Download or read book Newgrange and the Bend of the Boyne written by Geraldine Stout and published by Cork University Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book is also concerned with the future of this protected cultural landscape and recommends actions to ensure its' preservation."--Cover.
Download or read book Inside the Neolithic Mind Consciousness Cosmos and the Realm of the Gods written by David Lewis-Williams and published by Thames & Hudson. This book was released on 2005-10-01 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exploration of how brain structure and cultural content interacted in the Neolithic period 10,000 years ago to produce unique life patterns and belief systems. What do the headless figures found in the famous paintings at Catalhoyuk in Turkey have in common with the monumental tombs at Newgrange and Knowth in Ireland? How can the concepts of "birth," "death," and "wild" cast light on the archaeological enigma of the domestication of cattle? What generated the revolutionary social change that ended the Upper Palaeolithic? David Lewis-Williams's previous book, The Mind in the Cave, dealt with the remarkable Upper Palaeolithic paintings, carvings, and engravings of western Europe. Here Dr. Lewis-Williams and David Pearce examine the intricate web of belief, myth, and society in the succeeding Neolithic period, arguably the most significant turning point in all human history, when agriculture became a way of life and the fractious society that we know today was born. The authors focus on two contrasting times and places: the beginnings in the Near East, with its mud-brick and stone houses each piled on top of the ruins of another, and western Europe, with its massive stone monuments more ancient than the Egyptian pyramids. They argue that neurological patterns hardwired into the brain help explain the art and society that Neolithic people produced. Drawing on the latest research, the authors skillfully link material on human consciousness, imagery, and religious concepts to propose provocative new theories about the causes of an ancient revolution in cosmology and the origins of social complexity. In doing so they create a fascinating neurological bridge to the mysterious thought-lives of the past and reveal the essence of a momentous period in human history. 100 illustrations, 20 in color.
Download or read book Newgrange written by Geraldine Stout and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: * Designed for the general reader and visitor to Newgrange * A guided tour of the best example of a passage tomb in Western Europe Newgrange is the most visited archaeological site in Ireland. Every year around 250,000 people come to the see this Neolithic passage tomb. Designed for the general reader with an interest in Irish prehistory, this book explains the results of decades of excavation and analysis in one volume. It is written in a lively style that seeks at the same time to be authoritative and thorough. Aside from its accessibility and good state of preservation, Newgrange's solstice phenomenon, in particular, has made it famous throughout the world. While it is the best-known ancient site in Ireland, many aspects of Newgrange are not clearly understood; other aspects are just taken for granted: why is there a three meter high quartz wall around its entrance; how does the roof box work; what was the inspiration for its art and architecture? The book is arranged in such a way as to replicate a visit to the site. It pauses over points of art and construction that the visitor will not have had time to examine in detail on a conventional guided tour. Newgrange is the synthesis of years of excavation and research at home and abroad; from the detailed reports stemming from the excavations of M.J. O'Kelly to the current international debate about its construction and reconstruction. This is the first book on Newgrange to draw on O'Kelly's private papers and to incorporate the results of more recent and as yet unpublished excavations. This book will clarify many complex issues that have been addressed in widely scattered publications, using original illustrations to assist the reader, and more importantly, it places the monument in its broader cultural context.
Download or read book Mythical Ireland written by Anthony Murphy and published by . This book was released on 2021-11-07 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mythical Ireland embodies the search for a soul among Ireland's ancient ruins, and is an attempt to retrieve something of deeper import from 5,000-year-old megalithic monuments and their associated myths. The book represents a fascinating and engaging journey through time, landscape and the human spirit. Dealing with archaeology, interpretive mythography, cosmology and cosmogony, the book attempts to grapple with a core meaning, something beyond the functional interpretations of academia. In this revised and expanded edition, Anthony Murphy delves further into the many enthralling aspects of this journey. Just how much knowledge did locals have of the secrets of Newgrange before it was excavated? Who is the Cailleach, the ancient hag goddess whose image is ubiquitous in the ancient landscape? What happened to make Ireland's Stonehenge disappear from the landscape? Who were the first kings of Tara? What were the indigenous Irish myths about the Milky Way? Did someone try to steal the Tara Brooch? Why are there myths in Ireland about flooded towns and cities? Lavishly illustrated with exquisite photographs of the Irish landscape and ancient monuments, Mythical Ireland represents a personal and yet universal journey, a quest to reimagine the shrines as empowering and transformative sacred places. Murphy invokes the druids and poets of the Boyne and thus the sídhe of the ancient texts are reawakened for a modern and turbulent world.
Download or read book Exploring Newgrange written by Liam Mac Uistín and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 109 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Older than the Egyptian pyramids, older than Stonehenge, for 5,000 years the ancient megalithic tomb at Newgrange in County Meath has housed the remains of Stone Age 'aristocracy', sheltering the spirits of the long dead from the outside world. This book explores the creation, building and discovery of Newgrange. Why did these people spend years building this tomb? How did they move huge boulders miles across hilly country and erect them at the site, without the aid of machinery? Modern archaeological techniques have revealed much about the lives of our Stone Age ancestors, but Newgrange still retains many of its secrets. Exploring Newgrange uncovers, in words and illustrations, the extent, and limitations, of our knowledge of this world-famous site.
