Signs of Ancient Ireland at Brú na Bóinne
Stone age art and standing tall beneath the stars
They were a sign of a mysterious culture five thousand years old. Swirls carved in stone, repeating endlessly like waves in the Irish Sea, which we were not far from. Spirals and straight lines, rectangles and bizarre shapes identifiable only to their original viewers. All danced upon the stones of Brú na Bóinne.
I’d traveled two and a half hours by bus up from Dublin to visit this ancient site, home to the passage tombs of Knowth, Dowth, and Newgrange — each older than the Pyramids.
After checking in at the visitor center, I hopped on the bus tour to Knowth, not knowing what to expect. The verdant countryside rolled by, enticing me with thoughts of fairy legends and the Irish kings of old.
Neolithic people constructed the passage tombs with an intimate knowledge of science and astronomy. As our guide explained at Knowth, several of the tombs are aligned with the Winter Solstice and equinoxes.
In more recent Irish lore, the tombs are portals to the Otherworld. The Dagda — a god who is father-figure, king, and druid — sleeps…
