Even to the casual visitor, it is clear that there is something distinctly mystical about Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth. The stark symbolism etched deeply into the huge megaliths is a written record which comes to us across over five millennia. At Newgrange, the huge stone outside the passage entrance is highly decorated with huge, swirling spirals. At Knowth, nearly every stone is decorated, and the site has been hailed as having the largest collection of megalithic art in all of Europe - in fact, over a quarter of all known megalithic art in western Europe is at Knowth and its satellite mounds. Two miles to the east at Dowth, there are more decorated stones. At Loughcrew, 40 kilometres west of Brugh na Boinne in County Meath, there are the ancient cairns of Sliabh na Caillighe, the mountain of the witch, again featuring vast amounts of ancient carvings.

Among the familiar patterns, such as zig-zags, waved lines, spirals and lozenes, there are some decorations which are distinctly astronomical in nature. At Dowth, there are stars and sunwheels, at Newgrange there's carvings that look like a representation of Orion's Belt, at Knowth there is a wealth of astronomical imagery - crescents and moon shapes, stars, circles, spirals, sundials and astral imagery, and possibly even a map of the moon. At Loughcrew there are suns and sunwheels, stars and much more. Could it be that these sites share a common astronomical purpose? Are we looking back through the murky mists of time to an enlightened epoch, a time when men and women of great intellect and ability mastered their study of the heavens and recorded what they saw for posterity?

There is a dim light which shines from the remote distance of the Neolithic past. It carries a message of wisdom, of understanding, of cosmic awe and inspiration, and astronomical mastery of the highest order.

We have regrettably looked upon the ancient people of this land as being primitive, and in some quarters we are told that these awesome constructs with their dazzling size and arcane symbols, are merely tombs, used to bury the dead. Even today, archaeology calls Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth "passage-tombs". I would like to see that title removed, and to install a more accurate and fitting description - something like "astronomical timepieces" or "Stone Age observatories".

Pick up almost any amateur astronomy book at your local bookstore (or Astronomy Ireland shop - phone 01-8470777!) and in the history of astronomy section you will invariably read that the first astronomers were the ancient Babylonians, or the Chinese. You will also read about how the Greeks helped to enlighten the world with their many scientific and astronomical discoveries. Some of these books are progressive enough to mention that there were ancient astronomers at Stonehenge, but most overlook Newgrange and Ireland, which is evidently the place where competent astronomical study actually began.

NEWGRANGE / SÍ AN BRU

The Winter Solstice sunrise event at Newgrange, where the sun shines into the long passage on the shortest day of the year and illuminates the central chamber, is the most heralded event in the Irish cultural calendar, and attracts major media attention every year. Most people know about it, and many gather at the famous mound every December to witness the event, even though most of them have to make do with seeing the event from outside. It is a famous example of ancient astronomy in action in modern times, and is a fitting beginning to our exploration of the ancient Irish skywatchers.

At dawn on Winter Solstice every year, just after 9am, the sun begins to rise across the Boyne Valley from Newgrange over a hill known locally as Red Mountain. Given the right weather conditions, the event is spectacular. At four and a half minutes past nine, the light from the rising sun strikes the front of Newgrange, and enters into the passage through the roofbox which was specially designed to capture the rays of the sun.

For the following fourteen minutes, the beam of light stretches into the passage of Newgrange and on into the central chamber, where, in Neolithic times, it illuminated the rear stone of the central recess of the chamber. With simple stone technology, these wonderful people captured a very significant astronomical and calendrical moment in the most spectacular way.

The sunlight appears to be split into two beams - a higher beam and a lower beam. This is in fact true, the lower beam being formed by the doorway to the passage. It is the light which enters through the roofbox, however, which reaches the central chamber.

For a very short time, the beam of sunlight enters the chamber, illuminating the floor. It is a narrow beam, only 34cm wide at the entrance and narrower in the chamber. Originally, the beam would have struck the rear chamber orthostat (C8) and, possibly, would have been reflected onto another chamber stone, C10, which contains the famous triple spiral. After just 14 short minutes, the beam disappears from the floor of the chamber, retreats down the passage and once again the heart of newgrange returns to darkness.

With this most famous cosmic moment at the epicentre of our study, we can now expand on the astronomical theme and demonstrate how Newgrange does not stand in isolation as an astronomical device, despite what many people might believe. The Winter Solstice sunrise phenomenon is not the only function of Newgrange. In the book "Uriel's Machine", Robert Lomas and Christopher Knight have speculated that the roofbox and passage of Newgrange may have been used to track down Venus during specific moments in its eight-year cycle. Certainly the evidence for study of Venus is abundant in the Boyne Valley.

