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WonderArchaeology fact

Newgrange, a great stone tomb built in Ireland around 3100 BC, is older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid of Giza. Around each winter solstice, the rising sun still shines down its passage into the inner chamber.

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The story behind the card

Newgrange is a passage tomb: a burial chamber reached by a long stone corridor and covered by a mound of earth and stone, here 85 metres across and 12 metres high. Neolithic farmers built it on a ridge above the River Boyne. Over the entrance they left a slot, now called the roof-box, placed so that around the winter solstice the dawn light runs down the passage and lights the chamber floor for about 17 minutes. Farm workers digging for stone reopened the entrance in 1699. Archaeologist Michael O'Kelly excavated the site from 1962 to 1975, and on 21 December 1967 he became the first person in modern times to watch the light come in. Newgrange is part of the Brú na Bóinne World Heritage Site, with the tombs of Knowth and Dowth.

Türkçe oku
İrlanda'daki Newgrange, MÖ 3100 dolaylarında yapılmış büyük bir taş mezardır; Stonehenge'den de Gize'deki Büyük Piramit'ten de eskidir. Her yıl kış gündönümü sıralarında doğan güneşin ışığı, uzun koridorundan geçerek iç odasına ulaşır.

Newgrange koridorlu bir mezardır: uzun bir taş koridordan girilen mezar odasının üstü, toprak ve taştan bir höyükle örtülüdür. Buradaki höyüğün çapı 85, yüksekliği 12 metredir. Yapıyı, Boyne Nehri'ne bakan bir sırtta Cilalı Taş Devri'nin (Neolitik) çiftçileri inşa etti. Girişin üstüne, bugün “çatı kutusu” denen bir yarık bıraktılar. Yarık öyle yerleştirilmiştir ki kış gündönümü sıralarında gün doğumunun ışığı koridor boyunca ilerler ve mezar odasının zeminini yaklaşık 17 dakika aydınlatır. Taş arayan tarım işçileri girişi 1699'da yeniden açtı. Arkeolog Michael O'Kelly alanı 1962–1975 arasında kazdı ve 21 Aralık 1967'de, ışığın içeri girişini modern zamanlarda izleyen ilk kişi oldu. Newgrange, Knowth ve Dowth mezarlarıyla birlikte Brú na Bóinne Dünya Mirası Alanı'nın parçasıdır.

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Background reading: Newgrange
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