Local Historians of Ireland used a drone to reveal a pre-historic henge which depicts the importance of the tomb at the Newgrange for the prehistoric people.

Ireland is a historic country with places like a 5000-year old passage tomb at Newgrange. Recent reports suggest that the researchers have found a 4^th henge near this tomb through a drone. The fact that archaeologists, in a different study, have also discovered a mysterious prehistoric structure strengthens the status of Ireland as an ancient place. According to the experts, this strange structure is a ceremonial Neolithic Avenue which is aligned with the rising and setting of the sun at the equinoxes of fall and spring. An interesting thing is that the raised land around the Newgrange passage tomb already serves as ceremonial center and a Neolithic graveyard.

A couple is supervising the excavations at this site and both of them are pretty sure that they are dealing with a new structure. Matthew Stout, a Professor of History and Geography at the University of Dublin, is accompanied by his wife, Geraldine Stout. She works as an archaeologist at the National Monuments Service. They believe that this finding will bring a completely different angle to the activities at the ceremonial. Stout mentioned that in the following words:

“We’ve been digging for two weeks now, we’ve bottomed out in many places, and we’re pretty sure that we are dealing with a [new] Neolithic structure. It adds a whole other dimension to the ceremonial activity at Newgrange.”

The Newgrange Tomb is preserved in the Brú na Bóinne World Heritage site of the Ireland. This is an important place for the Irish community as thousands of tourists visit this historic place every year. The first-ever survey of this area was done in 2015 when Joanna Leigh, an archaeologist, was hired to analyze this part of the world. She revealed that a massive structure was buried under the ground that had several parallel rows of large pits. According to her estimates, it covered an area of about 3,200 square meters. Only after her examination was complete, this tourist spot was expanded.

Contrary to the initial beliefs, the excavating team of Stout found no signs of a later avenue or medieval pottery. This has forced the researchers to go with the idea that this buried structure was a part of the Neolithic construction. Stout described it as a ceremonial avenue by comparing it with other Neolithic sites and the Stonehenge of England. He talked about the alignment of the pits and told the world that there are parallel patterns of pits at the eastern end of the structure indicates that it was cursus because the tomb had a south-facing entrance. The entrance of the tomb was aligned to ‘Winter Solstice Sunrise’ while the pits might have been used for processions to the tomb at the winter and spring equinoxes.

Another one of these structures was found right next to the latest excavation site. A summer heat wave across Ireland has helped the experts in locating these buried structures. The Circular Monument appeared in the form of ‘crop marks’ in the surface vegetation. A lot of similar instances were experienced this summer due to the intense amount of heat. A couple of local historians called Ken Williams and Anthony Murphy discovered the crop marks of this henge. By making use of a drone, they were taking images of the fields around Newgrange when they got hold of this precious information. The value of this monument can be distinguished by the following statement of Josepha Madigan, the Culture Minister of Ireland. She said,

“A rare opportunity to uncover further secrets held in our landscape.”

The discovery of this Neolithic cursus shows the importance of this tomb for the prehistoric people living in this part of the world. Stout agreed to that by saying,

“It is in an area where we know of two earth henges, and where a third one has been identified by a LIDAR [light detection and ranging] survey … and now there’s this one that’s been identified as a crop mark. So in two fields you have four giant Neolithic or early Bronze-Age henge monuments.”