The Irish Office of Public Works will have staff in attendance at Cairn T, Loughcrew (Co Meath, Ireland) on the mornings of Saturday the 20th of March, Sunday the 21st March and Monday the 22nd March from 6.15am until 7.30am. Admission to the Chamber of Cairn T for the Equinox Illumination of the chamber is free of charge.
     As the chamber is quite small, only 5 or 6 people can be inside at a time. Visitors are requested to stay inside for only a few minutes so that everyone can get a chance to visit.  Please note that it is very important that visitors dress warmly and are wearing stout shoes. The climb to the top of Carnbane East is very steep and can be slippery after rain or on frosty mornings.

Source: Newgrange.com (16 March 2010)

A telecommunications mast which would provide Internet broadband access to a scenic area of Kerry (Ireland) would be a 'new alien intrusion' on a very beautiful and almost pristine landscape. That's according to senior An Bord Pleanála inspector, Robert Ryan.
     The area around the proposed location for a 12-metre mast at Coomasaharn, Glenbeigh, is "one of the most significant Bronze Age landscapes in the country," Kerry County Council also conceded. The local authority noted the Glenbeigh area has the greatest concentration of ancient rock art in Ireland, with more than 100 recorded examples.
     Mr Ryan supported the council and upheld a decision to refuse Hutchinson 3G Ireland planning permission for the mast on archaeological grounds. Hutchinson 3G has the Government's national contract to roll out broadband to previously unserviced rural areas. The company claims there is a strong demand for broadband in the Glenbeigh area and no other site options were available.
     Normally, An Bord Pleanála overturns Kerry County Council's decisions in relation to masts because it does not agree with a controversial rule by the council which bans such masts on sites which are within a kilometre of houses, schools and other residential buildings.  On this occasion, however, Bord Pleanála - while still disagreeing with the one-kilometre rule - granted the appeal on grounds of protecting the sensitive landscape and local archaeology.

Source: The Irish Examiner (8 March 2010)

Thousands of years ago Irish Neolithic men and women were hunting wild game with flint arrows in the hills overlooking what is now Ballymena (Co Antrim, Northern Ireland). Now they're still making their presence felt, delaying a road dualling scheme. The A26 Ballee Road East to M2 Ballymena bypass dualling scheme was due to be completed by the end of February. But bad weather and the discovery of rare Neolithic remains have pushed that deadline back to late summer.
     The plan was to dig through a hill and use the material to build embankments elsewhere in the route. But when the topsoil was being stripped away, archaeologists uncovered a series of historical hotspots where more investigations needed to be carried out. Many of the hotspots found by Archaeological Development Services Ltd during the topsoil stripping were isolated pits which contained burnt bone and Neolithic pottery. But the big find was a rare Neolithic ring fort unearthed at just the point where the cutting was to be excavated - one of just four found so far in Ireland. This was investigated by 20 archaeologists for eight weeks.
     The fort's remains lie two miles southeast of Ballymena, overlooking the Larne Road roundabout to the north, and was set on the north edge of a drumlin 60m above sea level. The enclosure was more or less circular, between 40m and 45m in diameter, with two entrances or causeways. One spanned a gap of 25m around the west side of the enclosure, while the other lay towards the south end measuring 3m wide. Inside the enclosure is what appears to be a series of structures, including rectangular and circular shapes with pits and hearths. Archaeologists have discovered flint chippings, small blades and a leaf-shaped arrowhead.

