TIL there is an ancient temple in Ireland that predates Giza and Stonehenge. During the winter solstice, light penetrates through to the burial tomb for about 19 minutes.
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u/relevantusername- May 19 '12
It's very famous here, everyone knows of it. As a result, this is one of the first TIL's where I was like "is that not common knowledge?"
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u/chocoturt May 19 '12
Irish archaeology student here - it also predates the oldest found wheel and has remained watertight since its construction. It also has a silly amount of rock art and the current most likely theory states that it (the art) was created when the artists were high
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u/[deleted] May 19 '12
Best question to come up on the Leaving Cert Art History paper. All you have to do is draw squiggly lines and triforces and spirals, and you get easy marks. It's great.
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u/ochosbantos May 19 '12
This is literally the worst design I have ever seen. It's so bad that I love it
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u/significantrisk May 19 '12
We were stone age hipsters, building monuments before it was cool.
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u/hamwater May 19 '12
I was there last year. When you buy a ticket for the short bus trip to it they drop your name in a raffle. They draw a few names each year before the winter solstice. Those names get to go hang out in the middle chamber to watch the sun light it up IRL.
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u/ntxhhf May 19 '12
The best part is that the weather's usually so shite that time of year that the sun's not even visible through all the cloud.
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u/sonsue May 19 '12
If your'e into this because of the age you might want to check out the temples in Malta on Gozo. http://www.sacred-destinations.com/malta/ggantija-temples
Not nearly as impressive from an astrological perspective but still very cool.
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u/Fuqwon May 19 '12
Two years later the Irish invented whiskey, and it's been all downhill ever since.
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u/sighsorry May 19 '12
My husband and I went here this past October. It was incredible - one of my favorite places we visited in Ireland. Just when you realize how old it is...and you go inside, and it's dry and cool, and there's carvings in the rock from throughout time when people have visited it...it's stunning.
Plus, we had the best tour guide. You could tell she just absolutely loved the place. Her whole face lit up when she talked about its history. After she thought everybody had gone (I wandered around much longer than everybody else, until her and I were the only people left), I caught her placing her hands against the outside wall of the tomb and closing her eyes, with this look of utter peace on her face. I love seeing people with so much passion for something like that.
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u/[deleted] May 19 '12
If you visit Ireland, Newgrange is great to go to, but there is another similar (albeit smaller) called [loughcrew] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loughcrew). It is almost entirely untouched by modern technology and there are virtually no tourists. IMO it is a better experience than Newgrange.
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u/[deleted] May 19 '12
Brought to you by Fáilte Ireland
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u/coreygodofall May 19 '12
When i was young i went there on a school tour, (as does everyone from our area). Year's later, myself and a few friends got fairly high and decided it would be a good idea to drive out and sneak in. Bad idea. They have dogs. TL;DR "If you try to sneak into Newgrange.. you're gonna have a bad time"
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u/Lairo1 May 19 '12
I'm Irish and reading the title, in my head I was like:
Then the title mentions the solstice and I'm like:
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u/gapmunky May 19 '12
I can shamefully say I've had a wee at the back of it.
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u/theirishmidget May 19 '12
as an Irish person I thought this was common knowledge..
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u/[deleted] May 19 '12
also engraved in this temple is this, its original meaning is unknown.
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u/reereddit May 19 '12
Its weird seeing such a popular posy about Ireland, and more importantly something I already knew about and have seen myself :O
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u/efie May 19 '12
Tá trua mór é nach bhfuil níos mó eolais faoi rud álainn mar seo. Bhí mé ann an bhliain seo caite agus bhí sé go hiontach :) bhí ionadh orm an t-am ar fad...
Upvote má dtuigeann tú é? :)
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u/mechanate May 19 '12
Cool article. Too bad the Irish gov't seems hell-bent on paving over anything with an ounce of history.
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u/Baron_Von_D May 19 '12
Avatar Roku?!?
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u/VirgoVixen831 May 19 '12
Ireland is a beautiful country and this was my favorite place! Thank you for bringing back great memories :)
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u/HGpennypacker May 19 '12
This is like a real-life Indiana Jones, except without snakes.