Download or read book Knowth and the Passage tombs of Ireland written by George Eogan and published by New Aspects of Antiquity. This book was released on 1986 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Treasures of the Boyne Valley written by Peter Harbison and published by Gill. This book was released on 2003 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The River Boyne flows from west to east through the rich limestone land of County Meath, about 30 miles north of Dublin. Its combination of fertile soil and navigable access to the sea has ensured that it has been inhabited continuously from the end of the Ice Age. It is one of the most historic regional areas, not just in Ireland, but in all of north-west Europe.
Download or read book Winter Solstice written by Lucy Costigan and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2003-03-27 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Marion will be admitted to Newgrange, the five thousand year old mound in the heart of Ireland, which is illuminated with the sun's rays just once a year on the winter solstice. The novel is a rich portrayal of love and relationship, loss and healing, and offers insights into ancient Celtic traditions of spirituality and rebirth.
Download or read book Newgrange written by Michael J. O'Kelly and published by Thames & Hudson. This book was released on 1982 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Newgrange is unhesitatingly regarded by the prehistorian as the great national monument of Ireland; in the words of the late Sean O'Riordain, 'one of the most important ancient places in Europe'. Its special importance has been widely realized since the early description by Edward Lhwyd in 1699, and each generation finds in it something new and interesting.
Download or read book Newgrange written by Geraldine Stout and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: * Designed for the general reader and visitor to Newgrange * A guided tour of the best example of a passage tomb in Western Europe Newgrange is the most visited archaeological site in Ireland. Every year around 250,000 people come to the see this Neolithic passage tomb. Designed for the general reader with an interest in Irish prehistory, this book explains the results of decades of excavation and analysis in one volume. It is written in a lively style that seeks at the same time to be authoritative and thorough. Aside from its accessibility and good state of preservation, Newgrange's solstice phenomenon, in particular, has made it famous throughout the world. While it is the best-known ancient site in Ireland, many aspects of Newgrange are not clearly understood; other aspects are just taken for granted: why is there a three meter high quartz wall around its entrance; how does the roof box work; what was the inspiration for its art and architecture? The book is arranged in such a way as to replicate a visit to the site. It pauses over points of art and construction that the visitor will not have had time to examine in detail on a conventional guided tour. Newgrange is the synthesis of years of excavation and research at home and abroad; from the detailed reports stemming from the excavations of M.J. O'Kelly to the current international debate about its construction and reconstruction. This is the first book on Newgrange to draw on O'Kelly's private papers and to incorporate the results of more recent and as yet unpublished excavations. This book will clarify many complex issues that have been addressed in widely scattered publications, using original illustrations to assist the reader, and more importantly, it places the monument in its broader cultural context.
Download or read book The Stones of Time written by Martin Brennan and published by Inner Traditions / Bear & Co. This book was released on 1994-10 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Stones of Time presents one of the most dramatic archaeological detective stories of our time. Predating Stonehenge by at least a thousand years, the stone complexes of ancient Ireland have been extensively studied, yet have refused to give up their mystery. The most complete record of Irish megalithic art ever published.
Download or read book Etton written by Francis Pryor and published by English Heritage Publishing. This book was released on 2014-02-15 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Neolithic causewayed enclosure at Etton, cut into a Pleistocene gravel river terrace, occupied a floodplain 'island' within a relict stream meander in the Welland Valley, Maxey, Cambridgeshire. Regular flooding laid down layers of clay alluvium, mainly in Iron Age and later times, preserving a palaesol and protecting the site from modern plough damage. The causewayed enclosure, small by British standards, comprised a single, 'squashed oval' shaped ditch. Excavations revealed c 80% of the interior and most date the construction and use to the fourth millennium cal BC, that is, early in the tradition of British causewayed enclosures. Most of the excavated features are Early Neolithic; Late Neolithic and earlier Bronze Age features were associated with the ditch of a cursus, which traversed the enclosure diagonally. Causeways entered the enclosure on the north, which featured a substantial timber gateway, east, west, and possibly the south (which could not be examined). Through the life of the site additional features were built and aligned with care: a north-south dividing fence, aligned with the north gateway, in Phase 1 and numerous ritual pits, back-filled with pottery (often deliberately smashed), flint, and animal bones. These pits may have represented individual people and the cntents allude to the person's skills, achievements, or social position. The nearest ditch segment probably represented an individual's family or kin-group. The inhabitants were careful not to damage earlier deposits when digging new pits, and it was thus possible to define an evolving tradition of carefully structured ritual deposits. Objects such as complete pots or skulls were also placed close to causeways, within the buttends of individual ditch segments. In Phase 2 (Late Neolithic) such deposits were more sporadic, but ritual continued to dominate. Most of the pottery from the pits is a regional variant of the Hurst Fen tradition. Fengate-style wares also feature prominently, and flintwork, 'imported' polished stone axes, and other stone objects were also deposited. The western arc of the enclosure ditch produced some 5000 pieces of worked wood, most of which derived from coppice.