Source: Belfast Telegraph (3 March 2010)

A mysterious ring fort in Co Tipperary (Ireland) holds 'massive potential for discoveries' according to archaeologists who have carried out the first survey of the site. Their initial findings suggest that the site may have been used for Bronze Age sporting contests in an arena.
     Archaeologists have long been curious about the origins of the Rathnadrinna Fort located about 3km south of the Rock of Cashel - one of Ireland's most important heritage locations and seat of the High Kings of Munster. The unusually large and distinctive landmark is still subject to many of the traditional taboos surrounding fairy forts. Archaeologists say that many people in rural areas still believe it is unwise to enter a fairy fort or to cut down perimeter trees or vegetation.
     Ian Doyle, head of conservation services and archaeology with the Heritage Council, said it was traditionally believed that the fort was a 'defended farmstead' of a type commonly built in Ireland about 1,200 years ago. But while the 'average run-of-the-mill fairy fort' is ringed by one defensive perimeter ditch, "Rathnadrinna Fort is quite rare because it has three rings". Despite the historical significance of the landscape, the fort has never been excavated.
     Mr Doyle said "when you think of Tara, the countryside surrounding the Rock of Cashel must hold massive potential for discoveries". This led the council to fund a survey of the site which was carried out by a team of archaeologists led by Cashel-based Richard O'Brien and the Co Mayo company Earthsound Archaeological Geophysics. Using highly sensitive equipment, the soil was subjected to high-resolution magnetic imaging - similar to an MRI scan. It is the first time that any of the fairy forts in the countryside surrounding the Rock of Cashel has been surveyed in this manner.
     Speaking about the results, Mr O'Brien said that "none of the traditional evidence associated with ring forts - such as houses, hearths or rubbish pits - was found". Instead, the team discovered that the site may have been first used 3,000 years ago during the late Bronze Age. He said one of the most exciting discoveries was evidence of a Stonehenge-style circle of wooden posts suggestive of "a ceremonial or ritual role for the fort".
     Mr O'Brien said the use of the site would have changed down through the centuries and the survey results indicate that it had 'a royal function'. But the most intriguing possibility, he said, was that the "vast interior area which is much larger than most ring forts is like a sports arena". Rathnadrinna translates as the "Fort of the Contest", he added.

Source: The Irish Times (25 February 2010)

A proposed deepwater container port at Bremore in north Co Dublin (Ireland) may be moved farther north to Gormanston, Co Meath, to avoid encroaching on a Neolithic complex of passage tombs. A spokesman for Treasury Holdings, which is planning to develop the new facility in partnership with Drogheda Port, confirmed that one of the options now being considered was to 'shift it off Bremore headland' for archaeological reasons. He said it had become clear at an early stage that the Neolithic complex at Bremore was 'very significant'.
     The developers would be anxious to avoid it by examining alternative locations, such as Gormanston. However, no final decision has been taken. One of the constraints is that the Gormanston site is believed to contain another archaeological complex, though this is not thought to be as significant as the one located at Bremore. "We've done a significant amount of preliminary work, including archaeological investigations by Margaret Gowen and Company," the spokesman said, adding that Treasury would now be taking on an environmental specialist to assess the Gormanston option. It is likely to be autumn before a firmer proposal will be put out for consultation.
     An Taisce's monuments and antiquities committee has warned that any port development at Bremore would "completely obliterate a passage tomb cemetery of Neolithic date with affinities to Newgrange".

Source: The Irish Times (23 February 2010)

Former Irish attorney general John Rogers SC, who lives in the Boyne valley, will be among the objectors to plans by Meath County Council and the National Roads Authority (NRA) to build a bypass of Slane 500 metres from the Brú na Bóinne archaeological complex. Depending on the number of objections, the An Bord Pleanála may decide to hold an oral hearing.
     The proposed route, running east of Slane, is being opposed by the newly formed Save Newgrange campaign, led by Vincent Salafia, who was prominent in the protracted struggle against the M3 motorway because of its proximity to the Hill of Tara. Mr Salafia called on An Bord Pleanála to extend the deadline, arguing that the public notice was inadequate, that more time was needed by the public and that access to information on the project had been 'unreasonably curtailed'. He said Save Newgrange had lodged a formal complaint with the European Commission, alleging the public consultation process was 'flawed' and calling on the commission to intervene so the deadline could be extended for 90 days.
     The environmental impact statement (EIS) on the bypass proposal says it would remove through-traffic from the existing N2 through Slane, improving the village's environment as well as giving an 'improved level of service' on the route. However, it concedes that the new stretch of the N2 route would be "just over 500 metres from the Unesco World Heritage Site of Brú na Bóinne, comprising the three main prehistoric sites [of] Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth", on the north bank of the Boyne.
     "The assessment identified 44 archaeological and cultural heritage constraints within 500m of the route. Of these, five will be impacted directly, two will be impacted indirectly and 34 will have no predicted impact," according to the EIS. For the 10 sites that would be affected, the potential impact is rated as 'potentially significant' for three, 'moderate' for two, 'slight' for another two and 'no predicted impact' for one. The remaining two are 'areas of undetermined archaeological potential'.

