The shadow cast by some of the large standing stones of the 'great circle' that partly encircles Newgrange, shadowing the kerb and in particular the entrance stone, has been explored by Prendergast (1991). In his summary, Prendergast acknowledges that alignments at some Neolithic sites 'mark the quarter day lying midway in time between the equinox and solstice'. But at Newgrange he identified two alignments occurring on declinations midway between solstice and equinox. In other words, at or near the seasonal cusps. He calls these mid-declination days; they occur when the midday altitude of the sun is halfway between equinox and solstice position. Mid-declination days differ from true cross-quarter days by approximately 12 days, according to Prendergast. The difference from the Listoghil/saddle event is less, about 5 days, but what is most interesting to me is the dividing (by whatever reckoning) of solstice and equinox and the marking of this (in the case of Newgrange, possibly in the Early Bronze Age, Prendergast argues) in the context of megalithic/passage tomb architecture. This hypothesis is not without its problems, too. Prendergast's shadow phenomena were occurring not at midday, but in the early morning. In using large unhewn stones to cast shadows at close proximity upon other large stones, high levels of precision cannot be demanded. If certain of the menhirs of the great circle were positioned with regards to astronomy, why were others not?
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