Above the roofbox of Newgrange, there are a series of eight markings, which the authors have suggested could represent the eight years of the Venus cycle. This eight-year cycle of Venus ties in very closely with the metonic cycle of the moon, and may have been recorded elsewhere at Brugh na Boinne as we will see later.

But it doesn't stop there. Many astronomers will know that the moon's path through the sky, although inclined slightly to the sun's path, will take it into positions which are shared by the sun at certain times of the year. The points where the imaginary line of the moon's path crosses the line of the sun's path are called nodes. It is when the moon is at a node that it sits on the ecliptic, and when the nodes are located in Gemini and in the gap between Sagittarius and Scorpio, then the Moon shares the sun's Summer Solstice and Winter Solstice positions.

This only occurs twice during a single rotation of the nodes, which takes 18.6 years. So every nine years, on just a few occasions, a full moon or waning gibbous Moon which rises in the Sun's Winter Solstice position can, technically speaking, shine into Newgrange, or at the very least line up with the passage and chamber.

On July 5th 2001, a group of amateur researchers (most of whom I know, including Richard Moore), were given special permission by Duchas to access the Newgrange chamber to see if they could witness the full moon from the interior of the chamber. Regrettably, some cloud cover meant the Moon was obscured for the crucial minutes after it rose, but the cloud did clear in time to allow the group to see the Moon from within the passage. Although this observation did not prove conclusively that the Moon can be seen from the chamber, it goes without saying that if the Moon's position can coincide with that of the Winter Solstice sun, then the alignment is true.

There may be more evidence to support a lunar function at Newgrange. The front of the mound is decorated with a brilliant façade of milky-white quartz, and some researchers and archaeologists believe the whole mound may originally have been covered with this brilliant stone. Perhaps Newgrange was supposed to be the earthly reflection of the Moon?

Speculation aside, it is clear that more research needs to be done on this aspect of the astronomy of Newgrange. The Irish name for Newgrange is Brugh na Boinne. The word Boinne, from which the River Boyne is derived, means "White Cow", and the ancient goddess Boann may have been associated with the Moon. Indeed, some researchers have pointed out that the period of gestation of a cow is equivalent to nine and a half synodic lunar months. The word Brugh is interesting too. Traditionally it has been interpreted by academics as meaning "mansion" or "house", but there is a word Brú which I have found to mean "womb" (MacCionnaith Foclóir, 1938). Could the real meaning of Newgrange be "The womb of the Moon???" The symbolism and interplay between the various elements involved leads to further speculation about the whole purpose of the site. We can imagine a full Moon rising over the hill of Red Mountain, shining across the valley, over the Boyne River, which has the same meaning as the Milky Way in the sky, and may in fact have been seen as its earthly reflection. The Irish for Milky Way is "Bealach, or bothar, an Bó Finne" - the way or the road of the white cow. Perhaps the quartz façade on the front of Newgrange is supposed to be another representation of the Milky Way.

Perhaps some day we will see spread across the front pages of the world's newspapers the wonderful image of moonlight flooding into the chamber of Newgrange.

Serious academic research, as opposed to that of us amateurs, has also revealed interesting astronomical functions at Newgrange. Archaeoastronomer Frank Prendergast has produced data which shows that even the large standing stones in front of the entrance of Newgrange, known as the "Great Circle", were astronomical and calendrical in function. Although carbondating has placed the construction of the Great Circle to about 2000BC, over a thousand years after the construction of Newgrange itself, Mr. Prendergast shows that the stones functioned properly at that time. His research demonstrated how the shadow of GC1, the megalith adjacent to the entrance, would have crossed the lower part of the three spirals on the west side of K1 at the winter solstice; that the shadow of GC-1 would have crossed through the centre of the three spirals at the period when the south declination of the sun was half its annual maximum; that the shadow of stone GC-2 similarly crosses the same three spirals at the equinox; that the alignment of GC5 to GC3 pointed towards sunrise when the north declination of the sun was at half its annual maximum; it would also have been possible to observe the summer solstice sunrise by sighting across the top of GC1 and GC-2.

Our own work has shown how the astronomers of Newgrange may also have used the star Deneb, in the swan constellation Cygnus, to help track down the position of the sun during the night before Winter Solstice. The mystery is heightened by the attachment of certain swan myths to Newgrange, such as the famous romance story of Aonghus and Caer. Aonghus' mother was Boann, the Moon, and his father, the Dagda, owned Newgrange.