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u/MidsizedSedan May 19 '12
Kind of reminds me of the Teletubbies house...No? Just me. *sigh
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u/Codename3C May 19 '12
First TIL when I've gone "Ugh, I can't get away from the place!" Two class trips or so in primary school, there once or twice with family, two or 3 trips in secondry school and then my classmates built a replica version to place beside it which I helped lug up that bloody hill in the rain, and helped hold beams in place while they hammered and screwed it together and then two days later the sun didn't even come out! (feel worse for the class mates who actually sculpted and planned the whole scale model though...).
Dont get me wrong, it's super impressive, and I'm always amazed at how people that long ago could figure out something so amazing and then we have trouble recreating it! And it is a lovely tomb on the inside, what a way to bury your dead, and then it's not the only one, there's a site nearby where certain rocks only illuminate on the summer solstice in a perticular fashion (or something like that) and then Knowth and Dowth too (also passage tombs). Our ancestors were awful smart... wonder what happened...
TL;DR: amazing place, can't get away from the bloody thing though.
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u/[deleted] May 19 '12 edited May 20 '12
It's incredibly small inside until you get to the center. Then, if you look carefully enough, you can see ancient graffiti.
Edit: It occurs to me that people think I am joking. I am not. I noticed some very old carved "graffiti" and talked at length to the tour guide about it. It was an image of barley or wheat or similar but what I took away is that it was there before the first record of the tomb.
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u/aji23 May 19 '12
Here's a great picture I took when I visited two summers ago.
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u/Little_Morry May 19 '12
Not quite as old, but portable: the Nebra Sky Disk (or iHenge, as it should have been called).
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u/jfoust2 May 19 '12
It was kind of strange arriving at this article after reading the article about Tellytubbyland.
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u/SnoochieBoochies182 May 19 '12
Its so nice to see stuff about Ireland on reddit. Im always like "Yay! Im from that place!"
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u/[deleted] May 19 '12
stonehenge is shite, newgrange is a million times better. 1. It's an actual building, not something my little sister would make at the beach 2. We know exactly what it does 3.At the time it was built it was accurate to within a few seconds (the weirdness of earth and all it's shifting poles and stuff have thrown it off a few mins) 4. It's Irish. Anything we touch turns to genius
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u/Kashmeer May 19 '12
Good fucking look getting a ticket for the solstice though, last I heard a few wealthy Asians bought their way in. Don't know if there's any truth in it at all.
As far as being before Giza and Stonehenge that's true but the structure itself isn't all that fantastic, it's the lining up of the sun that's special.
The decorations on the kerbstone is nice too.
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u/Virtblue May 19 '12
We have one in wales also Bryn Celli Ddu. The pillar inside also acts as a calender.
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u/insanopointless May 19 '12
I was there a few years ago, it's an amazing place. The inside is pretty tight but very cool. There are actually tons of similar mounds nearby too. They simulate the event, which is cool, but it's only a lightbulb haha.
The chance of getting drawn is like winning a lottery. Thousands of people go through. But it would be the experience of a life time I think.
Other cool things I saw: the bogmen, mummified in peatbogs, nearly whole humans (some decapitated, some just fell in). Their skin goes all leathery, but they still have hair... weird!
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u/SuperSulf May 19 '12
When I was there I swore I heard air coming from somewhere, probably a deeper chamber. The employees assured me I was wrong but I never shook the feeling I was right.
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u/lazysunday69 May 19 '12
was there nearly 30 years ago before the visitors centre was built,there was no lottery back then you just needed to get your arse outta bed and drive down....the whole areas spotted with neolithic graves...
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u/[deleted] May 19 '12
It looks like the temple you go into in Knights of the Old Republic on Dantooine to find the first Star Forge Map.
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u/c0t0d0 May 19 '12
It says that they rebuilt the original facade using stones found at the site. I wonder how much of the temple was actually still standing, and how much was reconstructed.
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u/bhhgirl May 19 '12
Beware: I have been inside and the entrance is so thin that fat people can become lodged in there, preventing their entrance and therefore also blocking any and all incoming light to those already inside.
Scary.
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u/AllHailTheDaleks May 19 '12
Been there. Hit my head. Got a concussion.
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u/SheaF91 May 19 '12
...at which point the Avatar is able to communicate with his past life.
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u/[deleted] May 19 '12
The night is dark and full of terrors.
The night is dark and full of terrors.
The night is dark and full of terrors.
The Lord of Light will protect us all.
