Question of the Day – How did the Irish ever develop a sun-centric religion?

Ready to explore Newgrange

Today we toured the pinnacle of Stone Age Culture – the UNESCO World Heritage site of Bru na Boinne, or the Boyne Valley http://www.worldheritageireland.ie/bru-na-boinne/ . Collected in this geographic area are the most extraordinary constructions and historically significant sites from that era: Knowth, Dowth, Newgrange, and Tara.

First, let’s get all the climatological complaints out of our system. The weather in this nation needs medication or some sort of therapy – rain pouring from a beautiful blue sky, or intense, icy downpours for 10 minutes accompanied by gale-force winds, shutting off magically for 10 minutes of glorious azure sky and warbling bird song, repeat X100000000. The heaviest rain is, obviously, at the most exposed sites; cerulean skies and gentle breezes are reserved for bus rides and visitor centers. Okay, back to paeans in praise of all other things Irish.

The Entrance Stone in front of the passage
opening and the light box above..

The ride out to the site was one postcard after another – lush, rolling hills dotted with picturesque cows or sheep, enchanting villages, and charming cottages. The visitor information center for Bru na Boinne is a beautiful structure with very effective presentation of the major sites and the methodology used to excavate and restore or conserve them. The path from the car park is planted with native species accompanied by informational panels about their uses and symbolic meanings and affords lovely views of the river. Equally impressive is the selection of pastries in the tearoom – our selection was a marvelously decadent chocolate éclair roughly the size of a Chihuahua.

To access the sites, you cross the River Boyne, take a shuttle to either Knowth or Newgrange (Dowth has not been fully excavated) Knowth is the most impressive and developed site, but it is in the process of being excavated and can only be viewed from outside. Newgrange allows a limited number of visitor each day to enter the passage tomb. We were fortunate enough, by virtue of the fact that we were so early, to get a chance to go in. The structures at Newgrange et. al. are known as “passage tombs”. They are large mounds with a narrow stone passage leading to the tomb in the center. Newgrange is special as its passage is aligned with the sunrise on December 21. There is an opening above the entryway (light box) that is level with the floor inside the chamber. For 17 minutes at sunrise on the winter solstice the passage is flooded with shimmering sunlight and the back wall is illuminated.. Which brings us to the question of the day, How many years of observations did it take to record enough information to build the tomb? From what we have seen of Irish weather, it may have been hundreds.

We exited the bus into a raging gale. An archaeologist met us and led us up to the tomb. The grassy dome is surrounded by 97 large curbstones, some of which are decorated with spirals and chevrons. By “large” we mean 8 to 10 feet long and 3 to 4 feet wide. Each one certainly weighs many tons. In front, the entrance stone is etched with spirals and likely marked a spiritual boundary beyond which most of the Neolithic people would not have passed. The facade is made of quartz blocks brought from 50 miles away and inset with rounded stones. This front was reconstructed by the archaeologist O’Kelly who is largely responsible for the restoration of the site. Sadly, no photography is allowed inside the tomb. The passage is quite narrow and low but then opens up into a high chamber perhaps 20 feet high. It is a corbelled dome made of large, overlapping stones that were levered into place before the construction of the pyramids in Egypt and have not moved since. (Newgrange is different than many other Stone Age sites in that it was never modified by later cultures, so it is exactly as the makers intended. Unitl the 19^th century vandals crawled in to carve their names, that is.) Inside are 3 recesses, each with a stone basin which would have held the cremated remains of important people in the community.

The site at Knowth, while much more extensive – the central mound is surrounded by 127 curbstones, several of which are extensively inscribed with traditional spiral, chevron, and triskele motifs – has very limited visitor access and we were only able to see the exterior. The decision at this site is to comprehensively excavate and conserve it rather than attempt reconstruction. The “light box” and passages here are aligned for the equinoxes rather than the solstice. There are 19 smaller mounds around the central passage tomb.

All the sites and excavation of the surrounding area yield evidence of a much higher degree of technological and social sophistication than we had ever associated with the term “Stone Age”.

We headed next to Tara http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/hilloftara/ . Tara is loaded with so much mythological, symbolical, and historical significance that it is difficult to know where to begin! The most unexpected part for us was the discovery that is isn’t one specific location, but rather several structures clustered on a prominence. The summit provides spectacular views of up to 3/4^ths of the entire island on a clear day. It afforded us an incredible view of the masses of banked raincloud headed straight at us as well.

The rainswept summit of  Tara Hill

North of the ridge of the summit is an Iron Age enclosure, known as the Royal Enclosure. In this space are two linked enclosures, Cormac's House and the Royal Seat. In the middle of the Royal Seat is the Stone of Destiny where the High Kings were crowned. According to legends shared by our guide, the stone would scream if a series of challenges were met by the king candidate. The challenges included a Cinderella-like episode with fitting into a royal robe, taming 2 wild, white stallions, hitching them to a chariot, and then driving it between two monoliths a hand’s width apart. When these tasks were successfully completed he could proceed to the stone and at his touch it would let out a scream that could be heard all over Ireland.