The story tells how Aonghus fell madly in love with a maiden who visited him while he slept. She visited him in his dreams for a year, and all this time he could not touch her because she would disappear. His mother Bóann searched Ireland for the maiden, but was unable to find her after a year of searching. Aonghus enlisted the help of his father, the Daghdha, who in turn sought out Bodhbh, who was the Tuatha Dé Danann king of Munster. Bodhbh revealed that the maiden was, and brought Aonghus to meet her at Loch Béal Dragan (Dragon's Mouth) in Tipperary. Bodhbh explained how Caer was from Sídh Uamhain, an 'otherworld residence' in Connacht.

Caer's father revealed to the Daghdha that his daughter went in the forms of a bird and a girl on alternate years. At the following Samhain (November) she would be a bird at Loch Béal Dragan, and the Daghdha instructed Aonghus to go there and call her to him. He did so, and found her in the shape of a beautiful white swan, in the company of thrice fifty others. She went to him, and he too became a swan, and they embraced each other and flew three times around the lake. They then flew together to Brugh na Bóinne and put the dwellers of that place to sleep with their beautiful singing. Caer remained with Aonghus in the Brugh after that.

The story says they took the form of swans and lived IN the Brugh. Is it purely coincidence that the swan constellation is cruciform in shape, like the Newgrange passage?? Maybe, and we have to remember there are other cruciform passages in ancient megalithic mounds and cairns in Ireland. But the mystery deepens with the addition of the Fourknocks alignment.

Not a lot of people seem to know this, but if you plot the line of the direction of Winter Solstice sunrise from Newgrange on a map, this line intersects the small Megalithic mound of Fourknocks, 15 kilometres to the southeast.

(INFO: Sunrise 3150 +/-100 BC = 133°54 +/-4' Range of azimuths calculated by Tom Ray: 133°49' - 137°29)

So in other words, Newgrange 'points' to Fourknocks, although Fourknocks is not visible from Newgrange. Fourknocks, in turn, points to a very unusual azimuth - around 17 degrees east of north, way beyond the northernmost range of the rising Sun or Moon. What we need to resolve is whether the passage of Fourknocks is aligned on a significant star, or constellation. And, in the epoch when this small mound was constructed, between 3000 and 2500BC (Gabriel Cooney), the star Cygnus would be rising at this point.

The second significance of Deneb relates to its precessional importance. Throughout the entire 26,000 cycle of precession, Deneb remains mostly a circumpolar object, never setting below the horizon and being visible to observers at this latitude every night of the year.

But interestingly in the epoch 3000 to 2500BC, Deneb is at its lowest point in the entire precessional cycle. At this time it grazes the horizon, and just about sets below the horizon at due north briefly during this time, before rising again to remain visible to those who would wish to watch the star.

Another aspect of the Aonghus-Caer romance is interesting. It is the reference to the "Lake of the Dragon's Mouth", where Aonghus found Caer. This could be a possible reference to the constellation of Draco, which is a prominent constellation in the northern hemisphere of the sky.

The constellation is particularly relevant in the Neolithic period, because the main star of Draco, called Thuban, was the pole star for a few hundred years around the date 2,800BC. It is also fascinating to our story in light of the fact that Cygnus the constellation is located very close to the head of the dragon in the sky.

Other constellations may also be featured at Newgrange. Kerbstone 52 is one of the finest decorated stones of neolithic origin in Ireland. Located at the northwestern side of the great kerb, it is diametrically opposite the entrance stone, Kerb 1, and features a vertical line down the centre. A line plotted between Kerbstone 1 and Kerbstone 52 points in the direction of Summer Solstice sunset.

No thorough interpretation of the stone's designs has yet been made, but I believe it contains representations of the belt stars of Orion, and that the large 'star' bored into the vertical line represents Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. Sirius shared the same declination as the Winter Solstice sun around 3,150BC when Newgrange was built, and it is possible the people who constructed Newgrange were well aware of this coincidental alignment, and therefore they may have used the passage of Newgrange to watch the precessional drift of Sirius over long periods of time, even if it was not constructed for that purpose.

The neighbouring kerbstone, number 51, may contain representations of the constellation Cassiopeia with its familiar W shape. This is another constellation which would skim the horizon in the late Neolithic, and its distinctive shape would have been readily identifiable, as it is today. We know from ancient myths that this constellation was identified with a very important deity by the ancients. Charles Squire, in his 1912 volume "Celtic Myth and Legend" says: "For the children of Dôn were certainly gods of the sky. Their names are writ large in heaven. The glittering W which we call "Cassiopeia's Chair" was to our British ancestors Llys Dôn, or "Dôn's Court". This same children of Don have been identified with their Irish counterparts, the children or people of the goddess Danu, and Danu herself was the Irish Cassiopeia.

