| Kerbstone
1, the Entrance Stone guards access to the interior of Newgrange. This
highly symbolic engraving is the neolithic masterpiece of Europe. The
stone is 3.5 meters long and was carved in position about 5,200 years
ago. This is a full sized painting based on a rubbing. The colours are taken from a photograph in Michael Poynder's book, Pi in the Sky. |
| Guided
Tours |
Newgrange
has some of the finest megalithic art in Europe. Three of the kerbstones
are fully decorated - the Entrance stone, K
52
which is positioned at the exact opposite side of the cairn to the entrance,
and K 67 which lies to the
north of the chamber. In addition there are many lesser carvings on other
kerbstones. During the excavation it
was discovered that several stones were decorated on their inner hidden
sides, which prompted much speculation about the nature of the art.
Engraving of the Entrance Stone from William Wilde. The artwork was catalogued by Claire O'Kelly, wife of Michael O'Kelly, the main excavator. Claire took rubbings of the stones, most of which are reproduced in Michael O'Kelly's Newgrange book.
This photograph has Claire O'Kelly's rubbing overlaid on the design. Another researcher who made an intensive study of the megalithic art of the Boyne Valley and Loughcrew was Martin Brennan. His work was published in two books, The Boyne Valley Vision and The Stars and the Stones. Brennan was trained as an artist, and he made several groundbreaking discoveries about the relationship between the art and the astronomical alignments of the mounds. Sadly, his work was much maligned by the acedemics of the times - there seems to have been plenty of animosity. However, now almost 30 years since his books were published, many of his theories have become accepted, though mostly uncredited.
RTE's Richard Dowling speaks to Muiris O Suilleabhain, Professor of Archeology at UCD about Neolithic Art at Newgrange ahead of this year's Winter Solstice on December 21st 2011. The Entrance Stone Kerbstone
1 is the masterpiece of the Boyne Valley builders, and is the most recognisable
symbol of prehistory in Ireland. I would have to add here that it is this
stone which fired my imagination when I first came across it in History
of Art at the age of 15; we had to learn to draw it freehand. I have been
fascinated with it ever since. My own feelings about this symbol, having had a rubbing of it on my wall for many years, are that it is a lot more complex than that. My latest interpretation - since I took up music myself - is that it may bear some kind relationship to musical notation. Modern notation has a spiral in the 'treble' clef and the base clefs, while the chevrons appear close to where you might mark sharp or flat notes. This brings us into deeper levels of symbolism, as music is closely related - indeed is formed from vibrations, and there are many, many New Agey theories about Newgrange. All energy moves in a spiral motion - there are many examples in nature such water going down a hole, tornadoes, cyclones, anti-cyclones, etc.
Painting of K1 by Padraig Conway, Milwaukee Irishfestival, 1998. |
| Kerbstone
1 at Newgrange. In years gone by people had to climb over the stone. The
modern arrangement of cut limestone wings were installed during the rebuilding
of Newgrange in the 1970's to save wear and tear on the stones. A huge
number of people pass through this portal every year. |
There
has been plenty of speculation about the meaning of this stone, and if
you go on a tour at Newgrange, the guides will offer some of these. One
of the most common explanations (and most simpleminded) is that the large
triple spiral represents the three big mounds; the spirals on the right
are some of the smaller mounds, and the wavy lines on the bottom represent
the River Boyne. In this scheme, the rectangles, triangles and lozanges
are the fields of the first farmers.
