If the subject of National Megalithic (Mega massive, Lithic stone,) Monuments is mentioned to an Irish person The Hill of Tara will probably spring to mind. However there are several such monuments throughout Ireland, as there are across Europe and indeed in many countries such as America, Canada, New Zealand and elsewhere.
We have several most interesting monuments here. What is of importance is how we can preserve and care for them and maintain a protective mind set towards them so that future generations will also follow in our footsteps. The vital reason for this attitude is that they can reveal the mysteries of our past heritage.
Historians remind us that far more than we realise our present cultures are largely found in patterns set down by the megalith builders of four thousand years ago. The early Christian practise of taking over and re-consecrating the sights of Pagan shrines and temples has insured that virtually every old Church stands on a place of long Pre-Christian sanctity. The calendar round of festivals and Saints Days continues to mark the stages of the agriculture and social year deriving many of its locations and customs from pre-historic times. The Megalithic builders were just the same people as we are though they are separated from us in time by 3,500 years.
Archaeologists are continually unearthing, recording and identifying new information about those earlier times and its people who are known as the Celtic Race. It is understood that they were tall, fair haired, healthy, artistic and clear minded. The monuments which they left behind are witness to their expertise in building with stone.
They also had a profound understanding of the laws of nature and astronomy such as the rotation of the sun, stars and moon. From this they were capable of directing sunlight through minute spaces throwing the dawn sunlight over a whole area on a given morning of the yearly calendar. This ritual of the seasonal solstice happens at the exact time without omission. What a sacred and solemn exposition of mankind’s abilities. Its happening at Tara is observed by many interested people.
It follows from this that we would wish to glean more information and data from these Megalithic sites, as to how and why they were erected and what is known about life here between then and now, also what do we know about the monuments themselves ?
A dedicated expert in this field described a Dolmen which is situated on Browne’s Hill near Carlow as follows;- “The sight of this Tomb, looking south west over fields, is magical. The capstone weighs more than one hundred tonnes and is one of the heaviest capstones in Europe. It is set on a slope from west to East. It was never covered in earth as were almost all tombs of this type. Beyond the entrance to the west there are three upright pillars and two recumbents lie beneath the fallen western side of the capstone. A fourth upright stands nearby. This must have been a tomb of an important figure and in need of very secure protection”.
We know that these people designed and honed their own tools of stone to carry out their craft with stone and probably other materials. They erected the above described monuments with perfection, yet thy also produced the finest jewellery and art works, as well as day to day pottery, cooking utensils and items essential for daily living.
As the historians and antiquarian experts compile and surf the incoming data from these mysterious sights and compound their findings, they may indeed find that our present social history needs to be revised and updated. We may possibly see ourselves in a new light and take a new view of our present concepts for living. We certainly had bright intellectual forebears who were at one with nature and nature’s laws.
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