Temples and Buildings

A 5,000-Year-Old Miracle For   the   last   5,165   years-calculated   backward   from 2012-to    the    present    day,    the    same    miracle    has taken   place   in   Ireland   each   year.   It   happens   once again   in   a   "passage   grave"   -   although   here,   too,   a corpse   has   never   materialized.   The   place   is   called Newgrange,   and   it   lies   51   kilometers   northwest   of Dublin   or   about   15   kilometers   west   of   the   town   of Drogheda.   There,   in   the   county   of   Meath,   in   a   loop of    the    river    Boyne,    the    original    inhabitants    of Ireland     set     a     grandiose     memorial     into     the landscape.   It   is   a   technical   miracle   from   the   Stone Age.   It   is   not   simply   a   grave   surrounded   by   stones to      prevent      animals      getting      at      the      corpse. Newgrange   is   a   masterpiece   of   surveying,   a   lesson in   astronomy,   and   a   transport   phenomenon.   It   was built     at     a     time     when,     according     to     orthodox archeological   opinion,   Egyptian   history   had   not   yet happened,   there   was   no   pyramid   on   earth,   and   the cities   of   Ur,   Babylon,   or   Knossos   did   not   yet   exist. Presumably      the      impressive      stone      circle      of Stonehenge    had    not    yet    been    planned    when unknown   astronomers   built   the   passage   grave   of Newgrange. For   thousands   of   years,   no   one   paid   attention   to the   round   hill   above   the   river   Boyne,   until   in   1699, when     the     road     worker     Edward     Lhwyd     swore mightily.   A    boulder    blocking    the    line    of    the    road would   not   budge.   When   it   had   been   half-freed   from the   earth,   the   swearing   road   worker   noticed   two engraved    spirals    and    some    rectangles    on    the recalcitrant   block.   Now   everything   became   clear: "Another     one     of     those     damned     graves."    The message   reached   the   next   pub.   Newgrange   had been discovered. Thorough    excavations    did    not    begin    until    the 1960s.    In    1969,    the    lead    researcher    Professor Michael   J.   O'Kelly   from   Cork   University   discovered a    right-angled    artificial    opening    above    the    two monoliths     at     the     entrance.     It     was     only     20 centimeters    wide,    but    that    was    enough    for    the scholar   to   see   the   light.   On   the   day   of   the   winter solstice   in   1969   -   and   again   one   year   later   -   O'Kelly seated   himself   right   at   the   back   of   the   vault.   Here   is his eye-witness account: Exactly    at    9:45,    the    upper    edge    of    the    sun appeared   on   the   horizon,   and   at   9:58   the   first   shaft of    direct    sunlight    appeared    through    the    small roofbox   above   the   entrance.   The   beam   of   sunlight then   lengthened   along   the   passage   into   the   burial chamber   until   the   beam   reached   the   edge   of   the basin   stone   in   the   niche.   When   the   beam   of   light had    widened    into    a    17-centimeter    ribbon    and flooded    the    floor    of    the    chamber,    the    reflection illuminated   the   grave   so   dramatically   that   various details    both    of    the    side    chambers    and    of    the vaulted roof could   be   clearly   seen.   At   10:04   the   ribbon   of   light began   to   narrow   and   precisely   at   10:25   the   beam of   light   was   abruptly   cut   off.   So   for   21   minutes   at sunrise on the shortest day of the year    sunlight    penetrates    directly    into    the    burial chamber   of   Newgrange.   Not   through   the   entrance but    through    a    specially    constructed    narrow    slit above the entrance to the passage. As   a   cautious   academic,   Professor   O'Kelly   did   not at the time want   to   give   a   final   answer   to   the   question   whether the    light    show    was    accidental    or    intended.    The question has meanwhile been ticked off by others.

From:     Evidence     of     the Gods, page 181