OK, the photo above is a recent picture of me– yesterday, in fact. But the spiral-carved rock I’m standing next to was carved that way a bit more than five thousand years ago, so that ought to count as a throwback…
We’ve been in Dublin the last few days, and on Thursday we took a bus tour out to Newgrange. this is one of the things I wanted to make sure to see while we were here, as I make reference to it in the forthcoming book, and at least two classes that I teach. And it is, indeed, spectacular; the reconstructed white wall might be historically dubious, but the interior passage and vault is still perfectly intact (some old graffiti scratched into the stones aside), and still keeps the central chamber dry after millennia. In Ireland.
It’s a tight squeeze to get into the central chamber, but worth the effort– our distant ancestors were pretty damn good at science and engineering. Which is, of course, why it appears in the book…
Anyway, we’ve had a great time in Dublin and environs. We’re headed back to London today, and Kate’s headed back to the US tomorrow, while I kick around London for the weekend, then head to Stockholm next week.
Great to see you managed to see Newgrange!
The thing that really puzzles me about the place is that the passage is apparently designed to align with the rising Sun on December 21. But I have spent many a December on the east coast of Ireland and it is almost always cloudy that time of year! So I wonder if the climate was different when Newgrange was built? Or perhaps the rarity of a cloudless morning made the effect even more special?