The oldest remaining part of St. Audoen

There is also a small Neolithic passage tomb known as the Mound of the Hostages, which dates to around 3,400 BC. There are several more features, but to tell you frankly, it was raining cats and dogs – ice cold cats and dogs – sideways. Sheep have free range of the hill and the challenges of avoiding their leavings on the steep, slick hillsides in a blinding downpour made a quick getaway essential.

On our return to Dublin we went to see St. Audoen’s church. Parts of it date to the early 12^th century, but it was continuously added to over the centuries. The interpretive center has a series of models showing the original Norman rectangular building and each of the subsequent iterations. The church currently occupies a space roughly equivalent to its original foundation and rest functions as a history exhibition. A section of the original medieval city walls and a gate survives adjacent to the church.

We ended our day with a visit to the Brazen Head – established in 1198, it is the oldest inn in Ireland. Brad went to have the requisite pint of Guinness, while Z & I celebrated other Irish gustatory treasures such as chips, soda bread, and cheese!

Don’t Hide a Body in a Bog

The Long Room at Trinity College

Unbelievable as it may seem, it was raining this morning! Undaunted, we zipped up the raincoats and joined the bazillion other visitors jostling their way down the slick pavements to Trinity College – or more accurately, the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin. http://www.tcd.ie/visitors/book-of-kells/   The campus is compact, but with several attractive buildings and a lovely campanile (although its base is shrouded in scaffolding – in apparent compliance with European laws regarding photograph-ability of historic structures). Our objective here was the Old Library which houses the Book of Kells. The exhibition is very well done, with video overviews of the medieval bookmaking process, sample pigment sources, and greatly enlarged images from the Book of Kells.

It is an impossible task to attempt to describe the manuscript pages we were privileged to see. 1200 years later the colors gleam richly against the soft luster of the vellum. The intricacy of the decorative elements and the whimsical charm of the designs amaze more today perhaps than they did at the time of their creation.

You exit the gallery containing the folios to a staircase leading to the Long Room. This aptly named space is 65 meters and two floors of wood-paneled bibliophile heaven. It houses over 200,000 volumes (a minute fraction of the library’s actual holdings), a 15^th century traditional Irish harp, and a collection of almost 50 marble busts.

We emerged from these exalted literary precincts into a perfect summer day with a pure, cloudless blue sky! Our walk to The National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology http://www.museum.ie/en/intro/archaeology-and-ethnography-museum.aspx was enlivened by getting to watch the College's cricket team practice.

This is Oldcroghan Man who had a terrible
day about 2000 years ago.

The Archaeology collection of the National Museum of Ireland is housed in a building that is almost as amazing as the collection is holds. The entrance is a domed rotunda and the entire first floor is gorgeous mosaics of a variety of decorative motifs. Before tackling all that history, we went to the museum café for coffee and a snack. The scones and cream puffs were marvelously restorative and delicious. We started out in an exhibit about the various bodies found in Europe’s peat bogs. These people seem to have invariably met with violent ends. The exhibit detailed how these bodies are excavated and how they are preserved to prevent decay. There was also extensive information about what has been learned about life long ago from these bodies. Video displays showed every step of the process of from excavation and study to preservation.

Another interesting collection in this museum are the hoards of treasure. Literally, huge stores of objects stashed in caves or buried by individuals unknown. There were several containing all manner of gold; earrings, collars, brooches, and ingots. Others consisted of silver objects or even iron. A number contained amber beads ranging in size from tiny to golf ball. Whatever the primary material, the craftsmanship was always incredible.

In the Treasury (as if the whole place isn’t a treasury) is a collection of objects that are unbelievably even more breathtaking than what we had already seen. There were elaborate brooches, crosiers, and a large assortment of jewelry, all of stunning beauty. Everything was made of gold, silver, or in many cases both. Perhaps the most amazing item in the Treasury was the Tara Brooch. We have seen a large number of brooches the last 2 days, but this one is truly special.

On the second floor, there is a wing dedicated to artifacts found in Dublin. These span the city’s history, but are mostly to be Viking and medieval in origin. The display plaque tells not only what the object is, but where it was unearthed. Most of them seemed to have come from under the streets we have been walking on since we arrived. There were boards and pieces from several types of games. There were beads, coins, sewing needles, satchels, shoes, carved antlers, and countless other items in truly mind bending quantities.

Next stop was the Chester Beatty Library, http://www.cbl.ie/ although we were beginning to suspect we had exhausted our daily allotment of treasure appreciation.  We immediately got over this, as the works in his collection are superb. The first exhibit we viewed, Arts of the Book, had everything from Egyptian Books of the Dead to Chinese jade books to Mughal illuminated manuscripts. The Western masterpieces include the Biblical Papyri, 2nd – 4th century copies of the four gospels and Acts of the Apostles, the Letters of St Paul, the Book of Revelation and several early Old Testament fragments and gorgeous examples of illuminated manuscripts.

