Aerial images taken this week from a drone reveal the presence of a circular monument 200 meters in diameter buried under a field in Ireland. The circle is one kilometer from Newgrange , a funerary passage about 5,200 years old that is part of the most important archaeological site in Ireland, declared a World Heritage Site. It is believed that the discovered site is at least 100 years later, so it would be built at the end of the Neolithic or beginning of the Bronze Age.
The new finding has been possible thanks to the recent wave of heat and dry weather that have affected Ireland and the United Kingdom. The buried structures affect the composition of the soil and, as a result, the vegetation that grows on them changes color at a different rate than the adjacent field. In this case, a series of ditches and holes in the earth have retained moisture and allowed the growth of deeper roots, so that the vegetation that grows on the remains has remained green when the rest of the crop yellows.
Anthony Murphy, an author and photographer interested in archeology and cultural heritage, made the discovery with a friend, Ken Williams. In recent weeks, the heat has revealed the presence of more ancient monuments under the fields of cultivation of the British Isles. Among the other finds are a Roman fort and a possible prehistoric farm, both near Newport, in Wales. Murphy decided to fly his drone over the Newgrange site after hearing of the discoveries in the United Kingdom.
Aerial image of the field under which the monument lies. ANTHONY MURPHY
Murphy and Williams immediately recognized the importance of their images, which they shared with archaeologists Stephen Davis of University College Dublin and Geraldine Stout of the Irish National Monument Service. “The images show a structure similar to others that have been found in the area, but with an unprecedented level of detail,” says Davis. Murphy adds that the new monument is especially similar to an adjacent one, which may have been an earlier version or “prototype” of it.
The forms in the field of culture show two external circumferences that, according to the archaeologist, reveal a series of holes. These probably housed vertical wooden posts. Inside you can see the remains of a circular road, elevated between two concentric ditches. “The roadway is interrupted with cuts at regular intervals. We have never seen this, “says Davis. In the eastern area, the monument has a protuberance that resembles other structures in the area. The researcher points out that “no large stones are seen” in the images, and that the monument probably had an external embankment under gravel or clay.
This is the seventh and largest of the circles found near Newgrange. They are structures called embanked enclosures (enclosures surrounded by an embankment), analogous to henges or British stone cromlechs, of which Stonehenge is the most famous. Although nobody knows its true purpose, it is believed that these monuments were meeting points, due to their enormous capacity and open design. “What we do not know is whether the seven are contemporaries or belonged to different eras,” explains Davis. The newly discovered monument is under private land and there are no plans to start an excavation.
