The Mystery of Newgrange Solved: Tomb, Temple or Ancient Calendar?

I love a good Stone Age mystery. Brú na Bóinne in Ireland is one such prehistoric conundrum that has never been resolved. Now named Newgrange, it’s been a cryptic collection of mysterious rocks and stones ever since it was found by Vikings, lost to the Romans and then rediscovered recently.

Brú na Bóinne doesn’t look like much from a distance. There are no mesmerising arches, no grand facades, and no colossal mosaics. It has no high-rising peaks or angular sides like the Great Pyramids, yet it’s much older than them. With a low, circular profile and curved sides, it’s easy to see how the structure was swallowed by nature and then overlooked by humans before the industrialised era took hold. For the most part, this passage tomb was nothing more than a mound in the undulating Irish landscape.

Tomb?

Humans often reach for the world-of-the-dead themes when dealing with old, inexplicable things, but the only evidence it could’ve been a tomb is some ground-up bones found on its earthen floor. Personally, that’s not enough for me to believe it was ever a tomb.

The area inside the structure is far too small for burials or even sacrifices. If death was its main purpose, why not have a room big enough for that? Why not make the passage wide enough to carry a body? A dead body barely has the space to lie down, much less have a second person in it to perform any kind of sacrifice.

I know I’m discrediting years of professional research. The site has been studied for years. The information gathered by experts is extensive. They’re thorough. They know more about this than I ever would. Why dispute official findings?

I’m a speculator. I like to speculate. I look at the gaps in our knowledge, and then dream up new stories to fill the space. It’s what I do.

Let’s take a look at the other known facts and speculate a little more.

Unlike Egypt’s monuments, when Newgrange was found, treasures of gold were non-existent. No wall art or motifs of death were inside it. There was a lot of nothing and bone powder. (Ground-up bones are found in lots of places. I’m sure my home BBQ has some right now.)  

Make no mistake, Brú na Bóinne is another remarkably engineered structure. How its builders sourced, cut and relocated all the rock for it is amazing, but that’s a discussion for another time. I’m more interested in its purpose, not how it was made.

I think it’s a seasonal clock. It tells time. 

Yes, there are other distractions—engravings on the foundation stones outside and the large standing stones around it—but the in-built roof box sharply focuses the picture of Newgrange’s true purpose. It’s been designed to do one thing well: mark the moment of the Winter Solstice, the end of the cold and the start of the change to warmer, brighter days.

The sun is revered by many cultures. Its energy warms and lights the world around us. Without it, we die. In Ireland, the Autumnal sun skims the horizon and threatens to disappear over it for good. Knowing that it’d stay around mattered much to the ancient people who lived there. The only way to check the sun’s intention was to measure its movements. The roof box marked the Sun’s shortest day — the ending or a new beginning.

This unusual roof-box technology allowed a thin shaft of light to penetrate a darkened passage deep inside the structure. This was done to confirm that the hot, yellow ball would rise in the morning, and the days would lengthen again.

And everyone wants to know the time, right? During the Stone Age, knowing the right time to plant a crop, bear children, and make pilgrimages was important.

I believe Brú na Bóinne could be a clock that measures the end of a seasonal cycle, and that’s it.

Bone powder doesn’t qualify it as a tomb.

–Michael (Dark Fiction. Author of SEETHINGS (the first book), free for a limited time)