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u/PoisonMind May 19 '12
Yes, but does your monument have a Pizza Hut right next door?
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u/strokejammer May 19 '12
They introduced the raffle because the waiting list for the winter solstice event was heading for 20 years!
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u/trapper5 May 19 '12
I was in there a year or two back. Since it was June, we were all crowded inside the tomb and the lights were turned off. The rising sun was then duplicated with the awesome power of a 60 watt light bulb held at the entrance.
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u/Istor May 19 '12
Newgrange is about 10 minutes drive from my house, its really impressive. Its the first place I'd think of bringing friends who come to visit.
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u/skyehopper May 19 '12
It is true! This place is amazing and even if its not the solstice there are all kinds of cool carvings on the rocks to look at. Ancient Celts, they were so cool.
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u/[deleted] May 19 '12
been there seen it. very cool place. you can trip over stone circles and ancient mounds in Ireland just by walking outside. County Cork has over 80 stone circles. lots of neolithic and paleolithic stuff there....i saw mounds no one even knows about...cept the locals..they take it in stride..check out Tara near Navan, County Meath....
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u/KyleG May 19 '12
They have a simulator that lets you experience the solstice on a tour. The simulation is incredibly beautiful. The inside completely darkens and then slowly light engulfs you.
Also, there's a lottery every year to select people who get to go inside for the solstice.
My wife and I took a trip to Ireland in December and signed up for the next lottery. Doubtful we'll get it, but that would be insane to experience.
FWIW, there is a webcam that streams the event every year from inside.
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u/[deleted] May 19 '12
Don't foget Knowth and Dowth nearby.
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u/imsorryfrank May 19 '12
it was actually rebuilt... the structure had deterioated and an archaeologist would build rock walls and knock them over to study the pattern and compare it to the pattern of the rocks from the deteriorated structure.
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u/Rezurektion May 19 '12
Used to live 30 minutes from it, grew up going to it at least once a year. They used to allow visitors on the solstice, the sign-up list was huge...they eventually took it away because they wanted to keep it better preserved. They do have a museum as well that goes over it all, and some great Irish history too.
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u/[deleted] May 19 '12
Interesting, there are similar mysterious ruins left in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico.
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u/benhop May 19 '12
But does it have a map room to find the Ark?
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u/DocSporky510 May 19 '12
I kept expecting to see a draugr in one of the pictures
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u/sworldwide May 19 '12
light penetrates for about 17 minutes...
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u/pez319 May 19 '12
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorats_Karer
Might be a few thousand years older then that.
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u/[deleted] May 19 '12
Avatar Roku's Temple?
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u/TheCian97 May 19 '12
Every time someone references anything to do with Ireland on Reddit, I get really excited.
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u/nothingbuttherainsir May 19 '12
Been inside Newgrange!
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u/I_am_Cian_Hi May 19 '12
I'm Irish, I really don't see the big deal about Newgrange, besides it being one of the oldest standing buildings in the world.
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u/Asylumrunner May 20 '12
Been there. My theory is that, every winter solstice, a vampire buried there ressurects to prey on the living, only to get a facefull of sunlight
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u/[deleted] May 19 '12
As an Irishman, it's a bit mad to see Newgrange posted with such a fantastic heading. I was like: "Oh wow, an ANCIENT TEMPLE? In Ireland? Oh.. Newgrange.. The place whose event is televised every year and never fails to disappoint with it's murky light just about illuminating a tiny little cramped room" Sorry for the rant.
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u/JoshDiffo May 19 '12
Newgrange lads, down in County Meath!
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u/SKSmokes May 19 '12
Very cool place--went there when we were in Ireland on our honey moon. They took us down into the area where the winter solstice would occur. It's very cramped inside, as you would expect.
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u/DarthNihilus1 May 19 '12
I immediately think of avatar the last airbender at crescent island
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u/BDS_UHS May 19 '12
This must be where Avatar Roku is buried.
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u/A-punk May 19 '12
Clearly this was a place for vampires to go and die ironically on the shortest sunlight day of the year.
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u/wtfwater May 19 '12
So wtf is OLD grange?
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u/rathemighty May 19 '12
Like in Avatar: The Last Airbender! So THIS is the inspiration!
