Newgrange Speaks for Itself (ePub)

Firmly grounded in the structure and engravings of Newgrange, thisbook offers several revolutionary insights into both its science and itsreligious faith.Forty carved motifs are explained as emblems of site features whichthe builders provided to ensure an afterlife for the dead, including thenine carved rungs in the passage, the "leak" that delivered water to thechamber bowl and slab, the two round sockets in the rim of the bowl, thestone marbles found in the chamber, and the starry outviews originallypossible through the chamber vault. The author argues that some ofMichael O'Kelly's discoveries suggest Newgrange may have been retooledwhen precession displaced the targets of those outviews.The book explores the builders' competent astronomical andmathematical skills, and shows how these were combined with an afterlifefaith capable of engaging both mind and spirit. A radical analysis offive related motifs exposes unexpectedly sophisticated characteristicsof the Newgrangemen's mode of expression.The rich cluster of afterlife agencies identifiable at Newgrange,unique as a fingerprint, can also be recognized in certain myths,fairytales, religious traditions, and superstitious observances. Mrs.Garnett shows how these resources may shed light on the heretoforealmost completely unknown afterlife faith and practice of thesestone-age people.