The
Boyne Valley and it's local landscape. The map measures 17 x 14 km. |
|
The Boyne Valley is the jewel in Ireland's megalithic crown. Though between three and five hundred chambered cairns exist in Ireland, the sites in the Boyne Valley are the climax of the cultural wave which extended across the island from Sligo in ancient times. The Boyne Valley sites, Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth are the largest, finest and most decorated sites in Ireland and indeed have few rivals in Western Europe. The three great mounds are surrounded by the remains of up to forty smaller satellite monuments, half of which are found at Knowth. As
there are separate pages for the three great cairns, I will deal with
the site as a whole in this section. As we find at the other great megalithic
complexes, the monuments in the Boyne Valley are completely interlinked
and interconnected. The monuments comprise an extensive sacred ritual
and astronomicaly oriented complex. |
Looking
north-east across the River Boyne towards Newgrange. |
Looking to Newgrange from a large standing stone near the Boyne. |
Construction
in the Valley began perhaps around 3,800 B.C. It is difficult to pinpoint
starting dates for monuments which have proven astronomical alignments,
as a considerable length of time must have been spent surveying the sites
before anything was built. It is likely that such massive monuments were
developed gradually in stages, and there is some evidence that each of
the three huge mounds are built on smaller pre-existing sites: the bent
passage at Knowth, the annex at Dowth and the bulge at the back of Newgrange
all hint at earlier structures.
No major habitation sites have been found yet, apart from some possible neolithic houses at Knowth under the main mound. Obviously the area supported a large number of people, and the most likely location for a village is to the east of Dowth, where the Mattock joins the Boyne, and an enormous henge monument is located. The River Boyne
is dedicated to the Goddess Boann who is associated with cattle. There
are several mythological tales associated with the great mounds. The Dagda,
a chieftain of the Tuatha De Dannan, lived in Newgrange. He had a child,
Aongus Og, with Boann, and he caused the sun to stand still in the sky
for nine months, so the child could be born on the day it was concieved,
and her husband not find out. The Ulster hero, Cuchullain was concieved
at Newgrange. |
Satellite
mound and the Great Mound at Knowth,
with a sky full of megalithic astronomical symbolism. |
The
Boyne Valley is considered to be some of the finest farming land in Ireland;
it is easy to see why a group of farmers would have been attracted to
the area. The river would have provided abundant food and travel was easy,
as the Boyne opens into the Irish sea a few kilometers to the east. Water
was the main way of transport in Neolithic times, and it has been demonstrated
that the Boyne Valley had links with many other sites in Europe. An example
is the flint mace head which was found at Knowth - the flint came from
Orkney. The Boyne is also nagivable for a long way upstream, and travellers
could have reached near enough to the 