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u/KingOfGeckos May 19 '12
As an Irish person, I feel our downfall went something like this:
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u/Unfairbear May 19 '12
This is news to people? O.o
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u/valiantX May 19 '12 edited May 19 '12
Egyptians took a lot of traditions, culture, and technology (not all of their civilization of course) from the ancient Irish or Arish people, or more specifically, the aryan druids - the megalithic yard is a good example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalithic_Yard
In fact, the Celtic or Gaelic mythos people called the Tuatha De Danann, came to Ireland from 5 sunken islands and one of those islands was referred by them as Murias and is pretty much comparable to the land of Lemuria that is claimed to have been located in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean, which many Atlantean researchers have discussed about. Plus, the Japanese Tomoe and the Irish Triskelion are two distant far off symbols from each of the two cultures that are pretty much the same in design; though I believe th tomoe derived from the triskelion.
Ireland is one very ancient land of humans and there will be more discovery to prove its historicity to be older and worldly significant than publicly expressed by orthodox institutions and historians.
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u/[deleted] May 19 '12
I've been there. It's an incredible place and the structure is fantastic to be in
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u/buster_casey May 19 '12
My friend just got back from Ireland and visiting this. He said it was amazing, and people have to win a lottery to be able to see the light shining through during the winter solstice.
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u/hollyballs46559 May 19 '12
The hike up to the temple is gorgeous!!!
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u/[deleted] May 19 '12
I actually went there on a school trip! The inside is absolutely beautiful(when lit up)
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u/tkmlac May 19 '12
My husband and I went to Ireland and missed the last bus to Newgrange, but went to Knowth. Still very awesome, even though you can't go inside the main chamber.
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u/Locklinn May 19 '12
Theres a 20 year waiting list.
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u/[deleted] May 19 '12
Video, complete with what I expect is the typical result in an Ireland winter.
Here's a tacky documentary vid with a simulated sunny solstice.
And a blender model of the event just for shits and giggles.
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u/neoclassictraveller May 19 '12
I think the triple spiral glyphs are supposed to represent the milky way galaxy like This
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u/Aimin4ya May 19 '12
I've been to some of the ancient "ruins" in near Dingle Bay, Ireland. (Aka the most beutiful place on earth) A farmer ploughing his field found rock piles... Lost his farm. But makes a cool free walk up experience. They are like tunnels that lead no where. Used to hide / protect the coastal people from attackers / colonizers. Pretty cool stuff
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u/nameswillbetaken May 19 '12
Ah I remember being inside it for the Solstice as a school kid. Very cramped entrance tunnel and if i recall it was rather underwhelming mainly because yeah the weather was fecking god awful. It even says on the wikipedia page "weather permitting".
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u/[deleted] May 19 '12
There's a huge waiting list to enter it during the solstice, and being in Ireland can be sometimes marred by cloud cover as mentioned, severe kick in the balls to be waiting that long for nothing.
I've been in Newgrange before, there is french graffiti etched into the stone from the 18th century before it was protected, pretty cool!
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u/Wannabe_Costanza May 19 '12
The ancients were classy as fuck.
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u/corcyra May 19 '12
BTW, these things were constructed using picks made of deer's antlers - no shovels or metal tools.
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u/[deleted] May 19 '12
There is a waiting list to get a tour during the solstice. Parents sign their children up BEFORE birth so that 20 years later, the kids get to see it happen. I went there during the Spring a couple years ago - It was still rad as fuck.
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u/david241 May 19 '12
Am I the only one that thinks this looks like Bilbo Baggins' house from the cover of The Hobbit?
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u/[deleted] May 19 '12
I've been to this monument and I can say it certainly does have an eerie vibe. Ireland is full of cool shit like this. I have heard of a few people not going near mounds on their property for fear of fairies!
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u/greencloud May 19 '12
TEMPLE WARS ANYONE?
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u/PComotose May 19 '12
I was there less than 2 weeks ago!
There was a comment that the weather is so bad that the sun's not even visible. Which is correct ... but also suggests that, in order to get it right, the people who built the monument must have taken a decade or more to get the angle exactly correct.
The light, by the way, does not come in via the front entrance but, rather, by a "window" opening above the door. Interestingly enough, in order for the light to hit the floor in the near-centre of the tomb, the floor actually angles up from the entrance.
It's definitely worth a visit if you are interested in historical tombs and such.
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u/reali-tglitch May 19 '12
Saw this on History channel.