Light through stained glass shines on the wall
of the north transept at St. Patrick's 

The other permanent exhibit, Sacred Traditions, was dedicated to religious texts and ritual artifacts from several world religions. The exhibit did a nice job of explaining the foundations of each faith and the meanings of the objects presented and their sacred functions. Here too were lavishly detailed and beautiful books. Looking at these diverse texts, one is overwhelmed by the dedication of the people who produced them. Gazing upon a page, every square inch of which is covered with intricate calligraphy, gold leaf, and lustrous paintings, and then considering that the book is 18 inches long, 12 inches wide, 8 inches thick, and then realizing that every single page in the book looks like that, well, it’s amazing.

We closed out a day of splendors with an evensong at St. Patrick's Cathedral. The service and the music were every bit as wonderful as yesterday's. We were early enough that we got to sit in the pews near the front. They had little doors at the ends to keep people out, or you in a suppose. Back in the day those would have been reserved for the VIPs.

True Story of Ireland's Conquest by Vikings and Rabbits

We leapt straight into our first day – the marvelous generosity of FFT donors is affording us 5 weeks in Ireland and the UK, but it isn’t nearly enough. We took the bus to City Centre, ditched the bags at the hostel, and raced off to explore. Our first objective was Dublinia  www.dubilia.ie , a wonderful museum dedicated to the early history of Dublin. The first floor features room after room of interactive Viking dioramas. They have reproduction clothes, armor, living quarters, tools and more alongside illustrated panels, videos, and scale models.

The next floor covered he medieval period, from the Anglo-Norman conquest of Ireland (which included the introduction of the rabbit) through Henry VIII. Again, the environments were splendid and hands-on activities and reproduction artifacts made the 13^th century Fair, 14^th century plague and violent death room, and model merchant’s house interesting and accessible to all.

The 3^rd floor showcased archaeology itself. Unfortunately we were unable to take pictures here, but this floor was what we really came to see. It does a splendid job presenting the technical and conceptual complexities of the discipline in a student-friendly way. We realize that this will be our biggest challenge in the classroom and are delighted to have already have two or three things falling into place!

Dublinia is housed in the former church of St. Michael the Archangel adjacent to Christ Church Cathedral http://christchurchcathedral.ie/ ; the medieval tower grants fantastic views over the neighborhood – including a bird’s-eye view of the outline of a Viking house unearthed during the excavation of Dublin’s Wood Quay.

The cathedral is actually connected to Dublinia – a 3^rd floor walkway bridges Winetavern St. and deposits you at the welcome desk. Christ Church dates from the early 11^th century, had extensive repairs in the 16^th century, and intensive restoration in the late 19^th century. It is a beautiful sacred space with charming medieval floor tiles, the tomb of Strongbow, and a mummified cat & rat in the crypt.

After our tour we had a couple of hours before we returned for the evensong service. Having not eaten since breakfast on the plane, it was time for a little something. We did not have to walk far before luck led us to the Queen of Tarts. This bakery/bistro provided the desserts and coffee necessary to power us through the rest of our day. If you are ever in the area, the rustic apple crumble tart is possibly the best thing ever made from apples.

We returned to Christ Church just in time for the organ prelude. This particular service was to honor the 800^th anniversary of the Magna Carta. The church is acoustically marvelous and the music combined with the sun streaming through the stained glass windows made for a transcendent experience.

Following the service, we went down past Trinity University to the National Gallery of Ireland  http://www.nationalgallery.ie/ . Thursday is their late night when the galleries are open until 8:30. Our primary objective here was to see Vermeer’s “Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid”. (It is a family life goal to see all of his works.) When we did find it, as is always the case when face to face with a Vermeer, we were blown away. The way he painted the light and his delicate brushwork put him in a class all his own. Photographs and reproductions cannot adequately capture a Vermeer’s luminous quality. The collection has several other quite superb works; a Zurbaran Immaculate Conception, an Avercamp, Rembrandt’s Rest on the Flight into Egypt, but (in our estimation) nothing compares with Johannes!

Return of the Lucky Bears!

With heartfelt thanks to Fund for Teachers and their fantastically generous donors, we are off on a spectacular learning adventure this summer! We are traveling through the UK and Ireland to attend an archaeology course and gather information and material to recreate a dig at each of our schools.

Please follow us from the Neolithic chambers at Newgrange,  Knowth,  and Skara Brae to major Roman sites in Chester, Caerleon, Bath, and Vindolanda to  Viking burials in Dublin and York, to exquisitely preserved medieval cathedrals and districts in Chester, Salisbury, Canterbury and beyond.

 

We are delighted to have an opportunity to experience thousands of years of human civilization and cannot wait to reproduce this with our students through stories, pictures, videos, and materials from our Archaeology Live course and the many other programs we will attend.

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The route we will be following!