This is another constellation which may have been featured as a target of the Fourknocks construct, and the familiar zig-zag patterns carved on some of the lintel stones in Fourknocks may be associated with this constellation. Author Martin Brennan, whose pioneering work on Neolithic astronomy and art in Ireland has been widely published, suggested that the quadrangle shapes on these lintel stones may be connected with the head of the constellation Draco, which as we have already seen was the polar constellation in the Neolithic.

Some other alignments at Newgrange are worthy of mention. Site A is a sizeable tumulus located southeast of Newgrange. It sits in direct alignment with the Winter Solstice sunrise as viewed from Newgrange, but is much lower down than the rising sun. Site B is one of the smaller satellite mounds near Newgrange, and is located southeast of the great mound at the edge of the Boyne river. Observations made by us in June 2000, confirm that the Summer Solstice sun sets directly at Newgrange when viewed from this mound. Another satellite mound, the largely destroyed Site U, sits directly due east of Newgrange, and therefore the two may be aligned on equinox sunrises and sunsets. Just west of Newgrange there are two satellite sites called K + L, which were excavated during Professor Michael O'Kelly's major works at Newgrange. Much of the passage and kerb stones of site K remain, and Martin Brennan has pointed out that the passage is aligned directly north-south.

DOWTH / DUBHAD

From Newgrange, we move further to the east, and possibly further back in time, to the megalithic cairn at Dowth, located less than a mile away. Dowth in Irish is Dubad, which means "Darkness" or "Place of darkness". It is the only one of the three great mounds of Brugh na Bóinne, the others being Newgrange and Knowth, which has not been excavated and reconstructed in modern times.

Some old-style archaeological work was carried out here in the middle of the 19th century, around the time of the Great Famine. By old-style, I mean the typical Victorian grave-robbing archaeology where the recovery of valuable finds and treasure is the main objective, and where little concern is given to returning archaeological sites to their original state. It was during this work that much of the top of the mound was removed, resulting in the huge crater in the mound which can be seen today. There are two known passages at Dowth, both on the western side. Only part of the kerb of stones is exposed, along the east, south and southwest of the mound. Many of the kerbstones remain buried. But some of those which are exposed are very exciting, especially kerbstone 51 on the east side, which has been named the "Stone of the Seven Suns".

It contains what appear to be suns, or stars, with rays coming out from the centre, and with the whole surrounded by a circle. There are seven of these suns in total, six of which are contained within circles. Attempts have been made to explain the meaning of these symbols - some say they are representations of the sun at different times of the year, others say they represent celestial bodies such as comets. One thing seems certain - they represent heavenly bodies of some form. It really is an impressive stone.

It is to mythology, and particularly the ancient story about how Dowth was built, which reveals an ancient astronomical symbolism which may help to explain something about the meaning of the 'Place of Darkness' and the Seven Suns stone. The story comes from the Dindshenchas, a collection of ancient stories about Irish placenames, and concerns Bresal, who was the ruler of the time.

"In his time there fell a murrain on kine in every place in Ireland, except for seven cows and a bull that increased strength for every farmer in his time. By him is built the solid hill in the likeness of Nimrod's tower, so that from it he might pass to heaven, - that is the cause why it was undertaken". The story continues to tell how Bresal's sister stopped the Sun from moving so that there would be 'no night but bright day' until work reached completion. Unfortunately, they committed incest and the Sun went down . . .

The men of Erin left the task incomplete, saying: ". . . since darkness has fallen upon our work, and night has come on and the day is gone, let each depart to his place. Dubad (darkness) shall be the name of this place for ever."

Given that there are seven "suns" on kerb 51, and that the mythology about Dowth speaks of a bull and seven cows, it seems likely that the site has some connection with the constellation of Taurus, the Bull, which contains the open cluster the Pleiades, otherwise known as "The Seven Sisters". This constellation was very important around the time the Boyne Valley mounds were being constructed, as it contained the Sun on the Spring Equinox, that very important moment of the year when the Sun's path along the ecliptic crossed the celestial equator heading northwards. It is the Sun's position among the zodiac stars at this time which determines the current 'age' - i.e. the "Age of Taurus".

Another interesting phenomenon which occurs at this time is what is known to astronomers as a 'heliacal rising' of the Pleiades. This happens when the stars in question rise at the eastern horizon but are quickly lost in the glare of the rising sun. It is interesting to note that the Egyptians, and the Dogon tribe in Africa, among others, used the same Dowth-like 'sun-wheel' symbols to signify a heliacal rising.

