The sculptors of 3000 B.C. which is 5000 years ago were brilliant craftsmen, probably the best in Europe at that time.
The people were cremated and their ashes were placed on this basin during the burial ceremony.

Did you know...
  • They lived in round stone houses.
  • They made their tools from flint, which is a very hard stone.
  • They used flint tools to decorate the walls.
  • They buried arrowheads, axes, pots, and necklaces of bone or stone with the dead person.
  • When a person died they were cremated.
  • Some people used to believe that the entrance to Newgrange was the gateway to Tír na nÓg.
  • The man in the picture is probably a priest and he is putting a bundle of burnt bones in the stone basin.
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