Source: The Irish Times (17 February 2010)

Researchers at Queen's University in Northern Ireland have helped produce a new archaeological tool which could answer key questions in human evolution. The new calibration curve, which extends back 50,000 years is a major landmark in radiocarbon dating - the method used to establish the age of carbon-based materials. It could help research issues including the effect of climate change on human adaption and migrations.
     The project was led by Queen's University Belfast through a National Environment Research Centre (NERC) funded research grant to Dr Paula Reimer and Professor Gerry McCormac from the Centre for Climate, the Environment and Chronology (14CHRONO) at Queen's and statisticians at the University of Sheffield. The curve called INTCAL09 not only extends radiocarbon calibration but also considerably improves earlier parts of the curve.
     Dr Reimer said: "The new radiocarbon calibration curve will be used worldwide by archaeologists and earth scientists to convert radiocarbon ages into a meaningful time scale comparable to historical dates or other estimates of calendar age. It is significant because this agreed calibration curve now extends over the entire normal range of radiocarbon dating, up to 50,000 years before today. Comparisons of the new curve to ice-core or other climate archives will provide information about changes in solar activity and ocean circulation."
     It has taken nearly 30 years for researchers to produce a calibration curve this far back in time. Most experts consider the technical limit of radiocarbon dating to be about 50,000 years, after which there is too little carbon-14 left to measure accurately with present day technology. Further information on the work of Queen's Chrono Centre can be found online at chrono.qub.ac.uk

Sources: EurekAlert!, ScienceDaily (11 February 2010)

The ancient Brú na Bóinne site around Newgrange may lose its World Heritage status if the proposed M2 motorway goes ahead, it was claimed. The National Monuments Forum warned if changes are not made to the new motorway plans, the area near the Boyne in Co Meath (Ireland) is likely to lose recognition from the UNESCO.
     The proposed bypass will be 500m away from the buffer-zone around the World Heritage Site at Brú na Bóinne, which comprises the ancient megalithic tombs at Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth. The Environmental Impact Statement for the project acknowledges that 44 archaeological sites will be within 500m of the roadway and that the potential to uncover much more during work is high. While there will be a visual impact from the river, the Environmental Impact Statement says there will be negligible impact on the site.
     Dr George Eogan, Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at University College Dublin (UCD), said the new motorway is too close to the monuments and will have a considerable impact on the surrounding landscape. "Five hundred metres is simply too close, and it is conceivable that Newgrange could lose its World Heritage Status," he said. The site can be saved if Environment Minister John Gormley fast-tracks the new National Monuments Bill 2009 according to the National Monuments Forum.
     Vincent Salafia, National Monuments Forum spokesman, claimed the minister created unnecessary delays which place Ireland's heritage at risk. "We urge Minister Gormley to deliver this long overdue legislation and to ensure it is strong enough to protect Newgrange from this outlandish proposal," Mr Salafia said.
     Brian Taylor, spokesman for An Taisce in Meath and a resident of Slane said: "I'd be very reluctant about anything that might hold up that road. It has been several years in the offing and it has gone through numerous public presentations and the route chosen appears to be the least offensive [one]." A spokesman for the NRA said, "we have selected a route with the least impact. It is 1.5 kilometres from the core of the Brú na Bóinne and around that centre core is a buffer zone; this route is 500 metres from the perimeter of that buffer zone." The next stage is for An Bord Pleanála to decide whether to hold an oral hearing into any objections or submissions on the proposed route.