If these 'sun-wheel' symbols do represent the heliacal rising of the Pleiades, it could tell us something very significant about the Neolithic people - they were aware of the great cycle of precession, the slow wobble of the Earth's axis which causes the celestial pole to shift over time, resulting in the Vernal Equinox point, that place where the Sun crosses the celestial equator, moving backwards, or westwards, through the Zodiac over a huge 25,800-year period. This Vernal point moves just one degree (about two widths of the full moon) every 72 years, and spends on average 2,150 years in each of the twelve constellations of the Zodiac.

The astronomical function of Dowth is not in question. In 1980, Martin Brennan, who suspected the southern passage and chamber was aligned on the Winter Solstice sunset, gained access to the chamber, and with the help of some fellow enthusiasts, he filmed the beam of light from the Winter Solstice sunset as it reached forth across the floor of the chamber and struck the bottom of one of the decorated chamberstones.

This few minutes of 8mm cine film, which I had the rare chance to view just over a year ago, helped along with other discoveries in that year to prove something which Brennan had believed from the time he had begun his research into the Neolithic sites - that Newgrange did not exist in isolation as an astronomically-aligned structure.

The Winter Solstice alignment of Dowth South has in recent years become the focus of study for artist and author AnneMarie Moroney, who has spent the last four winters recording, photographing and studying the phenomenon.

She says that From November to February the rays of the evening sun reach into the passage and then the chamber of Dowth South. During the winter solstice the light of the low sun moves along the left side of the passage, then into the circular chamber, where three stones are lit up by the sun. The convex central stone reflects the sunlight in to a dark recess, lighting up the decorated stones there. The rays then recede slowly along the right side of the passage and after about two hours the sun withdraws from Dowth South. Interestingly, she also says that the builders of the passage mounds seemed to realise that the human eye would be harmed by watching the sun directly. By directing the sunbeams through a small opening, the slightest changes in the position of the sun could be observed safely. The Northern passage too may be astronomical in function, although an entrance shaft erected in more modern times prevents any sunset from being watched from within the passage. Some researchers have suggested it is aligned on the cross-quarter day sunsets on November 8th and February 4th, and Anne-Marie Moroney has carried out some preliminary measurements and studies which would back up this idea.

The northern passage is inaccessible to the public, and was disturbed in the early Christian period by the construction of underground storage chambers called souterrains. However, those lucky enough to know someone with connections in the world of archaeology who can access a key to the gate of the Northern Passage, are in for a treat. That's exactly what I got when I in November of 2000. The chamber of Dowth North is an eerie place to be. Hidden from daylight, and sunken into the ground, it is cold, dark and claustrophobic. The modern electrical lights do not work, the chamber is currently only accessible through a 70-foot souterrain, and the passage orthostats lean together such that when you walk up the passage, you have to squeeze through the stones. It's a strange experience, to say the least. But Dowth North could be the oldest cruciform passage in the Brugh na Bóinne area, and it is well worth a visit.

The Neolithic passage and chamber seem to be older in date than Newgrange, and possibly Knowth, due to the fact that the passage at Newgrange is more advanced, with water drainage techniques incorporated into its roof structure which were not found at Knowth. The interior of Dowth North seems to carry on the astronomical theme present on some of the great kerbstones outside the mound. The chamberstone C7 is particularly well decorated, featuring a number of stellar symbols, concentric circles, a small spiral, linear markings and other features such as small inverted V shapes.

The astronomical theme was also picked up by George Coffey, keeper of Irish antiquities at the National Museum, a century ago. Coffey noticed that many of the star/sun symbols at Dowth were repeated at Newgrange and Loughcrew. Perhaps at some time in the future, the concrete shaft will be removed and once more the light will be allowed into Dowth North. For the time being, it remains off bounds even to the sun.

Interestingly, a number of white quartz stones have been found near what would have been the original entrance to this passage, and this could be another link with the Moon-Milky Way theme which we picked up on earlier at Newgrange. Dowth is also known in legend as the place where Boann is buried - perhaps this was a reference to the Full Moon shining into the Dowth chambers before setting, once more plunging the place of darkness into, well, darkness.

There have been some suggestions in recent times that there may be a third passage at Dowth, on the eastern side. Just to the left of the Stone of the Seven Suns is a very interesting kerbstone featuring a vertical line down the centre. Other entrance kerbstones, such as Kerbstone 1 at Newgrange and the entrance kerbstones at Knowth's two passages, feature a vertical line. With no major excavations planned at Dowth in the near future, it seems unlikely that we will know if there is a third passage for the time being.

One other archaeological site near Dowth is extremely worthy of a mention. Labelled Site Q on archaeological maps, it is a structure known as a henge, or an embanked enclosure. It is said by some to be the second largest such ringed structure in Ireland.

