5,000 year-old rock art

How some of the large stones (which you will see later) might have been moved

No actual dwellings of this type have been found, but their traces have been

Small boat and oar

Ceramic bowls and grinding stones. Note the similarities to items found in other parts of the world.

These axe heads could have come from the americas

The Newgrange mound and passage tomb is located high on a hill

We did not see the wall that clearly surrounds the mound when we visited. This represents the mound about 3,200 BCE

About 3,000 BCE

This is very similar to what we saw when we visited. Today, there is a path in the same place as the path that goes from 10 0'clock to the entrance in the reconstruction

After the passage was closed off.

Inside the palisade, at the 12 o'clock position you can see a dark green circular area. Today, it looks like that circle has been reconstructed at the site.

This map, at the transit center for shuttle buses, shows the relative locations of the major mounds. We only went to Newgrange.

You can see people queued to go inside the Passage tomb. The front of the mound--the white quartz rocks--is a reconstruction made from the collapsed piles in front of the mound.

One of the massive stones found around the Newgrange passage tomb

Close up of the quartz and river rock front of the mound

There is art on this kerbstone--look closely. There are 97 kerbstonds around the circumfrence of the mound. Not all of them are decorated.

The view from just in front of the passage entrance. In the winter, the sun will rise straight ahead, just as it has done for thousands of years.

The entrance to the passage tomb. No pictures were allowed inside. The stone in the foreground was used to block the passage. The rectangular "window" on top of the entrance is aligned to let the solstice sun shine down the passage

No one knows what the designs mean-if anything. But many people have theories.