Neolithic and Bronze Age Monuments Identified in Ireland

News August 6, 2019

(Courtesy Stephen Davis)
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Ireland Geophys Survey
(Courtesy Stephen Davis)

NEWGRANGE, IRELAND—A geophysical survey at the Brú na Bóinne World Heritage Site on Ireland’s eastern coast has identified about 40 previously unknown monuments, The Irish Examiner reports. The monuments the team found are located on both sides of the River Boyne, near previously discovered megalithic tombs at Newgrange, Knowth, and Dowth. Archaeologist Stephen Davis of University College Dublin said the structures seem to include early Neolithic houses and timber enclosures, as well as Bronze Age burial monuments and farmsteads dating to the early medieval period. A survey in 2017 revealed a large monument comprised of a passage enclosed by a rectangular arrangement of wooden posts, which were surrounded by rings of smaller timber posts. The complex aligns with the sunrise during the Winter Solstice. For more on the Brú na Bóinne monuments, go to “The Marks of Time: Late Neolithic Monument.”

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