Entering the ring through its southwestern opening, the huge scale of the site and the height of the surrounding banks give one the impression of a giant ampitheatre. If this was some kind of ceremonial site, it certainly smacks of grandeur and hugeness. There is a second opening, to the northeast of the ring, which may or may not have been contemporary with the construction of the site. But if one stands outside the structure, to the southwest, and lines up the two entrances, this is the exact line of Summer Solstice sunrise, an event which I have been witness to. Regrettably, it will take an actual excavation of the site to discover if both openings were contemporary with the original design of the site, but even if that northeastern entrance turns out to be a 19th century agricultural breach, the alignment raises the interesting, and somewhat speculative suggestion, that perhaps the southwestern entrance may have allowed viewers in the centre of the ring structure to accurately view Winter Solstice sunset, perhaps as part of some major ritual event. From the air, Site Q is egg-shaped, just like Newgrange, and the fact that it may share a Winter Solstice sunset alignment with nearby Dowth is interesting indeed.

KNOWTH / CNOGHBA

From Dowth, the Place of Darkness where the Winter sun sets, we must now turn our attention to the third great Brugh na Boinne mound, Knowth, which has in recent years been causing great excitement in the fields of both archaeology and astronomy. In the 1960s, Knowth was just a large mound in a field, with no sign of any stones visible. Since then, under the direction of Professor George Eogan, the whole site has been thoroughly excavated and has thrown up more than its fair share of treasures, decorated stones, surprises and mysteries.

Probably the biggest reason Knowth has caused such a sensation is its plethora of megalithic art. The site contains well over a quarter of all megalithic art known to exist in Europe, and many of its 127 kerbstones are decorated, some highly so. Knowth also has two passages, facing east and west. In our astronomical exploration of Knowth, we first turn to one of the most exciting stones in the Boyne Valley - the kerbstone which was named the "Calendar Stone" by Martin Brennan.

This kerbstone at Knowth proves that the people of the Neolithic were competent astronomers, who had made observations over great periods of time, and were able to pass on their astronomical knowledge from generation to generation. The Lunar Stone presents a format that can be used to track the synodic month, and from it we can obtain very important calculations of large subunits of the Lunar, or "Metonic", Cycle.

What this stone demonstrates is that the Neolithic people who constructed the mound were aware that the solar year, which is 365 days long, does not contain an equal number of synodic periods of the Moon. But it also shows they were aware of the great 19-year Lunar Cycle and studied the movements of the moon over long periods of time.

A synodic period of the Moon is marked by the return of the Moon to the same phase, and is exactly 29.531 days long. So therefore, 12 lunar months, or 'Synodic months' is exactly 354.372 days long. But this is a whole 11 days shorter than a tropical year. The Neolithic mound-builders knew this, and used the Lunar Stone to record their calculations of the numbers of synodic lunar months in tropical years.
25 synodic months is 738.275 days, which is 8 days longer than 2 tropical yrs.
37 synodic months is 1092.647 days, 3 days short of 3 tropical years.
49 synodic months is 14 days shorter than 4 tropical years.
62 synodic months is 5 days longer than 5 tropical years.

It is this value in the sequence which is represented on the lunar stone at Knowth. There are a total of 31 'waves' across the stone, surrounded by representations of the Moon - 29 of them - representing the 29 days of the synodic lunar month. If we double the number of waves, we get 62, representing 62 synodic periods of the Moon, which, as we have already seen, is just 5 days longer than 5 tropical years. The sequence continues until we get a very close correlation between synodic months and tropical years: 99 synodic lunar months is only 2 days longer then 8 tropical years. But even closer still is 136 synodic months, which ends about a day before 11 tropical years. And if we add 99 synodic months to 136 synodic months we reach the "Metonic Cycle": 19 tropical years is equal to 235 synodic lunar months, or 254 tropical lunar months. A tropical lunar month is defined by the amount of time it takes the Moon to reach the same background stars again - it is equal to 27.322 days. The Metonic Cycle gets its name from a Greek called Meton who lived in Athens in the 5th century BC, and who claimed he discovered this cycle of the Moon himself based on simple observations. Based on our studies of the Lunar Stone at Knowth, we now know the "Metonic Cycle" was known about long before Meton ever existed.

Furthermore, it is highly possible that this kerbstone was used to calculate the exact number of days in the tropical solar year. There are 29 moons in total, 22 crescents and seven circular moons which are really double circles, and potentially signifying an extra count. There is a folk tale still in existence from Brittany to Scotland which says that you should never count stones more than once because you will never get the same number. The numbers and arrangements at Stone Age sites were chosen so that there were several ways of counting them.
If we count the moons, to get 29, and add the second set of circular moons, we get 36. If we double 36 (and the stone already suggests doubling with the waved line - 2x31=62) we get 72, and add the solar spiral, we get 73. 5 times 73 is equal to 365, the exact number of days in the year. Every fourth year, add the solar spiral to get 366. Another 'Lunar Stone' at Knowth can also be used to calculate the exact length of the year, as well as both the siderial and synodic lunar months.