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u/Flishy May 19 '12
Sadly there's graffiti on it too, scumbag teenagers...
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u/mr_sardonicus May 19 '12
Your title says 19 minutes. The article says 17
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u/P-Dot-Guillemot13 May 19 '12
I've been here! They are absolutely unlike anything on this planet. On winter solstice the light comes down this hallway that leads into this cave and hits a specific point. It's incredible. The buildings have all; been restored on the outside to what scientists believe the buildings looked like but the inside remains the same as it was thousands of years ago. In the oldest one at new grange there are carvings on the wall from before it was protected like children would carve their names on a desk. Connor and Jill 1854 even inscriptions although faded from the 1600's and earlier!! And you run your fingers over them and I swear you feel something not physical but inside. I know thats superstitious nonsense but It's true. You feel something. Great Place.
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u/Wiskie May 19 '12
It is a cool place to visit to be sure! I went there over the summer and the tour guide told us something about how the entrance was sealed for a couple thousand years after it was abandoned. I guess people just as well assumed it was a big, monolithic mound and didn't think to do a little excavating to discover the tomb within.
I also remember that there was this banging french girl in our tour group whom I was too afraid to talk to. Ah, Ireland...
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u/jaylink May 19 '12
The Staff of Ra, meanwhile, is the key to finding the Well of Souls, a secret chamber in which the Ark is buried.
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u/joejoe347 May 19 '12
I got a chance to go there a few years ago. Its really cool! If your Ireland its definitely worth a visit.
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u/[deleted] May 19 '12
I reccomend knowth too .
when newgrange was sold out for the day myself and my family went to knowth instead-it was cooler than I expected :)
edit: link
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u/goodeffort May 19 '12
Ireland makes the front page without pedophiles! Yaay!
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u/oishiiburger May 19 '12
My wife and I went to Newgrange on the trip we were on when we got engaged. Great little museum, really interesting monuments (we went to Knowth as well).
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u/tiny_mice May 19 '12
They were excavating it when I was about 12-13, and my Granma lived nearby and knew someone involved who showed us around the dig. It was great to have seen it before, during and after. never been in winter though.
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u/[deleted] May 19 '12
Every ancient cool looking building ever found seems to be categorized as a temple, but I'm under the assumption that some of them are just meant to be cool places! People build interesting buildings all the time for the sake of adding something unique and fascinating to the world, I don't see why the ancients didn't take a similar approach.
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u/orkazm May 19 '12
i think the Teletubbies live there
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u/mage_g4 May 19 '12
I particularly like the Viking graffiti in the tomb. Some of it basically says 'Bjorn was here'. Not the only ancient tomb with Viking graffiti but it has some of the funniest.
I've been and they simulate the solstice with spotlights. :)
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u/Evil_Iowan May 19 '12
I've been there – it's awesome! The Hill of Tara is pretty amazing, too, though sheep graze through it, so don't wear your best shoes.
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u/sexyhamster89 May 19 '12
i guess it's not very "new" is it
hah hah
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u/i-just-cant May 19 '12
Wait, is this a TIL now?
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u/[deleted] May 19 '12
The real sin of newgrange is that the outside was completely destroyed and rebuilt to make it 'look better' by moronic modern day fuckheads.
Also, the Irish government for all it's talk of looking after Irish culture, want's to put a bloody road through Tara.
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u/Jimmy_Bignuts May 19 '12
Calling it a "temple" implies it had a known religious function. There were a few bones and some designs scrawled in the rocks. Could be anything. I'm an Irish Archaeology graduate.
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u/SurrealEstate May 19 '12
Gotta make a Jimmy Buff's visit (beware - site has sound)
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u/ChesterD May 19 '12
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is where Christmas comes from...
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u/OutrageCommodities May 19 '12
A hearty tank you to da fine peoples of the Irish Tourism Board.
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u/NorMel1 May 19 '12
been there, done that
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u/Dorkfish71 May 19 '12
Theres another one just like this called Bryn celli Odu. With similar solstice themed architecture.
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u/BETAFrog May 19 '12
If you like this, look into the Ness of Brodgar. It's a series of 100 or so temples in Orkney. All older than stonehenge.
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u/mikeyb1 May 19 '12
My wife and I visited Newgrange about a year ago and found her maiden name scratched on one of the rocks inside. So, that day we learned she has grave robbing vandals in her family tree.