Ancient site · Tomb
Newgrange
Newgrange in County Meath, Ireland, is a huge passage tomb built around 3100 BCE, older than Stonehenge and the pyramids of Giza. A stone passage leads into a cross-shaped chamber inside a round mound ringed by carved kerbstones.
At sunrise on the winter solstice, light shines through a 'roof-box' over the entrance and fills the chamber. Burnt and unburnt human bones were found inside. By the start of the Bronze Age it was falling into ruin. It is the main monument of the Brú na Bóinne World Heritage Site.
- Dates
- built c. 3100 BCE; out of use by the Bronze Age
- Still standing
- Yes
- UNESCO World Heritage
- Yes
- Location
- 53.69° N, 6.48° W
How we know
No writing existed; radiocarbon dates from the building and excavations from 1962 to 1975 tell us its age.
Nearby sites
- Hadrian's Wall begun 122 CE; Roman rule ended c. 410 CE
- Star Carr c. 9300–8500 BCE
- Stonehenge c. 3100–1600 BCE (sarsen circle c. 2600–2400 BCE)
- Cairn of Barnenez built c. 4850–4000 BCE; reused in the 3rd millennium BCE
- Ness of Brodgar c. 3500–2200 BCE
- Skara Brae c. 3180–2500 BCE
Related
- Atlantic megalith builders archaeological culture