The "waved line" feature can also be seen to have supplemental counts on the left side, continuing from 31 to 32, 33 and 34. 32 synodic months is also a significant subunit of the Metonic Cycle, because when doubled it becomes 64 synodic periods which ties in with five calendar synodic periods of Saturn. 33 synodic months is one-third of the very important metonic subunit: 99 synodic periods ends just two days after eight tropical years. And 34 is one-quarter of another large Metonic subunit: 136 synodic months ending about one day before 11 tropical years.

Another Knowth kerbstone can also be used to calculate the lengths of the siderial and synodic lunar month, and the solar year. I call it the "Lunar Stone". In our look at this 5,300-year-old astronomical puzzle, we will interpret the symbols as follows: the crescent shapes are early and late phases of the moon; the circles are lunar phases close to full moon, the small spiral with a single crescent to the right represents the way the count is carried out, as identified by Martin Brennan; the wavy line represents numbers of lunations, or months, while the line underneath is a calibration bar marking a specific number of lunations or months.

The 27-day count begins on the extreme right of the stone, working towards the right, a total count of 11 crescents. The eighth phase is marked with a line to indicate a quarter moon. Then the three concentric circles are added to the count, making a running total of 14. Working backwards, we don't count the centre circle because it marks the turning point of the count, and work outwards, adding another two circles, total 16, and then the 11 crescents again, totalling 27. This first method of counting reveals the siderial month, the length of time it takes the Moon to make one complete circuit through the sky, in other words the time it takes the Moon to return to the same background stars.

LOUGHCREW / SLIABH NA CALLAIGHE

Before we finish our wonderful exploration of Stone Age astronomy, we must leave the Bend of the Boyne for a moment and turn our attention further west, towards the hills of Meath at a place called Sliabh na Caillaighe, the Mountain of the Hag, at Loughcrew. Here, scattered on the peaks of the Carnbane hills which overlook some breathtaking scenery, are a group of Stone Age cairns which may be even older than their Boyne Valley counterparts.

It was here, at one of the cairns called Cairn T, that Martin Brennan made a discovery in the Spring of 1980 that was to put him on the front page of newspapers across the world. Cairn T, at over 900ft above sea level, stands in the central position and takes the most prominent place on the highest summit of a megalithic area that may once have contained as many as fifty to a hundred cairns. It was March 17, 1980, and Brennan and his friend Jack Roberts had just arrived at Cairn T after a drive from Dublin. This was the latest in a string of attempts to see the sunrise, but adverse weather conditions that Spring meant they had not seen one single sunrise since March 1st.

Here is Brennan's account of what happened:

"We were winding up the mountain road when the disc of the sun broke on the horizon. We felt as if we were ten minutes late for an appointment made over 5,000 years ago. The lock on the modern door leading to the passage had frozen during the night, and as we struggled with it the rising sun was already above the horizon. When we drew back the door a narrow chink of light streamed down the passage and flashed into the end recess of the chamber."

"On the upper left of the backstone a rectangular patch of light was rapidly beginning to take form, brilliantly illuminating the entire chamber in a growing splendour of shimmering golden orange light. It was dazzling, and when we entered the chamber we stood back and gazed in awe."

"The light assumed a clearly defined geometric shape that was projected on to the upright backstone and moved diagonally across it, tracing the path of the sun against a mural of prehistoric art. What impressed us most was the careful and delicate modelling of the light beam by the huge stones forming the passage and chamber, and how the shape of the beam conformed to the patterns engraved on the stone. For the first time we were seeing the signs and symbols in the context in which the artist had meant them to be seen."

Brennan said it was clear that they were dealing with a solar construct capable of defining an individual day with far greater precision than Newgrange. The wider differences in the sun's apparent movement at equinox made it considerably easier to define the actual day of equinox at Cairn T than the day of Winter Solstice at Newgrange. Coupled with the help of the rock engravings, this created a remarkably precise asonomical instrument.

BALTRAY / BAILE TRÁ

Before I conclude, there is one more site worthy of a mention. It is at Baltray, a village at the Mouth of the River Boyne, where we meet two megalithic standing stones, which have stood as silent sentries watching over the estuary for thousands of years. The larger of these two standing stones has a very flat, straight edge, which myself and two friends discovered had a very unique alignment.

