Friday 13 July 2018

Heatwave reveals Late Neolithic henge in County Meath

The entrance to the passage and chamber at
nearby Newgrange, which was built 3,200 years
ago by Stone Age farmers and is aligned with
the sun at the Winter Solstice.
After several weeks of rare heatwave, Ireland's nearly scorched landscape has revealed the outline of a c2,500BC henge close to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Newgrange in County Meath.

It was discovered by a drone taking aerial images of fields in the Boyne Valley and has been described as 'a very significant find' by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

It was also a timely find; with the weather expected to see a more typical summer mix in the next week, all visual evidence of the discovery will soon be lost.

Learn more about the discovery, and view the drone footage, in this news report from RTÉ, Ireland's national public service broadcaster.

UPDATE, 26 July 2018:
Since posting the above, several more archaeological discoveries have been made in the area. See this report from the Journal; it includes links to each of the stories.