Sources: RTE News (21 January 2010), The Irish Times, Irish Examiner (22 January 2010)

Winter solstice sunrise at the famous Neolithic monument at Newgrange, Co Meath (Ireland), is, as always, welcome and rich in symbolism. An attempt to recreate the Solstice phenomenon at Newgrange has been made by student archaeologists as the annual 'dawn watch' began at the east Meath national monument. They built a replica of the megalithic tomb creating a lightbox that allowed light into the chamber at dawn and the entire experiment has been broadcast on RTE television.
     The first part of the study was undertaken in the summer where students tried to establish the position of the winter solstice and plan the engineering and design of the passage, using only instruments that would have been available at the time the tomb was built. During the summer and autumn, the model-makers were at work recreation the tomb and lightbox and they have been assembling the model at Newgrange this week.
     Meanwhile, 52 people who won a place in the tomb at Newgrange in a raffle earlier this year joined the 2009 'dawn watch'. Groups of people gathered in the tomb for 5 mornings to wait for the light to enter the tomb at dawn. Among those who won the opportunity were people who haveed travel to Meath from Los Angeles and other parts of the US, France, Sweden, Portugal, Austria, the UK and all over Ireland. The names of the winners were drawn from 32,995 entries by children from Slane, Knockcommon and Donore National Schools in September.
     On the actual winter solstice, invited guests included De Ed Krupp of Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles, a renowned arhaeological astronomer, and other dignitaries. Also on the same morning, hundreds of visitors waited outside the tomb to watch the sunrise.

Source: The Meath Chronicle (16 December 2009), The Irish Times (21 December 2009)

The Save Bremore group launched their campaign at the Martin Brennan conference at Newgrange. The group hope to highlight the threat of major industrial development to the North County Dublin area near Balbriggan.
     The Bremore-Gormonstown coastline is among the most beautiful and unspoiled areas of coast left on the north east side of Ireland. However, this idyllic landscape is under serious threat of being destroyed in order to make room for a massive $300 million deep water port and the associated infrastructure, pollution and industrial and suburban sprawl that this will bring. Drogheda Port Company has launched a process to have this port included under the Strategic Infrastructure Act and if successful they could use this Act to bypass much of our current environmental and heritage protection. The Save Bremore group call for an independent study before a development is allowed which will again wreck local history, heritage and environment. The heritage in question here consists of the Bremore Passage Tomb Complex - a National Monument, a series of several unclassified monuments in the Knocknagin townland as well as the mid 16th century Newhaven Bay.
     Archaeologist Prof George Eogan has stated that "Bremore may have been the first point of entry for the settlements of what is now known as Fingal/East Meath and the Boyne Valley area". According to Dr. Mark Clinton of An Taisce "The two cemetery complexes must be considered within the greater context of other passage tombs nearby at Knowth, Dowth and Newgrange", and also that "It would be more appropriate that the World Heritage site of Brú na Bóinne be extended to include the Bremore-Gormanstown complexes rather than Drogheda Port extended to include them. In terms of archaeological importance Bremore is comparable with Tara: Tara started with a passage tomb known as The Mound of the Hostages and developed over different periods: likewise the Bremore tombs would appear to be the start of Brú na Bóinne. The parallel is clear - no Mound of the Hostages no Tara: no Bremore no Newgrange"
     The Save Bremore group invite you to join our campaign. Additional information and updates are available at groups.yahoo.com/group/SaveBremore/

Source: Save Bremore Press Release (19 December 2009)