The stone points to two small islands out in the Irish Sea, called Rockabill, which in modern times have a lighthouse on the larger of the two islands. In December of 1999, we confirmed, after much speculation, that this was the location of the rising sun at Winter Solstice as viewed from the Baltray standing stone.

The alignment is a bit off in this epoch though, and the sun's rising position has drifted to the left in the years since the stones were erected. We are not sure exactly when the stones date to, but we suspect they are early indeed, perhaps as early as the Late Neolithic, which would place their construction some time between 3000 and 2500 BC. At least one prominent archaeologist has agreed that this might be the case. We know at Newgrange, thanks to the work of Frank Prendergast and Tom Ray, that the sun's rising position now is a whole degree, or two sun widths, to the left of where it was when Newgrange was constructed, and it is clear that at Baltray the sun's rising position is at least one and a half sunwidths left of Rockabill. We would prefer to leave it to the professional archaeoastronomers to tell us exactly when the stones date to, but it is sufficient to conclude that the alignment is of major importance.

This is the first major archaeological site one would encounter on a journey up the Boyne River, and because of the major astronomical theme of the many Stone sites along the river, it must be considered important that the very first site has a Winter Solstice sunrise alignment just as Newgrange does. These stones would have been important as a boundary marker in ancient times, marking the border between the ancient provinces of Ulster, to the north of the Boyne, and Leinster to the south. Legend tells us this is the strand where Cuchulainn met his son Connla for the first time and the two fought on the shore of the sea under the standing stones before Cuchulainn slew his son in the shallow waters of the incoming tide.

The stones may also have been used to track the position of the Moon, as is suggested in another myth about Rockabill which tells how the Sun god, Balor, was once trying to steal the magic cow, the Glasgabhlin, from Ulster. This cow, the story says, had an everlasting supply of milk. I have tentatively linked this cow with the Moon, and the calf with Venus, suggesting that the astronomical purpose of the stones is more complex than meets the eye. See more about the Baltray myth here.

CONCLUSION

To the casual or foreign visitor, there is something awe-inspiring about the huge megalithic sites of the Boyne region. Very few people leave Brugh na Boinne without having felt some deep connection with the ancient past, and fewer still leave without a clatter of questions on their mind about the original intent and purpose of these sites.

For the astronomer, these are surely exciting places to be. In one moment, an amateur astronomer visiting Dowth or Loughcrew or Fourknocks or Newgrange can bridge up to five and a half thousand years of history. For just as we today gaze at the heavens and watch the sun, moon, planets, and stars, so too did our ancient ancestors. Of that, we are now pretty sure.

Something of a consensus is beginning to form, even in the more conservative areas of archaeological and anthropological academic research, that much of what the people of the Irish Neolithic were about involved some form of heavenly study or knowledge. The field of ancient astronomical research, once left almost entirely to amateurs, is now very much a part of professional study of these sites.

And this is a good thing. If we can begin to look at our ancient sites as being connected, whether astronomically or otherwise, we can begin to see the Cosmic landscape, in much the same form as it was originally crafted, by people who felt a connection with the Cosmos in a much stronger and definite way than we do. We may have discovered more planets, put a man on the Moon and seen into the furthest reaches of space with our telescopes, but we have lost something too - a simple, but beautiful, relationship with the heavens which understands the harmony of the sun and the seasons, the moon and the tides, and their movement among the stars which reveals the longer ages in which things slowly change.

The astronomical landscape functions on more than simply one or two levels. It is what I call three-dimensional, and each site demonstrates this perfectly. At Newgrange, to take the most famous example, some would believe that it is a device for tracking down Winter Solstice. That is not the full picture. Newgrange is a complex astronomical and calendrical device. The people who constructed it knew this better than we do, and could probably tell exactly what day of the year it was simply by looking at the way the sun casts shadows on the stones. We have taken that simple observation away, and replaced it with wristwatches, and calendars, and computers and a host of devices and aids with which we can tell the day, or season, or year.

The people who built Newgrange, and Knowth and Dowth as well, were very familiar with the lunar cycle. We know they studied the Moon's cycle because they wrote about it on the stones, in a language which seems vague and complex, but which can be interpreted symbolically by those who care to look hard enough.

And our understanding of their exact level of knowledge is still poor. There remains much work to be done. Tonight, we have seen an astronomical interpretation of three or four kerbstones at Knowth. There are 127 in total, and many more decorated stones in the passages.

Maybe at some stage we will know and understand, and see the universe in much the same way as the megalithic astronomers. Until then, the journey of discovery and enlightenment is an exciting and fulfulling one.

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