Ourselves 6000 Years Ago

You'd like to think that every schoolgoer in this country would have it to wonder over; to be surprised and to be heartened that…

You'd like to think that every schoolgoer in this country would have it to wonder over; to be surprised and to be heartened that the people who went before us were so clever, so enduring, so crafty. It would be a fine thing if the Department of Education could dig into its till and bring out money to ensure its free distribution to one and every pupil. It is a brilliant, 40-page, glossy supplement to Archaeology Ireland, all colour and diagram and explanation, called Bru na Boinne. And no matter how much you have learned about this area, you will find some new aspect as you read and scan - all from the top people in this field.

Professor Frank Mitchell tells us why the megalithic farmers settled down in and around the area. They "would have looked across an expanse of good agricultural land. Part of it was clayey soil, part was light gravelly soil, part was a light slatey soil, but all was fertile. The variety of soil in the neighbourhood meant that neither excessive rainfall nor excessive drought could destroy all the crops of the area. Such farmers, controlling extensive areas of good land, could well have been wealthy and so able to afford the luxury of three great monuments and many smaller structures concentrated in Bru na Boinne."

As Mr Gabriel Cooney writes: "What we would like to do here is to explore the human and social context of these monuments." And while the stones are standing after all the centuries, so much of what these people had, can only be reconstructed from fragments and much painful archaeological and historical research.

Thus there is a bold figure in "neolithic fashion", from the exhibition at the visitor centre, wearing what look like snowboots, a coat of many vivid colours, and carrying a net bag around his or her waist. And there is a reconstruction of a neolithic house: like a conical tent of straw or reeds over a wooden frame.

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Professor George Eogan gives us an overview of the complex, and as the excavator of Knowth relates a gripping account of first crawling into the interior - a necropolis of the big mound and 19 satellite tombs. Crawling under partially fallen pillars, through pools of water and past what he calls a "ghostly guardian" to the end. The ghostly guardian, a figure with large staring eyes is something to behold. But the photo in colour of Knowth from the air remains in your mind.

All 40 pages are fascinating reading and viewing. And, a reminder: a photo of large bushes and trees - Newgrange as seen in 1907.