Download or read book Irish Passage Graves written by Michael Herity and published by . This book was released on 1975 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book First Light written by Robert Hensey and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2015-06-30 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Newgrange in Ireland is a world famous monument not only because of its vast scale and elaborate megalithic art, but also because of its renowned alignment to the sun on the winter solstice. Yet the origins of Newgrange remain somewhat mysterious. Across Ireland over two hundred similar passage tombs are found, some of which are considerably older than Newgrange. These less investigated monuments reveal that the origins of Newgrange may be hidden in plain sight. A progression in the scale and sophistication of construction of these passage tombs, developments in the styles of megalithic art, and an increase in the scale and craftsmanship of associated artefacts may be observed, which taken together indicate a lengthy process of development. In short, Robert Hensey uncovers an untold history at Newgrange; an island-wide story of incremental changes over hundreds of years, of a society in evolution, perhaps in extremis, who left behind such a rich, enigmatic and patterned legacy. This book not only charts the earlier history of Newgrange, but addresses why it was constructed, what was its purpose. In the Boyne Valley, through Newgrange and related sites at Br na Binne, we have evidence not only of extraordinary physical accomplishments, but of tremendous acts of imagination; a testament to rich and developed inner worlds. In this book, it is proposed that the concept of an otherworld which could be embodied by and accessed through passage tombs was a central motivator in passage tomb construction from its earliest beginnings. Newgrange is at the end of a long tradition of monuments dedicated to the religious needs of Neolithic communities, from small-scale monuments built by early farming groups; to potent otherworld centres of ritual training at the edge of society; eventually to temple-like monuments standing at the very heart of the religious and political sphere in Neolithic Ireland. Challenging both orthodox archaeological opinions and popular conjecture, this will be an important book for anyone interested in Neolithic archaeology.
Download or read book Decoding Astronomy in Art and Architecture written by Marion Dolan and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-09-17 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For centuries, our ancestors carefully observed the movements of the heavens and wove that astronomical knowledge into their city planning, architecture, mythology, paintings, sculpture, and poetry. This book uncovers the hidden messages and advanced science encoded within these sacred spaces, showing how the rhythmic motions of the night sky played a central role across many different cultures. Our astronomical tour transports readers through time and space, from prehistoric megaliths to Renaissance paintings, Greco-Roman temples to Inca architecture. Along the way, you will investigate unexpected findings at Lascaux, Delphi, Petra, Angkor Wat, Borobudur, and many more archaeological sites both famous and little known. Through these vivid examples, you will come to appreciate the masterful ways that astronomical knowledge was incorporated into each society’s religion and mythology, then translated into their physical surroundings. The latest archaeoastronomical studies and discoveries are recounted through a poetic and nontechnical narrative, revealing how many longstanding beliefs about our ancestors are being overturned. Through this celestial journey, readers of all backgrounds will learn the basics about this exciting field and share in the wonders of cultural astronomy.
Download or read book Celtic Saints of Wales written by Elizabeth Rees and published by . This book was released on 2015-05 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most books about Celtic saints are based on their legendary medieval lives. This book, however, focuses on the sites where these early Christians lived and worked. Archaeology, combined with early inscriptions and texts, offers us important clues which help us to piece together something of the fascinating world of early Christianity. The book is illustrated with the author's own evocative photographs of the sites where the Celtic saints of Wales worked and prayed. The reader is therefore drawn into the beautiful world which these men and women inhabited. 'Celtic Saints of Wales' includes accounts of most well-known saints, and a number of less famous individuals. It is not, however, exhaustive: lack of historical data means that there are hundreds more Celtic monks and nuns, of whom we know little beyond their names. The book is easy to read, with an Introduction and maps to pinpoint the sites described and photographed. It is aimed at a broad reading public. Since it is both readable and fully illustrated, it will appeal to anyone interested in history, landscape or spirituality, and to Welsh tourists. Based on sound scholarship, it will also be of value to students of history, religion and culture.
Download or read book Landscapes of Neolithic Ireland written by Gabriel Cooney and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Landscapes of Neolithic Ireland is the first volume to be devoted solely to the Irish Neolithic, using an innovative landscape and anthropological perspective to provide significant new insights on the period. Gabriel Cooney argues that the archaeological evidence demonstrates a much more complex picture than the current orthodoxy on Neolithic Europe, with its assumption of mobile lifestyles, suggests. He integrates the study of landscape, settlement, agriculture, material culture and burial practice to offer a rounded, realistic picture of the complexities and the realities of Neolithic lives and societies in Ireland.
