Join us for Part 5 of our miniseries on Newgrange, the Winter Solstice and the Landscapes of Neolithic Ireland with Professor Gabriel Cooney

The great passage tomb of Newgrange in the Boyne Valley of County Meath, is one of Ireland’s most iconic monuments. Today it is a World Heritage Site, and (on a normal year) it is one of our most visited monuments, with people from all over the world travelling to see this marvel of Neolithic engineering and belief. As the Winter Solstice is upon us, Newgrange takes on even more meaning, as it is aligned with the midwinter solstice. On a clear dawn on the 20th, 21st and 22nd December, a beam of light from the rising sun travels up the passageway to illuminate the chamber. Each year people gather in great numbers around the monument to celebrate this phenomenon, and lucky lottery winners get the ultimate prize of being inside the chamber to witness it first hand. However, this year, if it shines the light will pass unseen by human eyes. The pandemic that has taken so much, has also meant that the gathering for 2020 has been cancelled.

I thought this would be a good opportunity to discuss Newgrange with some of the experts who know the site intimately. As a way of casting another kind of light on our iconic monument. This is the final episode of a miniseries focusing on Newgrange. In this edition Neil was joined by Professor Gabriel Cooney, one of Ireland’s foremost experts on the Neolithic and chairperson of the Research Committee of the Bru na Boinne World Heritage Site. In the podcast we discuss many aspects of Newgrange and the winter solstice, along with its landscape context, Neolithic society in Ireland and what Newgrange can tell us about the connections between Ireland and Europe.

Winter Solstice at Newgrange Podcast Miniseries by Amplify Archaeology

This is the final episode of a five part series on Newgrange and the Winter Solstice.

• Professor Muiris O’Sullivan featured in Part 1.
• Dr. Jessica Smyth featured in Part 2.
• Clare Tuffy featured in Part 3.
• Dr. Robert Hensey featured in Part 4.

So do be sure to catch those when you can. I’d just like to thank Gabriel, Jessica, Clare, Robert and Muiris for taking the time to talk with me. They’ve given me so much to think about. And I want to thank all of you for joining me on the journey so far, we’re nearly there with this long and difficult year. So let’s take the last step together as we search for light at the end of the tunnel, at Newgrange.

Newgrange, the Winter Solstice and the Landscapes of Neolithic Ireland Part 5 – Show Notes

• The beautiful image of light entering the chamber used as the header and in the gallery of this page is courtesy of Brian Morrison, Fáilte Ireland
• Professor Cooney has written extensively on the Neolithic and Irish prehistory. You can find a list of all his works here.
• Gabriel recently co-edited the fascinating Cultures of Stone for Sidestone Press that establishes a rich cross-disciplinary dialogue about the significance of stone in society across time and space.
• His publication Landscapes of Neolithic Ireland may be a few years old now, but it’s still one of the most comprehensive and accessible accounts into this fascinating period.
• You may also be interested in the latest Wordwell Publication: Pathways to the Cosmos: The Alignment of Megalithic Tombs in Ireland, Britain and Atlantic Europe.
• Professor Muiris O’Sullivan featured in Part 1 of our miniseries on Newgrange.
• Dr. Jessica Smyth featured in Part 2.
• Clare Tuffy featured in Part 3.
• Dr. Robert Hensey featured in Part 4.
• The Winter Solstice at Newgrange was live streamed and you can watch it back here (the first day was the best, though all three days were wonderful thanks to the narration of Clare Tuffy and Dr. Frank Prendergast).
• For details on the opening times and more information on the Visitor Centre at the Brú na Bóinne please see the OPW website.

Amplify Archaeology Podcast

This is the final part of a five episode miniseries focusing on Newgrange, the Winter Solstice and Neolithic Ireland. Please subscribe to Amplify Archaeology Podcast on your favourite platform. If you leave us a review it can really help us to be found, so we’d be very grateful if you’d consider sharing the podcast.